"We should be very glad indeed if you would allow us the use of the assembly room to hold a meeting."
"For what purpose?"
"As you know, professor, the inter-scholastic series begins next Saturday. Rockville Academy will send its team over here to play the first game of the season. If the regulars meet them it is bound to be a bad day for the High; the school team, so far, has failed to win a single victory, while the 'Hopes' have not met with a single defeat."
The professor gazed abstractedly out of the window. Brown, the earnestness of his manner increasing, kept on.
"When Mr. Barry made his generous offer he positively said that only a winning team would get the grounds."
"Quite true, Brown."
"Can you blame the boys for objecting strenuously when they see such a magnificent prospect fading with every game the regulars play?"
The president's revolving chair wheeled sharply around. He removed his eye-glasses, to stare searchingly into "Crackers'" impassive face.
"Brown," he said, slowly, "the boys composing the athletic association were elected to their respective positions by a great majority of the students. A coach was duly appointed and players selected. Do you think it is fair to them that, before the inter-scholastic season has actually started, they should be hampered and discouraged by their own comrades?"
"We are working for the good of the school," answered "Crackers," doggedly—"that's our motto."