"Why not just call his bluff and play them?" exclaimed Tom, excitedly.
"Oh, no," said Dave, with a twinkle in his eye. "They might beat us. And if they did we'd find ourselves squelched and thrown on the scrap heap."
"And so fast that we'd never recover from it," added Sam Randall. "Our crowd would have the pleasure of standing around watching the 'Hopes' play in the inter-scholastic series."
"There are a lot of chaps in the school who would help 'Crackers' throw us out just for the sake of the excitement. Nothing to do, fellows, except to fight the thing right out to a finish."
"And we can hold our end up, too!" cried Tom. "Of all the mean chumps I ever ran across that Earl Roycroft is the biggest. What do you think? He had the nerve to speak to me this evening—honest, Bob, I came mighty near calling him down—said he wanted to explain things; and I told him he needn't mind."
"Oh, Earl's all right," laughed Bob.
"All wrong, you mean. Suppose Steele should put him and a few others on the team? Do you think it would stop 'Crackers' Brown's hollering? Not on your life! He'd groan like a wheezy old locomotive for something else."
"Just my idea," agreed Dick Travers.
"Then I gather that we're going to stick it out, eh, Bob?" said Dave Brandon.
"Yes!" answered the captain, with emphasis. "I have studied the playing of the 'Hopes' carefully. Roger Steele agrees with me that they won't get much further in the fine points of the game."