EUSTACE 
 'WILLIRMS
 
 I 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UMVEKSITro 
 C*UFOIW, A 
 
 SAN DIEGO
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK
 
 MEN TUMBLING OVER EACH OTHER."
 
 THE 
 
 SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK 
 
 BY 
 
 EUSTICE WILLIAMS 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 "THAT KENTUCKY CAMPAIGN," ETC. 
 
 Hlustrntrt bu 
 L. J. BRIDGMAN 
 
 BOSTON 
 DANA ESTES & COMPANY 
 
 PUBLISHERS
 
 Copyright, 1900 
 BY DANA ESTES & COMPANY 
 
 Colonial 
 
 Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co. 
 Boston, Mass., U.S.A.
 
 DEDICATED 
 TO THE MEMORY OF 
 
 Captain IMtlliam N. 
 
 THOUGH GONE TO THE GREAT BEYOND, HE STILL LIVES IN 
 
 OUR HEARTS. THE INFLUENCE OF HIS LOFTY EXAMPLE, 
 
 THE RESULT OF HIS LIFE'S GREAT WORK, CAN 
 
 NEVER PASS AWAY. THEY ARE RICH 
 
 AND ENDURING LEGACIES
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 "MEN TUMBLING OVER EACH OTHER" . Frontispiece 
 " A GENERAL BATTLE BEGAN " .... 23 
 
 " ' YOU DIRTY DOGS ! ' " 56 
 
 THE MYSTERIOUS RIDER 71 
 
 " ' THEY KNOW YOUR SIGNALS ! '" . . . .92 
 
 " THE DOOR WOULD HAVE BEEN KNOCKED FROM 
 
 ITS HINGES" . . . . . . .126 
 
 "<FOR UNYIELDING JUSTICE OR MERCY?'" . .158 
 "'I KNOW HE WILL REDEEM HIMSELF!'" . . II
 
 THE 
 
 SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 COME, boys," said the coach, "wake 
 up, get some life in you. Every- 
 body try hard. Now play." But it was no 
 better this time than it had been twenty 
 times before. We came at it as if we 
 were afraid of each other, stumbling over 
 and running into one another, more like an 
 awkward lot of youngsters than a great 
 eleven. On this trial big Engle and little 
 Harkis had bumped heads, and both felt it, 
 too, even through their long hair. So, as we 
 gathered around the ball again, we all stood 
 up and paused a moment in order to give 
 the left and right half-backs a chance to 
 rearrange their craniums on the inside and 
 ease the pain on the outside. 
 
 The coach said nothing. It was such a
 
 12 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 miserable blunder of what we had hoped 
 would develop into a very fine play. 
 Though he was too charitable to pass any 
 harsh criticism upon us, still I thought I 
 could see a line of contemptuous pity around 
 his mouth. There was a heartless laugh 
 from among half a dozen " subs," and a dis- 
 tant shout of derision from the curious 
 younger boys, who had climbed a tree at 
 one side of the field to get a glimpse over 
 the tall fence and so obtrude themselves 
 upon the secret rehearsal of signals. 
 
 " Line up again," said Mr. Mathews, our 
 coach, in a patient voice, after Engle and 
 Harkis had forgotten their head bumping. 
 " Now be careful. Don't come in behind 
 too quickly, Allen, you make them tangle 
 up there on the line. You see, it's entirely 
 a tackle play with the wedge formation to 
 help them open it up. Wait a minute, 
 Russell; suppose you give Sulden a try at 
 quarter." 
 
 The sub whose name was called pulled 
 off his sweater and ran quickly in behind 
 the line.
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 13 
 
 " Do you know this sequence ? " asked Mr. 
 Mathews. 
 
 " I think I do ; what is it ? " replied 
 Sulden, crouching down behind the centre. 
 
 "Oh, you know, 8-41-13-5," growled 
 " Potsey " Zell, the centre rush. 
 
 " Yes," said Mr. Mathews, " that's it. Now 
 everybody be careful. Let her go." 
 
 "8-41-13-5," called Captain Allen. 
 
 There was a bending of long-haired heads, 
 a sudden turning and a quick start, a heavy 
 rush of feet at short intervals, and we had 
 run through the sequence correctly, includ- 
 ing the difficult tackle play, for the first 
 time since we had been trying it. 
 
 We paused for further instructions from 
 Mr. Mathews, who was coming at a trot to 
 catch up with us. 
 
 There was a faint and distant cheer from 
 the tree, " Rah, rah, Belle Monte ! " 
 
 " You are all right, you bet, Sulden," 
 shouted one of the gang of subs as they 
 came running toward us. 
 
 " Well done, boys," said Mr. Mathews, " if 
 you can just keep it up we will try it on the
 
 14 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 second eleven to-morrow. Now, Sulden, run 
 them through some of those others, and 
 throw in the tackle play about every third 
 or fourth one." 
 
 " I should say it was all right," said Sulden, 
 standing up very straight, and looking first 
 from one man to another and finally at Mr. 
 Mathews. " It went like clockwork. In 
 order to run off a hard trick a team has to 
 be started right. We made only one break, 
 and that was coming through the wedge 
 tackle play. Wilkins was too slow in get- 
 ting a start, and as I was already under way 
 he nearly tripped me up." 
 
 I did not notice this. What was the use ? 
 Sulden knew as well as I that he swung too 
 far out and had gotten in my way, but I did 
 not care to wrangle with him. 
 
 " I did notice a little hitch," said Mr. 
 Mathews, " but I could not make out what 
 it was. Wilkins," he continued, turning 
 toward me, "you should start quicker, and 
 when you get under way don't stop to think, 
 but hustle. Try to work your mind and 
 your body at the same time."
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 15 
 
 My brother, who made Princeton 'Varsity 
 the year before, told me once never to answer 
 back a coach on the field, but listen to his 
 words carefully and obey him the very best 
 way I could. I only nodded to Mr. Mathews 
 and turned into my place. 
 
 As I crouched down in the line again, I 
 glanced back between my legs and saw 
 little Russell standing some twenty yards 
 down the field. He was slowly working his 
 arms into his sweater, and there seemed to 
 be a disconsolate, downcast air about him 
 which aroused my sympathy very much. 
 Just then the ball was put in play, and 
 when we stopped to line up I looked around 
 once more. You see, it went very hard with 
 him, veteran that he was, to be displaced for 
 inefficiency by a young sub. But the team 
 had been making a failure of this new and 
 intricate tackle play solely on account of his 
 blunders, and he realised this as well as the 
 rest of us. I was not his only sympathiser, 
 for several others were looking back, and 
 even old "Potsey" Zell glanced over his 
 shoulder once. He had been our comrade
 
 1 6 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 in arms on many a hard-fought field and we 
 knew him not only as our quarter-back but 
 as the quiet little fellow he always was. 
 While in most respects a fine player, still 
 Russell had his great fault. He was a fast 
 runner, a swift and accurate passer, and, as 
 all the boys used to say, tackled like a fiend. 
 However, he was the slowest man on the 
 team to see through a new trick, and, being 
 at quarter, of course this became all the more 
 apparent. He never made a mistake after 
 a formation once became fixed in his head, 
 but the trouble lay in getting it there. This 
 seemed a strange thing, too, for he was one 
 of the best and quickest mathematicians in 
 the whole school, and the way he translated 
 Horace delighted the " Cap'n's " soul. Still 
 he was very slow on football tricks. 
 
 This, as I said, caused confusion on the 
 new tackle play, though we were hoping that 
 Russell might soon catch on and all would 
 be well. That trick, however, was a real 
 poser for him, and at last Captain Allen and 
 Mr. Mathews saw that something must be 
 done. So they decided to take out Russell
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. I/ 
 
 and give Sulden a trial. We might have 
 dropped this tackle play for the advantage 
 of keeping Russell in his place, but there 
 were three or four other new and complex 
 ones for us to learn after we had mastered 
 this. Besides, it was now Tuesday and we 
 had no time to spare. The great game took 
 place on Saturday. Everything should be 
 in fine working order by that time. 
 
 Sulden, the boys said, was a right nice 
 sort of a fellow, but he had a " big head." It 
 was his first session at Belle Monte, and I 
 suppose he presumed too much for a young- 
 ster, though he could undoubtedly play good 
 football. He was one of the quickest boys 
 I ever saw, and possessed an especial knack 
 for the very thing of which Russell's weak- 
 ness consisted. It did not seem exactly the 
 right thing for a young sub to jump in and 
 crowd out an old hand like Russell, but at 
 Belle Monte the best man was always 
 chosen for the place. Past services or 
 other influences were never considered. 
 All applicants for both football and base- 
 ball teams submitted to this merciless
 
 1 8 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 code, and the whole school took a pride 
 in it. 
 
 Yet it made us sad to think that there 
 was a possibility of Russell's watching from 
 the side line the all-important contest near 
 at hand. 
 
 Belle Monte 's team was, with a couple of 
 exceptions, formed of the same men who 
 had composed it for two seasons past. This 
 was the reason of our strength, in which 
 every scholar of the famous old school 
 gloried. It was their dearest boast that 
 Belle Monte had not known defeat on the 
 football field for two whole years, and now 
 she was nearly through a third season of 
 unbroken triumphs. Belle Monte may have 
 been a great educational institution, but in 
 our eyes just then it stood most important 
 as holding the football championship of the 
 state. They all looked up to us and we 
 were proud of it. 
 
 Will I ever forget that game, two years 
 before, when we started upon our great 
 record ? It was my first game of importance 
 at school, in fact the first hard game in
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 19 
 
 which I had ever taken part. Randall- 
 Masons' were the acknowledged champions 
 before then. Our team was green and its 
 strength unknown, while theirs was said to 
 have been made up of the best players in 
 the state. Rumour even hinted that one 
 or two of them had received matriculation 
 inducements from certain big universities. 
 
 Will I ever forget my feeling of awe when 
 they came trotting out on the field in their 
 mud-bespattered suits, or the rattling yell 
 with which the large delegation of their 
 fellow students received them ? I will never 
 cease to remember that queer sensation of 
 fear and excitement I had at the kick-off, or 
 my feelings when on the first line up I got a 
 good look at the man opposite me, who, Mr. 
 Mathews said, " was the crack young end in 
 all that part of the country." It was a hard 
 struggle and a well earned victory, and, 
 though battered and bruised, we were borne 
 smiling off the field by our schoolmates, 
 who were raving maniacs in the delirium of 
 their joy. From that time on we had drawn 
 greatness to ourselves. One after another
 
 20 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 we overthrew St. John's College, Smith's 
 Institute, Fisher's Military, Pauloffs, and 
 several others not so important. Then came 
 that Thanksgiving Day game with Ashville. 
 This school was only twenty miles away, and 
 being the nearest was of course our bitterest 
 rival. In baseball and field athletics it had 
 always been the most desperate sort of nip 
 and tuck between us, while in football it 
 was even worse. Though the struggle for 
 supremacy had been nearly equal, still it 
 strikes me, from what I knew of records and 
 traditions, that Ashville had gotten a shade 
 the best of us during all the history of our 
 contests. Naturally the bare knowledge of 
 such a thing made us at Belle Monte, if pos- 
 sible, even more bitter. Besides, it seemed 
 to me that the boys who went to Ashville, 
 and those who attended Belle Monte, were 
 so entirely different. Belle Monte was a sort 
 of a half school, half college, with board- 
 ing and day scholars combined, though the 
 former largely predominated. Ashville was 
 a technical school and there were none but 
 boarders. A large proportion of the boys
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 21 
 
 at Belle Monte were sons of prosperous 
 farmers in that section of the state. At 
 Ashville most all the boys were sons of 
 well-to-do men in large cities. They were 
 the products of athletic clubs and boat 
 houses, and were a sturdy race. They had 
 a way of calling us " rubes " down at Belle 
 Monte, which infuriated us to the last 
 degree. At least they used to do so 
 before Belle Monte became great. Though 
 we knew Ashville to be a noble enemy, still 
 rivalry was so bitter we would not admit 
 such a thing, except in our most reasonable 
 moods. I fancy it must have been about 
 the same way on the other side. 
 
 But as to that Thanksgiving Day game. 
 It was our first and only meeting of the year. 
 They had heard of our successive triumphs 
 with apprehension, while we had heard of 
 theirs with a corresponding feeling. When 
 the day of battle arrived, we had the better 
 of them, as far as prestige was concerned. 
 They suffered defeat at the hands of Randall- 
 Mason, and only by the merest " fluke " 
 managed to beat Pauloff's. We were both
 
 22 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 trained rigorously to the last day. The 
 game was a great event. It took place on 
 Belle Monte 's field, which was the best in 
 the state. More people were there than I 
 had ever before seen at any football match, 
 except when I saw Princeton beat Yale. 
 Both schools were arrayed on either side of 
 the field, with crowds of their respective 
 friends and adherents. 
 
 But the game itself, ah, it was the struggle 
 of a lifetime ! In the first half neither side 
 scored, and we lost little Harkis because of 
 a bad ankle. We had the wind in the second, 
 and the splendid manner Allen would send 
 his punts sailing far down near their goal- 
 line fairly took the starch out of them. 
 There were only ten more minutes to play, 
 when Engle got through and went for forty 
 yards before he was thrown. Then, up and 
 away, and Allen had dodged around the end 
 for twenty odd. We sent rugged old Moore 
 plowing through for ten, and then, for it 
 was only a short distance, I took it over 
 the line. This nearly killed them, and in 
 five minutes we had it over again. We came
 
 "A GENERAL BATTLE BEGAN."
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 2$ 
 
 back, and went right after them once more, 
 with our friends on the left side crazy with 
 joy, and the other side dark and ominously 
 silent. We had it on the line, which in the 
 rule means over, when the whistle blew. 
 However, they claimed that one of our men 
 had shoved it up after time had been called. 
 Then something happened which put a last- 
 ing stain on the names of both schools. It 
 came about so suddenly that no one was 
 ever certain how it really did occur. Our 
 side of the story is that some one hit Russell 
 and knocked him down. I thought it was 
 Markham, their crack guard, who, by the 
 way, is first cousin of Sulden ; but nobody 
 ever knew positively. Instantly a fearful 
 slugging was on between the two teams. I 
 ran in and tried to stop it, but somebody hit 
 me so hard on the back of the neck that I 
 immediately gave up my efforts as peace- 
 maker and took a hand myself. As soon as 
 the fight started, both crowds ran into the 
 field, and a general battle began. It took 
 twenty minutes for all the professors of both 
 schools, every peaceably inclined person on
 
 24 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 the grounds, and those " rube " police, who 
 had been especially detailed for the occa- 
 sion, to stop the trouble. They say it was 
 twenty minutes, but I did not see it done 
 myself. It seemed to me more like two 
 hours. The last good look I had at what 
 was happening around me, was just before 
 the two schools came together. They did 
 not straggle into the field pell-mell, they 
 seemed to rush out, each side in a solid 
 mass. It reminded me even then of what is 
 described in Caesar as " the onslaught of the 
 soldiers." But this was all I saw, and it only 
 consisted of a lightning glimpse over the 
 shoulder of an Ashville man who was doing 
 his best to knock my head off. I rushed 
 him through, and drove my knee into his 
 stomach as I did so. He doubled up on the 
 ground like a jack-knife. These tactics may 
 not have been so fair, but what of that in 
 such a melee? I hardly straightened up, 
 when somebody grabbed me from behind, 
 around the neck. With a desperate struggle, 
 I turned and found it to be Markham. In 
 the meantime he had been doing his best to
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 2/ 
 
 disarrange my features with his knuckles, 
 and was succeeding admirably. I clinched 
 closer to him, and we went down. There 
 we lay rolling and struggling on the ground, 
 with that raging, howling mob tramping 
 over us. When they finally stopped the 
 fight, Markham and I were pulled apart. I 
 remember we achieved the distinction of 
 being the last ones separated. And I had 
 started in as a peacemaker ! 
 
 We both bore our honours of battle very 
 heavily. At least I know I did, and hoped at 
 the time he suffered equally. I did not mind 
 my black eye and swollen mouth so much, 
 but I was sore all over for two weeks after- 
 ward, where they had walked on me. Talk 
 about football for roughness, why the des- 
 perate game we had just won was as gentle 
 child's play to that fight. I did not know 
 which school got the worst of it. I do know, 
 though, that two of our boys were laid up 
 afterward, and any number nursed black 
 eyes and battered noses for days. Their 
 list of " killed and wounded " never reached 
 us. I recall distinctly looking out of the
 
 28 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK: 
 
 gymnasium bath-room window at several 
 carriages with their injured driving out of 
 our grounds toward the depot. I remember 
 expressing grim joy thereat to my comrades. 
 The professors had run us all indoors, and, 
 having declared a state of siege, were patrol- 
 ling the grounds to make us stay there so 
 no one could get out and investigate. The 
 depot agent said afterward that he had seen 
 several Ashville men who appeared to be 
 pretty well trimmed up and a good many 
 others who wore bad eyes and bloody noses. 
 Then there was a funny side to the famous 
 battle or, rather, infamous riot Some of the 
 boys told of how they had seen " Cap'n " 
 (Captain McDonnell, our dearly beloved 
 principal) come charging into the fighting 
 crowd, snatching boys here and pulling them 
 there in his efforts to restore peace, and how 
 a big, tall Ashville fellow with a long cane 
 had taken a smash at " Cap'n's " high beaver 
 hat, and ruined it at one fell blow ; also how, 
 for this outrage, the big, tall fellow had his 
 legs knocked from under him and was tram- 
 pled upon. There was another one about
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 2Q 
 
 meek little Mr. Woodman, the English pro- 
 fessor, who did his best but was thrown over 
 the fence, so some of the boys insisted, and 
 had to be helped to his room. The efforts 
 of the Ashville teachers were very effective. 
 Professor Coleman, their principal, who, with 
 several of his assistants, had been watching 
 the game from a carnage near by, was active 
 in quelling the disturbance. He is a perfect 
 giant, and our boys were careful not to aim 
 any blows at him. There was another story 
 which we all loved to hear. It told of how 
 Mr. Mathews had plowed his way right 
 through the middle of the fight, and had 
 done more toward stopping it than all the 
 others put together. Some of the boys 
 heard the angry words that " Cap'n " and 
 Professor Coleman exchanged after peace 
 had been restored. The Ashville boys, 
 " Cap'n " said, were a miserable set of hood- 
 lums. Professor Coleman responded that 
 every boy in Belle Monte was a rough 
 and a rowdy. More hot words followed. 
 " Cap'n " said that if athletic sports could 
 not be conducted in peace and as became
 
 3<D TJIE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 gentlemen they should not be carried on at 
 all. Professor Coleman responded in kind. 
 
 " We don't want anything more to do with 
 Belle Monte ! " he said. 
 
 " And you shall not have anything more 
 to do with us, either," answered " Cap'n." 
 This passed when everybody was excited, 
 but mutual apologies followed between the 
 professors afterward. However, they agreed 
 it was best for the interest of all concerned 
 that the two schools should not compete in 
 athletic sports again. 
 
 So it came about that Belle Monte and 
 Ashville had nothing more to do with each 
 other, though the rivalry was, if anything, 
 increased. We did not play them baseball 
 that spring, though the championship of the 
 State lay between us, nor did we enter into 
 the same track games. Then the whole of 
 next year nothing passed but criminations 
 and recriminations. Still the rivalry existed. 
 
 The present season made our third of un- 
 broken football triumphs. Though Ashville 
 had a good team, yet it did not make our 
 showing by many points. However, their
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 31 
 
 baseball record of the previous spring had 
 been a trifle better than Belle Monte's. 
 But we always held that football was the 
 only true test in athletics. 
 
 As has been explained, practically our 
 entire team was made up of the same men 
 who had composed it three years before. 
 For most of us it made our last session, 
 hence the redoubled efforts to uphold that 
 record. 
 
 So you can easily understand why this 
 next Saturday's game with Ashville was 
 looked forward to as the greatest event in 
 school since the fight on Belle Monte's field. 
 The boys talked of nothing else, after ne- 
 gotiations for the game had commenced. 
 It was first necessary to gain consent of the 
 two principals. Though a difficult matter, 
 the diplomats, of which there were several in 
 each school, finally accomplished it. Then 
 one afternoon Captain Markham, of the Ash- 
 ville team, and a couple of others came down 
 to Belle Monte to arrange for the game. 
 They all met in my room to " fix " things. 
 Besides Allen, there were Harkis, Engle,
 
 32 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 and several others who represented Belle 
 Monte. The Ashville captain and I shook 
 hands over our fight of two years before, and 
 we had a good laugh about it. All of us 
 from both schools were on the best of terms 
 in short order. It was agreed that there 
 should be a game on the Saturday before 
 Thanksgiving. They suggested that we go 
 to Ashville, while we thought it would be 
 best to play at Belle Monte, we had such 
 fine grounds. 
 
 It was finally decided that the game should 
 be played on neutral territory, and Win- 
 chester, which is half-way between Ashville 
 and Battleton, was chosen as the place. 
 
 I was sitting in the reading-room, just 
 before supper the afternoon of secret practice, 
 told of earlier, when Sulden entered. He 
 seemed all smiles and good spirits, and, as 
 there was no one else present, he immediately 
 launched upon the subject uppermost in his 
 mind. For reasons I will explain later he 
 had always treated me as his confidant, and, 
 being a new boy in school and, besides, nearly 
 two years my junior, looked up to me.
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 33 
 
 " Ha, ha," he said, clapping his hands, " that 
 was a great signal rehearsal \ve had ; about 
 the best, I believe, this season." 
 
 " Yes, it was pretty fair," I replied. 
 
 " Pretty fair! What are you talking about! 
 Why, everybody down-stairs said we ran off 
 that hard tackle play like clockwork." 
 
 Just here I felt tempted to give him a 
 lecture, for telling Mr. Mathews he nearly 
 tripped over by my swinging into him, but on 
 second thought I concluded it would be 
 more in keeping with my age and experience 
 not to notice the affair. I looked very 
 grave, as he continued: "Now if we had 
 worked that tackle play and the sequence 
 with it in the game against Pauloff's, last 
 Saturday, we would have run a bigger score 
 on them ; or if we could have even worked 
 the sequence on Randall-Mason, Saturday 
 before last, there in the second half, when 
 they went all to pieces, the result would 
 have been more like thirty-six than sixteen 
 to nothing. But Russell, you know," and 
 he smiled in a deprecatory manner, and 
 shook his head.
 
 34 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 " Russell," said I, trying to speak quietly, 
 but feeling that I was becoming angry every 
 moment, "is the best quarterback in this 
 State, and he will prove it next Saturday, just 
 as he has often done so for the past three 
 years." 
 
 Sulden was silent for a moment, and then, 
 picking up a book and turning the leaves, he 
 replied : " For all you know, he may not play 
 in next Saturday's game." 
 
 This was quite enough to make me mad 
 and justify a lecture. He knew I usually 
 put up with his forwardness, but this I could 
 not tolerate. 
 
 " Now, look here, Sulden," I said, sternly, 
 " this won't do. Because you were put in at 
 quarter to-day, it is no reason that you have 
 beaten Russell out of his place. You don't 
 remember how long he has played quarter 
 for Belle Monte. You don't know of the 
 many fine tackles and great runs he has 
 made. Maybe if you had seen him go 
 through the whole of St. John's team last 
 year, for eighty yards and a touch-down, you 
 wouldn't talk so glibly about beating him
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 35 
 
 out of his place. You are a pretty good 
 man, but you are young in the game. You 
 are quick enough and fast enough, but, 
 say, don't talk about beating Russell out of 
 his place, around here, when you have only 
 been in on one afternoon. You know you 
 were tried earlier in the year, and Mr. 
 Mathews said then that you were all right, 
 and would do well enough for next season. 
 But don't say anything more about it. 
 These boys would be very mad if they knew 
 you were talking that way." It was not near 
 the severe lecture I wanted to give him. 
 
 He replied, sarcastically : " I thought 
 this was old Belle Monte, where everybody 
 gets fair play and the best man wins. Next 
 year, humph ! " 
 
 I jumped up quickly from my chair: 
 " Why, you " but I stopped short, for at 
 that moment " Potsey " Zell appeared in the 
 doorway. 
 
 He did not notice anything out of the way, 
 but said something about the unusual tardi- 
 ness of supper, as he threw his big person 
 into an armchair.
 
 36 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 " It is rather late," I answered. 
 
 " Say, kid," said Zell, turning to Sulden 
 with a clumsy wave of his hand, " pretty 
 work there, this afternoon. Nice and quick. 
 You got away all right and made your team 
 hustle." 
 
 Sulden fairly glowed with the compliment. 
 Then Zell continued, in rather a more re- 
 served tone : " I guess by next year, when 
 Russell goes off to college, you will be the 
 man for the place. Ha ! ha ! " the big fellow 
 roared, springing up, for at that moment the 
 supper call chimed out. Sulden did not 
 have a chance to answer, but seemed very 
 thoughtful as he walked away. 
 
 The Sulden family and ours had known 
 each other a couple of generations. They 
 lived down home and were all nice people. 
 I liked them well enough. Before Harry 
 came up to Belle Monte I had never seen 
 him much, as he went with a younger set of 
 boys. When they finally decided to send 
 him, Mrs. Sulden asked me to look after his 
 welfare. She wanted to know all about the 
 school. Of course, I told her that it was the
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 37 
 
 finest place under the sun, and if Harry did 
 not like it there, he would never be satisfied 
 anywhere. He could not room with me, 
 though, because my old friend Harkis and 
 I lived together, but he should be next door 
 to us. She thanked me in such kind words, 
 and said such loving, tender things about 
 her son, whom she dreaded sending away to 
 "influences she feared might not be the 
 best," that it brought me then to realise why 
 my mother had been so distressed when I 
 first went away. 
 
 I always liked Mrs. Sulden. She had 
 been so kind and nice to me when I was a 
 little fellow. My mother, too, thought a 
 great deal of her. Then there was Evelyn, 
 Harry's sister, older than him by more than 
 a year. She thought so much of Harry, and 
 she, too, had made me promise to take care 
 of him. Everybody said she was such a fine 
 girl. All of our family thought a great deal 
 of her. She had real black hair, and eyes 
 that most people said were hazel, but some- 
 how I always thought they seemed blue. 
 And, by the way, there was something
 
 38 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 unusual in her manner, which had a queer 
 effect upon me, if no one else. As a general 
 thing, I flattered myself that I was possessed 
 of some dignity for my years, but her very 
 presence made me feel young. Maybe it 
 was because lots of her male friends were 
 older than I, most of them grown men, 
 or possibly because she had graduated, while 
 I was still plodding away at school-books. 
 But I had known her practically all my life. 
 Many was the summer I had played tennis 
 every afternoon on the Suldens' court. So 
 why should I ever have been ill at ease for 
 one moment in her presence ? Yet I was. 
 The analysis of this question I had long 
 since given over, and only put it all down 
 to my own foolishness. 
 
 Harry came on away to school with me, 
 and, being a strong, athletic young fellow, 
 went right into football. Mrs. Sulden im- 
 mediately wrote to both of us, objecting very 
 strongly to his playing. I just wrote right 
 back, and told her that if she wanted him to 
 make a man of himself he had better begin, 
 for he could never learn younger. Then I
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 39 
 
 explained to her that we did not play foot- 
 ball for the sole and only purpose of break- 
 ing each other's necks, or maiming one 
 another for life. Some men got hurt, more 
 or less, I admitted, but I also pointed out 
 that many people were killed every day 
 walking along the street. A few players did 
 get badly hurt, but almost invariably they 
 were not in proper condition to start with. 
 Harry was in the best condition, thanks to 
 careful training. Oh, I gave her all the old 
 stock arguments, and I believe she saw 
 things in a better light after that. She must 
 have been convinced against her will, though, 
 for she never wrote Harry a letter which did 
 not contain something about " that terrible 
 football." However, she felt considerably 
 relieved when I wrote and told her that 
 Harry was only a sub, and very probably 
 would not take part in any of the big games. 
 Yet, again, she was very much horrified when 
 she realised that subs were to take the places 
 of men who might get hurt. Poor lady, I 
 am afraid she suffered a great deal of un- 
 necessary anxiety on account of that son
 
 4O THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 of hers, and all the time I felt in my inmost 
 heart that he did not deserve the half of it. 
 
 I was late going up to French, next day, 
 after second recess, when Sulden stopped 
 me in the corridor. 
 
 "Say," he said, catching me by the arm,. 
 " I've got something to show you." 
 
 "Well, hurry up," I replied, "for Mr. 
 Mathews will be jumping on me if I am 
 much later." Mr. Mathews, besides being 
 gymnasium instructor and football coach, 
 was a language teacher. 
 
 Sulden quickly pulled out a letter. 
 
 " I have just gotten this from the old lady," 
 he said, " and, what do you think ? she and 
 Evelyn are coming up to see me. They get 
 here Friday, or maybe sooner, so she says, 
 and are going to stay over until after Thanks- 
 giving. At least, the old lady will, but 
 Evelyn, it seems, goes on to Charleston, 
 about the middle of next week, to visit Aunt 
 Sallie. But, say, I must certainly get into 
 either Saturday's game or the Thanksgiving 
 Day match, or both of them. I must," he 
 continued, excitedly, as I did not reply and
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 41 
 
 started on to my class room. " Well, I'll see 
 you when school's out," he called after me. 
 
 I was too busy with my own thoughts 
 to reply. 
 
 " Why in the world," I asked myself, 
 ."would Evelyn come all the way up here 
 for such a short visit, and then go on to 
 Charleston ? Pauloff's was at Charleston, 
 and Jack Harding, who also lived down 
 home, was at Pauloff's. Jack was a very 
 nice sort of a fellow, but well, I never 
 liked him much. He was ahvays too care- 
 fully dressed, and seemed too dead sure of 
 himself. " Why did Evelyn prefer Charles- 
 ton ? " Just here I turned into Mr. Math- 
 ew's room, with my eyes fixed, as I supposed, 
 very studiously upon my French reader. 
 " What was the matter with Belle Monte ? 
 Why did she " 
 
 At that moment I was recalled to my 
 present surroundings. 
 
 " Well, Wilkins," said a stern voice, " you 
 are very late to be walking in here in such 
 a trance." I quickly looked up, and dis- 
 covered Mr. Mathews's eye fixed severely
 
 42 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 upon me on one side, and the whole class 
 grinning at me on the other. 
 
 " Why so late ? I have been around once 
 already. Are you trying to make your 
 translations upside down ? I'll be satisfied 
 if you have them correct, right side up." 
 
 There was a shout from the boys, and, 
 glancing down, I found that I was holding 
 my book the wrong way. With no accept- 
 able excuse to offer, I did not venture to 
 make any, but sank into my place as quickly 
 as possible. 
 
 " Thinking about her ? " suggested Moore, 
 in a loud aside, as I passed him, and the class 
 roared again. 
 
 " Working out football tricks ? " said Rich- 
 ards, who was some distance away, in a 
 stage whisper, and there was a suppressed 
 ripple. 
 
 " Now, boys, let's get to work," said Mr. 
 Mathews, smiling indulgently, " and as you 
 have been late, Wilkins, begin and translate 
 that whole third section." 
 
 There was regular practice that afternoon 
 against the second team. Captain Allen
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 43 
 
 put Sulden in at quarter, to his undisguised 
 delight. Russell did not seem to mind so 
 very much being assigned to the " scrub." 
 Yet there was a subdued air about him 
 which made all his old comrades feel very 
 badly when they looked over the line and 
 saw him facing them. 
 
 " Now, see here," said Mr. Mathews, " I 
 want you ' scrubs ' to break through this first 
 team's line and smash up the interference. 
 Use your hands to come through. Don't 
 stop for anything; knock 'em down and run 
 over 'em. If they want to gain ground, 
 make them work hard, and if you have the 
 ball, hold up that line. Whatever you 
 do, don't let those guards and tackles 
 through." 
 
 " Yes," said Allen, " give 'em the knee 
 and the shoulder; stop them any way you 
 can. Go for us all the time. Tear us to 
 pieces." 
 
 The second-team youngsters grinned 
 consciously as they listened to these very 
 desperate instructions. I do not see, though, 
 why they should have, for they got identi-
 
 44 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 cally the same instructions every practice 
 afternoon. Still it always appealed to their 
 sense of humour when told to do all these 
 terrible things to the first team. 
 
 That was a good, strong " scrub " eleven, 
 and it never failed to give us a hard fight. 
 There were some heavy men, and fast ones, 
 too, upon it. Generally Mr. Mathews him- 
 self would be one of them, with his athletic 
 person enveloped in his old college football 
 armour. He had a lame ankle just now, 
 however, which he received a short time 
 before on the floor of the " gym." 
 
 The way that second team would buck 
 our line and try our ends was something 
 terrific. Often they made us work as hard 
 as if we were in a match game. Every one 
 watching practice, which was usually about 
 half the school, always encouraged the 
 "scrubs." Sometimes it became wildly 
 exciting, when they managed to get the 
 ball down anywhere in our territory. If the 
 umpire decided against them, the boys had 
 been known to run out in the field and 
 threaten to " duck " him. If ever by any
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 45 
 
 chance they scored on us, what an unmer- 
 ciful guying would be our lot ! 
 
 This strong second eleven was undoubt- 
 edly one of the main reasons of our fine 
 record. It gave us great practice all the 
 time. Each one of the boys on it was doing 
 his best to " make " the first team and beat 
 us out of our positions. 
 
 That afternoon practice was even warmer 
 than usual. We went against the " scrub " 
 line and around its ends with lots of strength 
 and speed. They paid us back in our own 
 coin, too, when they had the ball. Practice 
 was about half over when some kind of a 
 hitch behind our line became evident. The 
 ball was downed two or three times before it 
 
 
 
 had gotten well started. On our next try I 
 saw the trouble. Russell came right over 
 our line, by jumping from the back of the 
 other centre, and " nailed " Sulden before he 
 could deliver the ball to the runner. This 
 was pointed out to Zell, and he placed him- 
 self so as to protect his quarter. Still, Russell 
 played a desperate game all around. He 
 dived through the interference and picked
 
 46 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 out the runner. On plays into the line he 
 got right down under everybody and stopped 
 them. As I said, he was one of the finest 
 tacklers I ever saw and seemed at his very 
 best that afternoon. If Sulden had shown 
 up strong where Russell was weak, he also 
 began to display a tendency to weakness 
 where Russell was strong. He did not 
 seem to possess any particular fancy for 
 getting underneath heavy mass plays. 
 He preferred to -"lay" back and take 
 the runner after he got through. That 
 style will not do, as any football player 
 knows. 
 
 Once they came toward my end, and 
 suddenly " cut in " before reaching me. 
 Harkis and Moore broke the interference 
 all to pieces, and Sulden was close behind. 
 For a moment he had a clear space in which 
 to nab the runner and let him down without 
 gain. It required a long diving tackle, and 
 though one which might jar a fellow a little, 
 it was by no means impossible. Sulden 
 faltered in his course and then turned to 
 the side. Instantly the opportunity was lost,
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 47 
 
 and the runner gained ten yards before I 
 could get him. 
 
 " Sulden, Sulden, what was the matter 
 there ? " asked Mr. Mathews, running up. 
 
 " Matter with me?" he answered, angrily, 
 "nothing at all! I thought Moore would 
 take the man." 
 
 " Moore was under the interference when 
 the runner reached the line. How could he 
 have taken him ? " 
 
 " Well, there was Harkis," Sulden replied, 
 sullenly. Harkis took off his nose-mask 
 and was about to speak, when Mr. Mathews 
 said : " Harkis went in first. There was but 
 little chance for him to get the man. It was 
 your tackle. You shouldn't have shirked it, 
 and don't do it again." 
 
 I looked at Sulden. He was chewing 
 viciously against the rubber guard between 
 his teeth. There was anger in his eyes. 
 He withdrew the guard from his mouth, as 
 if to reply. 
 
 " Shut up, Sulden," I shouted. I do hate 
 to hear a man answer a coach back on the 
 field.
 
 48 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 We had about five more minutes of prac- 
 tice, when I noticed Mr. Mathews whisper 
 something to Allen. On the next line up, 
 our captain said : " Russell, come over here 
 and try quarter for awhile. Sulden, take his 
 place." 
 
 The change was made in silence, but the 
 stormy look that clouded Sulden's face I 
 well knew meant something he would have 
 been afraid to utter there. Allen tried 
 nothing but new tricks during the rest of 
 the practice. Though Russell was rather 
 slow in getting them started, still he sur- 
 prised us all by doing a great deal better 
 than usual. 
 
 Thursday's practice was the last before 
 the game. This did not count another 
 secret rehearsal of signals on Friday. By 
 Wednesday afternoon every one in school 
 knew of the contest that had sprung up 
 between Russell and Sulden. It immediately 
 became an all-pervading topic, and conse- 
 quently the subject of much bitter argument. 
 They talked of it so much that the whole 
 affair was highly exaggerated, and a great
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK, 49 
 
 many of the boys were really brought to 
 believe that Russell had been beaten out 
 of his place by Sulden. Nearly all the 
 younger boys and subs seemed to be 
 glad of it. On the other hand, the team's 
 regular members were much distressed, and 
 most of the older boys felt the same way. 
 Several members of the Club of the Allies, 
 which, I believe, usually represented the con- 
 servative element in -Belle Monte, if there 
 was such a thing, went so far as to send a 
 petition to Allen in Russell's behalf. It 
 was said that this petition even hinted at a 
 threat as to what the Allies would do in the 
 next election of athletic association officers, 
 if they did not have their wish granted. 
 This was an outrage, and the Allies for once 
 in their career found that they could not 
 dictate. Allen was an Ally himself. In 
 fact, most of us members of the team were, 
 besides many of the older boys. Still, the 
 club to which a fellow belonged did not 
 make any difference with our captain in 
 selecting his team. 
 
 So by Thursday afternoon the whole
 
 50 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 school was considerably wrought up over 
 who would be chosen to play quarter in the 
 approaching game. Nearly everybody came 
 out to see us practise. Sulden, whose locker 
 was next to mine, appeared to be a good deal 
 excited while putting on his clothes. I'll 
 admit I felt sorry for the boy, but still I did 
 not want to see him beat Russell out, right 
 here on the eve of the greatest game we 
 would play in two years. Privately, I did 
 not think he was nearly so good a quarter 
 as Russell, but of course I had nothing to 
 say to any one on the subject. It was our 
 captain's duty to settle such questions in the 
 way he should think best. Still I could not 
 help feeling a little sorry for Sulden, though 
 there was nothing in the boy for which I 
 had an especial liking. There seemed so 
 much against him in the struggle, and in my 
 opinion he had so little chance. He was the 
 under dog and as such claimed my sym- 
 pathy. I have always been foolish on that 
 score, and to save my life could never help 
 feeling sorry for the fellow who is about to 
 get or had gotten the worst of it. Though
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 51 
 
 certainly loyal to Russell, still I felt sorry for 
 Sulden. Then there was Mrs. Sulden, she 
 was such a nice lady, and would feel so dis- 
 tressed about Harry's disappointment, even 
 though it be over such a terrible thing as 
 football. Evelyn, too, I knew it would dis- 
 appoint her. In fact, upon looking at it in 
 this light, I could not decide whether it was 
 Russell's or Sulden's name I wanted to see 
 posted for quarterback in the great game 
 with Ashville, Saturday. 
 
 To divert the boy's mind I spoke to him. 
 
 " Harry," said I, buckling my belt, " when 
 does your mother and Evelyn get here ? " 
 
 " They are here now," he answered, sud- 
 denly, "and I'll catch it hot for not coming 
 to see them right away." 
 
 " I suppose you will go after practice ? " 
 
 " Yes, I will, that is, unless they come out 
 here to school before I can get there. It 
 would be just my luck for them to come 
 right now and make me miss part of this. 
 So much depends on it, too." I thought it 
 was best not to rebuke him then for speak- 
 ing that way about his mother and sister.
 
 52 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 " If you have no objection," I said, " I 
 would like to go see them with you, that 
 is, if old 'Ruff will give me a leave. I 
 want to hear how they all are, down 
 home." 
 
 " Of course, go with me," answered Sulden, 
 " I would rather have you than not The 
 old lady is going to jump all over me for 
 playing football." 
 
 At that moment Allen called us out, and 
 we went on down to the field. The whole 
 school was there, and, to all appearances, 
 much excited. 
 
 " Rah, rah, rah, Belle Monte ; rah, rah, rah, 
 Sulden ! " shouted the younger boys, as we 
 trotted out on the field and began to kick 
 the ball around. 
 
 Standing out some distance from the side 
 line were those extremists among the Allies 
 who I suspected had sent Allen that pe- 
 tition. 
 
 " Now, cap, you must do your duty," said 
 one, in a sharp tone, as Allen ran in their 
 direction to catch a long punt. 
 
 " Yes," said another, " do the correct
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 53 
 
 thing. Don't make a bad mistake right 
 here on the eve of a big game." 
 
 Allen bounded high in the air and snapped 
 the ball under his arm with an angry jerk. 
 Then, regaining his balance, he took a 
 couple of steps forward, dropped the oval 
 only to catch it on the instep of his strong 
 right foot and send it whirling and spinning 
 far down the field. At this, he turned sud- 
 denly and walked right into the middle of 
 the group. I knew what that determined 
 look on his face meant. 
 
 " Get off of this field," he said ; " get back, 
 get back behind those ropes," he continued, 
 spreading out his arms as if to push them. 
 
 There was an ominous pause, and I has- 
 tened forward, fearing there might be trou- 
 ble. Most of the boys were Allen's friends, 
 but they had so far forgotten themselves as 
 to try to influence him. 
 
 " I will give you to understand," he added, 
 " that I am at the head of this team, and I 
 will not take any suggestions I don't ask for 
 and don't want. You ought to be ashamed 
 of yourselves, you Allies. The whole school
 
 54 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 ought to be ashamed of itself for the way it's 
 acting." 
 
 The brief silence that followed was finally 
 broken by Humphries, who was quite a pol- 
 itician in school, but who, I think, had been 
 rather abashed by Allen's manly speech. 
 
 " Well," he said, half laughingly, " if Cap- 
 tain Allen tells us to get off the field and 
 shut up, we had better do the "one, though I 
 do not see that we are called upon to do the 
 other." 
 
 Without further words they all moved 
 back behind the ropes, and practice began. 
 I heard Humphries remarking later that it 
 was a pity to divide the school on such a 
 question, but that he intended to stick by his 
 friend Russell, no matter what happened. 
 
 There was a great yell from the members 
 of the First Year Club, and younger boys, 
 generally, when at the start Sulden was put 
 in at quarter. The Allies were threatening 
 and silent. 
 
 Soon, though, the change came. We had 
 hardly done ten minutes' work before Allen 
 and Mr. Mathews held a whispering confer-
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 55 
 
 ence. Any one could see what ailed Sulden's 
 playing, though I did my best to keep his 
 remissness from showing up. It was the 
 same old trouble. He ran the team well 
 enough, but did little or no tackling when 
 the "scrubs " had the ball. A quarterback's 
 duty, as taught at Belle Monte, was that he 
 should do a great deal of tackling before the 
 plays were well started. Sulden, however, 
 did not, but was " laying " back too much, 
 waiting until the runner had been cleared of 
 his interferers. 
 
 Allen told us to wait a minute. 
 
 "Sulden," he said, "suppose you try .quar- 
 ter over on the other side. Russell, come 
 around her for awhile." A cheer from the 
 older boys greeted this. Russell walked 
 quickly around to our side of the line. Sul- 
 den rose up from his crouching position, 
 but further than that he did not move. 
 There was a pause. 
 
 " Get back to where you belong, kid," was 
 the brutal comment of some one on the side 
 line. Sulden still hesitated. I am sure 
 Allen would never have tolerated this un-
 
 56 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 necessary delay but for his true kindness of 
 heart. Sulden looked helplessly at me and 
 back at Allen again. Then, in a burst of 
 passion, he pulled his nose-mask off and 
 flunor it on the ground. 
 
 o o 
 
 This brought forth a loud laugh from the 
 side line, followed by a long-drawn, derisive 
 " A-a-ah ! " It was an unusual sight for a 
 practice field. 
 
 Allen approached Sulden. 
 
 " Come now, Harry," he said, in a tone as 
 gentle as he might have used in speaking to 
 a woman, " we have to give every one a fair 
 show at Belle Monte." 
 
 I thought I saw a tear in the corner of 
 Sulden's eye, and was about -to speak up my- 
 self when he broke out, excitedly : " You 
 dirty dogs, you have put up this- " here 
 his voice became so choked he could say no 
 more. 
 
 " Sulden, oh, Sulden," called a boy, running 
 down the field toward us; "is Sulden down 
 there?" 
 
 " We did see him around here awhile 
 ago," I distinguished Humphries's voice in a
 
 "'YOU DIRTY DOGS!'"
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 59 
 
 sarcastic tone, but no one paid any attention 
 to it. 
 
 " Yes," answered Mr. Mathews, who had 
 been keeping himself in the background, 
 " what do you want with him ? " 
 
 " I want to tell him, sir," said the boy, 
 running up, "that there are some people at 
 4 Cap'n's ' who have come to see him." 
 
 This was an unlooked-for solution of the 
 trouble. Sulden picked up his guard and 
 without another word started on away. 
 
 " I'll excuse you from further practice," 
 said Allen, with a wave of his hand. Sulden 
 did not so much as reply with a glance, and 
 continued on his way off the field, sur- 
 rounded by twenty or thirty of his sympa- 
 thisers. 
 
 Of course the question as to who 
 should play quarter against Ashville had 
 been settled. Everybody was as certain of 
 that as if they had already seen it in the 
 posted list, over Allen's signature, on the 
 library door next day. 
 
 And now that the subject which so much 
 excited every one for two days past had been
 
 60 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 disposed of, it was as completely and quickly 
 dropped as it had been taken up. Every 
 boy was as much for Belle Monte now as 
 every other, no matter who played quarter- 
 back. The First Year Club was ready to 
 cheer Russell as wildly as his closest friends 
 among the Allies, if his achievements were 
 for the glory of Belle Monte. 
 
 Prominent among the individualities of 
 Belle Monte there existed what might be 
 termed school politics. This feature entered 
 into nearly everything. On any occasion 
 where a difference of opinion arose, the 
 school was sure to divide into parties, just 
 as it had done in the case of Sulden. The 
 election of the athletic association officers 
 always made an exciting contest each year. 
 Then the literary society officers were chosen 
 twice a year, and that made two more big 
 fights. There were several other elections 
 distributed at intervals through the session, 
 so politics always kept hot at Belle Monte. 
 The two clubs whose names have been men- 
 tioned were, primarily, opposing political or- 
 ganisations, each always striving to place its
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 6 1 
 
 friends into the positions of honour. The 
 Club of Allies was made up generally of 
 older boys. Any one could not be a mem- 
 ber unless he had been in school at least a 
 second session. It should not be supposed 
 that the First Year Club was composed of 
 only youngsters. When organised, some 
 years before, in opposition to the Allies, it 
 had been named the First Year Club ex- 
 pressly to call attention to the fact that 
 boys in school the first year could join. 
 It was a powerful organisation, and its 
 prestige, when election times came, nearly, 
 if not quite, equalled that of the Allies. 
 
 I was anxious to see the Suldens, and so 
 after practice looked around for Harry, but 
 could not find him. From this I supposed 
 he had already gone. Then I went to old 
 'Ruff and asked him for permission to get 
 off until supper time. He grumbled a 
 good deal about it, but finally allowed me 
 leave. 
 
 Mrs. Sulden and Evelyn seemed glad to 
 see me, and the sight of their familiar faces 
 was certainly a pleasure, for it reminded me
 
 62 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 of home. Of course they had messages for 
 me and a package from mother. This Mrs. 
 Sulden left the room to get. 
 
 I could easily see that Evelyn's manner 
 toward me had not changed a bit, though I 
 had not seen her for quite awhile. You 
 must not think that she treated me with 
 decided indifference or anything of that 
 kind. Indeed, I cannot say exactly what it 
 was, but if you had been in my place you 
 would have felt it. Generally it looked more 
 like an absence of something in her manner 
 than any direct quality. On the other hand, 
 the whole business might have been nothing 
 more than a fabric of my imagination. Still, 
 I know I would have fared better had there 
 been five years' instead of sixteen days' dif- 
 ference in our ages. 
 
 " I thought Harry would be here," I re- 
 marked, after Mrs. Sulden had left the room. 
 
 " No, no," Evelyn answered, " didn't he 
 tell you that he could not get off until to- 
 morrow ? He walked down from school with 
 us, but had to go right back again. He 
 wanted to get off to-night, but Mr. Landruff,
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 63 
 
 he said, wouldn't give him leave until to- 
 morrow afternoon. I think it's rather hard, 
 don't you ? " There was a serious look in 
 her eyes. 
 
 Instantly I fell to denouncing old 'Ruff 
 as the worst tyrant that had ever lived since 
 the Middle Ages. Then I recollected that 
 I could not find Harry before coming down- 
 town. I also remembered what had hap- 
 pened at practice earlier in the afternoon, 
 and came to the conclusion that the boy did 
 not want to get off very badly, but was 
 sulking up at school somewhere by himself. 
 Though I never had much use for any 
 sulker, still Harry could hardly be blamed 
 in this instance, because the disappointment 
 was so great. However, he certainly did 
 wrong to neglect the opportunity of seeing 
 his mother and sister. These thoughts I 
 kept to myself, but I determined to have a 
 little talk with him after returning to school. 
 
 " Ethel tells me that there is to be a big 
 football game Saturday," said Evelyn. 
 
 " Yes, we are to play Ashville for the 
 first time in two years. You know I told 

 
 64 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 you about the old feud. Well, it has all 
 been made up now. This will be the greatest 
 game around here in many a long day." 
 
 " Great game ! " exclaimed Mrs. Sulden, 
 as she reentered the room, " are not you 
 all through with that terrible football yet? 
 Will Harry take part ? When do you play ? " 
 she questioned, anxiously. 
 
 " We play Saturday, though I don't know 
 about Harry. I expect he will 'sub.'" 
 
 "Sub substitute you mean that he 
 takes the place of any one who might get 
 hurt. Gracious heavens, John ! " 
 
 " There will not be much chance of his 
 getting into the game," I reassured her. 
 
 "Well, I do hope not!" both she and 
 Evelyn exclaimed, in one breath. 
 
 I took my leave very shortly afterward, 
 because if there is one thing I do try to 
 avoid it is an argument with a timid lady on 
 the subject of football. 
 
 After getting back to school, I looked 
 around for Sulden, but I could not find him 
 anywhere. None of the boys I asked had 
 seen him since early in the afternoon. Then
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 65 
 
 I felt certain he was hiding. It surprised 
 me a good deal when at supper time he did 
 not appear at his place. I had known many 
 boys to sulk, but this was the first case, 
 to my knowledge, where the appetite was 
 affected. I looked for him further after 
 supper, but to no avail. As a last resort I 
 went to old 'Ruff for information. After 
 knocking on his door, it occurred to me that 
 Harry might have sneaked off somewhere 
 on a private expedition, so I determined to 
 be very guarded. 
 
 " Well," growled the old watch-dog, 
 " what can I do for you now, Wilkins ? I 
 hope it's not that trigonometry again." 
 
 " No, Mr. Landruff, it is not the trigo- 
 nometry this time," I answered. " I wanted 
 to know if you had seen Harry Sulden 
 around here since supper." As 'Ruff's 
 room was just across from Sulden's, the 
 question was plausible enough. 
 
 " Hardly," he replied, turning back to his 
 book again. " Some of Sulden's relatives 
 are visiting him, and he has been off all the 
 afternoon. Nor will he be in study hall
 
 66 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 to-night, either, on account of which he will 
 no doubt miss all his lessons to-morrow." 
 
 It was lucky the old fellow did not see 
 me, for his suspicions would certainly have 
 been aroused by the expression of surprise 
 that must have come into my face. 
 
 " Yes, sir," I replied, deliberately, after 
 getting the upper hand of my astonishment. 
 
 As I did not start to go, he looked up 
 again : " Well, can I do anything more for 
 you ? " he asked, with a touch of sharpness 
 to his tone. That was a way he had, con- 
 found him, of telling a fellow to get out of 
 his room. He possessed no more considera- 
 tion for the older boys than he did for the 
 youngsters who worried him all the time. 
 You see, he was a junior teacher, besides 
 being proctor to the school. 
 
 I felt more like taking a punch at his face 
 than giving him a civil answer, but as I had 
 another request to make it was wiser to 
 control my feelings. 
 
 " Yes, sir," I said, after a pause, for I 
 determined to be dignified at whatever 
 cost.
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 67 
 
 " Well, out with it, for I am in a hurry," 
 he snapped. 
 
 " While over at the room just now, Harkis 
 called my attention to where I had ripped 
 the padding almost entirely off the shoulder 
 of my football jersey. I wish you would let 
 me take it down to Simpson's so he could 
 fix it to-morrow morning." 
 
 " Can't think of letting you off now ; study 
 hour will be called in ten minutes." 
 
 " I'll go, anyway, and if you don't like it 
 you needn't," was the response I felt like 
 making, but instead I replied, earnestly: 
 " I would like very much to have it fixed, 
 sir." 
 
 Old 'Ruff had one weakness, and that was 
 his love for football. On this account he 
 always was the slightest bit more lenient to 
 the players than to any one else in school. If 
 I had not been on the team he would have 
 demerited me for so much as asking to go 
 down-town after supper and before study 
 hour. 
 
 He read in silence for a full minute. 
 
 " Well, sir ? " I ventured, finally.
 
 68 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 " I cannot let you go now, Wilkins, that's 
 out of the question, but if you promise me 
 to hurry right back, I will allow you leave 
 after study hour." 
 
 " But Simpson's will be closed then, and 
 the old man in bed," I objected. 
 
 " Can't help that, you can wake him 
 up." 
 
 I knew by the tone of this last that it was 
 all I would get out of him on the subject, 
 so, keeping the best face possible and thank- 
 ing him out loud but calling down maledic- 
 tions upon him inwardly, I returned to my 
 room. 
 
 The minute study hour was over, I bor- 
 rowed Harkis's wheel and set out down to 
 Simpson's with my jersey. The store oi 
 the old harness-maker, who mended football 
 clothes for the boys, was not right down in 
 Battleton. You should understand that the 
 town principally is made up of two long 
 streets, which intersect each other at right 
 angles. I suppose originally it was only a 
 crossroads, and, instead of laying off side 
 streets, the people just built their houses on
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 69 
 
 the two pikes. Old Simpson's place was out 
 past the edge of the town on the Winchester 
 pike, while Belle Monte lay near the Milton 
 road. So it made quite a ride to my desti- 
 nation, along two sides of a square. 
 
 The night was clear and cool, nice as a 
 fellow would wish to take a spin, but being 
 without any moonlight made it rather dark 
 for fast riding, on account of loose stones in 
 the road. Still I went along at a pretty 
 lively clip, for I was in a hurry to get back 
 and to bed as soon as possible. I coasted 
 down the long hill into the town. Every- 
 thing was quiet and dark, for the people of 
 Battleton retire early. Then, after turning 
 the corner, and running along the level for 
 some distance, I began pulling the succes- 
 sion of easy slopes toward the outskirts of 
 the town. 
 
 I had passed the last street lamp, and was 
 half-way up the steepest bit of grade, when 
 suddenly, just ahead of me, there appeared 
 the figure of another wheelman. If I had 
 not caught sight of his outline against the 
 sky that moment, a bad collision would no
 
 70 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 doubt have followed, as he evidently did not 
 see me. At first I thought he was coasting, 
 but then, as he drew near me so rapidly, I 
 could distinguish him treading the pedals 
 furiously. I jangled my bell in warning and 
 turned off to the far right side of the road. 
 He seemed in such a hurry I thought it best 
 to give him a wide berth. There was no 
 answering ring from him, but he shot by me 
 like a black shadow, and sped at a terrific 
 rate on down the slope. 
 
 "Oho, old fellow," I said to myself, "if 
 you hit a loose stone down there, you will 
 break yourself to pieces against the wall and 
 make old iron out of your wheel." As he 
 whirled past I looked at him closely, but, in 
 the darkness, he seemed all muffled up. I 
 did think for an instant that I recognised 
 something familiar in the way he tilted him- 
 self forward on his bars, but, as I said, he 
 went by me like the wind, and I could not 
 be certain of anything about him. Of course 
 I knew it was most probably some fellow 
 who had sneaked off and ridden to Win- 
 chester. Now he was taking chances on
 
 THE MYSTERIOUS RIDER.
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 71 
 
 breaking his neck to get back by "lights 
 out." 
 
 Because there appeared a faint trace of 
 something familiar about him, which, how- 
 ever, I could not recognise, my curiosity 
 was aroused, and had it not been so late 
 I would have given him a race. At any 
 rate, I jumped off my wheel and turned 
 around to watch him pass through the little 
 half-circle of light shed across the road by 
 the street lamp some distance away. Great 
 was my wonder, you may well imagine, when 
 I saw the faint outline of the mysterious 
 night rider come to a halt at the edge of the 
 light. Then, picking up his wheel and keep- 
 ing well out of the glare, he skirted around 
 it. In doing so, he was forced to climb a low 
 stone wall on the opposite side of the road. 
 I could barely see him reclimb the wall into 
 the road again. He immediately afterward 
 disappeared in the darkness. This so 
 startled me that I felt all the more tempted 
 to give chase, but it was very late, and I 
 wished to have my jersey intact once more. 
 I continued on my way up the hill to Simp-
 
 72 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 son's. After waking the old man, with a 
 good deal of difficulty, I told him what I 
 wanted and then turned my face toward the 
 school. 
 
 Harkis was deeply interested in my expe- 
 rience, which I related while I was undress- 
 ing for bed. He laughed at me, though, and 
 said he thought I had seen a ghost. 
 
 " It was one of the boys coming back from 
 Winchester," he continued, a moment later, 
 in a more serious tone. 
 
 " That's what I thought," said I, " but why 
 was he so very shy of that lamplight ? Did 
 you ever do that way when you were sneak- 
 ing back from Winchester? I am sure I 
 never did." 
 
 " He didn't want you to see him." 
 
 " But what objection could he have strong 
 enough to make him do that way ? He 
 might have known I wasn't a teacher. Do 
 you suppose he avoided every light through 
 town like that ? " 
 
 " Why, no," said Harkis, " of course he 
 didn't. In the first place he didn't come 
 through town, If he had any sense he took
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 75 
 
 the lane, and came up by the back way, just 
 as every fellow does when sneaking back 
 from Winchester." 
 
 " But why did he act so queerly around 
 that lamp?" 
 
 This was a question which neither Harkis 
 nor myself could answer satisfactorily, though 
 we discussed it long after we were beneath 
 the covers and our room dark, until, finally, 
 old 'Ruff came around, and gave us each 
 a demerit for talking after " lights out." 
 
 " This time to-morrow," Harkis said to 
 me, as we entered the schoolroom shortly 
 after breakfast, " we will be getting ready to 
 start for Winchester. Say," he continued, 
 " I wonder if ' Cap'n's' going to let everybody 
 go ? " 
 
 " Yes, everybody that wants to, and you 
 know what that means." 
 
 Just then we heard a great shout from 
 over in the direction of the gymnasium. I 
 would have gone to investigate, but had 
 some of that inevitable trigonometry to get 
 up before class. 
 
 Harkis was more fortunate, and so he
 
 76 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 went out to see what had happened. A 
 moment later he came running back into 
 the schoolroom. 
 
 "Allen has just now posted the names 
 of the team, and of course he's got Russell 
 at quarterback, with Sulden as sub," he said. 
 " Some Allies are having a little fun with 
 the First Years over there, but they all 
 seem to be very good-natured about it." 
 
 Things did not by any means pass off as 
 usual in school that day. There was an air 
 of suppressed excitement about every one. 
 Old 'Ruff was in his glory. He caught as 
 many as twenty fellows talking in the corri- 
 dors, while the combined efforts of the other 
 teachers were only able to capture half that 
 many more. Of course there was a large 
 and sorrowful delegation which kept school 
 after the usual hour of dismissal. 
 
 Just before that time, all the boys were 
 summoned into the main hall, where " Cap'n " 
 gave us a short talk. He told us that as we 
 had had one disgraceful difficulty, he wanted, 
 to warn us not to forget ourselves in the 
 excitement of the game. He said, further,
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 77 
 
 that if the Ashville boys started any fights, 
 the Belle Monte students must not take 
 them up, but try to stop them. We all knew 
 well enough what this admonition meant, 
 and also how much it would be obeyed if 
 any trouble really did begin. He told us, he 
 felt certain that we would conduct ourselves 
 like gentlemen, but also added, meaningly, 
 that if there was any rowdyism detected 
 among his boys the offenders would be 
 severely dealt with. All this was received 
 in dead silence, but when " Cap'n " concluded 
 by saying that he hoped to see Belle Monte 
 come out victor, we nearly took the roof off 
 the house. Then, beginning with " Cap'n " 
 himself, we cheered each one of the teachers 
 by name, even down to old 'Ruff, which lat- 
 ter circumstance showed an exceptional flow 
 of good spirits on our parts. That night, by 
 special order, there was a relaxation of dis- 
 cipline, and things were pretty lively around 
 school until 10.30 o'clock, which was the 
 "lights out" hour for Friday night. Old 
 'Ruff locked himself in his room sorely dis- 
 appointed. The very thought of boys not
 
 78 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 under strict restraint would almost run him 
 crazy. 
 
 What could have added to our joy when, 
 arising on the morning of that never-to-be- 
 forgotten day, we found the weather, which 
 had been threatening the evening before, to 
 be ideal. The sky was cloudless, and the air 
 was of that crisp, life-giving kind only felt 
 upon late autumn's most-favoured days. Our 
 excitement and hurry were too great, though, 
 for any rejoicing at the weather. The whole 
 school marched in one singing, shouting 
 body to the station, that is, excepting us 
 football players, who rode in carriages. 
 
 Every boy wore in his buttonhole or 
 around his cap a generous half-yard of blue 
 and white, the Belle Monte colours. From 
 many a stick and pole there fluttered flags 
 and streamers. A committee of the Allies 
 had in charge the school pennant, which, 
 according to old custom, was always borne 
 upon every field where Belle Monte strug- 
 gled for honours. 
 
 As Belle Monte was the first to arrive in 
 Winchester, our crowd fairly took possession
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 79 
 
 of the town, while we members of the team 
 were hustled off to the hotel. I heard after- 
 ward about the many follies of which our 
 boys were guilty when they had escaped 
 from the watchful eyes of 'Ruff, " Cap'n," and 
 the rest. They nearly devilled the life out 
 of those few sleepy police who were supposed 
 to uphold the law in that quiet old town. 
 Ashville did not arrive until about 12 o'clock. 
 Our boys received them at the station in 
 great style. They made high noon hideous 
 with their yells and answering yells. Never 
 before was there such a powwowing, discuss- 
 ing, and bragging in Winchester as when the 
 two schools mingled. Our boys were pain- 
 fully surprised to find that Ashville possessed 
 so much confidence, despite the fact that 
 they were about to play the champions of 
 the State. Notwithstanding the sharp dif- 
 ference of opinion, peace prevailed on all 
 hands. 
 
 The hotel was deserted, and the town, too, 
 when, arrayed for battle, we got into our bus 
 and rolled off toward the grounds, whither 
 every one had flocked half an hour before.
 
 80 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 It had always been Allen's plan to bring his 
 team on the field last, and so he contrived to 
 sneak us into a little house at one end of the 
 grounds, without being seen either by their 
 followers or ours. 
 
 We could hear the storm of cheering. 
 There was the quick, barking treble cry of 
 Ashville, that brought back to memory 
 many a hard-fought contest of days gone by, 
 and the deep, ringing " rah, rah," of Belle 
 Monte, which sent a thrill of joy and con- 
 fidence through our hearts. After we had 
 received final instructions from Mr. Mathews, 
 Ashville had not yet put in an appearance, 
 so I climbed up to a small, high window 
 that commanded a view of the field, to take a 
 look at what was going on outside. 
 
 I had seen Belle Monte embattled upon 
 many a great field during the four years past, 
 but when I looked out from the little window 
 I never before felt so proud of the old school. 
 Our friends, with their crowds of adherents, 
 stretched along the far side of the field, 
 while Ashville occupied the nearer side, 
 though I could only see their backs then.
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 8 1 
 
 But I was looking at Belle Monte and did 
 not notice them much. The boys had filled 
 a little stand at one end of the grounds and 
 from there stood in a solid line, which seemed 
 to be twenty deep, all the way along the 
 ropes. The first row was lying on the grass, 
 the next was kneeling, and back of that they 
 were looking over each other's shoulders. 
 Blue and white fluttered from every button- 
 hole, from many a hat and uplifted stick and 
 cane. Near the centre of this great array, 
 the school pennant slowly unrolled its heavy 
 folds before the slight breeze. The whole 
 line seemed to surge and waver with tense 
 anticipation and excitement. From end 
 to end rang the never-ceasing battle-cry. 
 Some were throwing hats in air, some 
 were waving flags and canes. The bright 
 colours twinkled against the dark back- 
 ground. Yes, Belle Monte was ready for 
 the fray. 
 
 At both ends of the field there were many 
 vehicles, coaches, carriages, and others. 
 I searched among them and finally caught 
 sight of a familiar group, upon the top of
 
 82 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 a coach at the far end of the field, to which 
 Mrs. Sulden and Evelyn belonged. 
 
 On the other side Ashville was arrayed. 
 They seemed to have as many people on 
 the field as we. Though their backs were 
 turned I could catch sight of the old gold 
 and white streamers flaunted now and then 
 above their heads. They, too, were thun- 
 dering, and seemed confident. I called to 
 Harkis and, climbing down, loaned him a 
 knee so he could pull up into my place and 
 take a peep. He looked out over the Belle 
 Monte side with a suppressed exclamation. 
 
 " Isn't it fine ? " he said. 
 
 Then a great cheer went up from the 
 Ashville side. 
 
 " What's the matter ? " exclaimed half a 
 dozen of us who were standing below him. 
 
 " They have come into the other end of 
 the field," he answered, and, in the lull that 
 followed, the faint " thud " of a punted ball 
 fell upon our ears. 
 
 " They are scattering out now," he said. 
 " Here comes Markham chasing a long one, 
 and there is that big, tall fellow, Brown.
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 83 
 
 There's a new man down there in a leather 
 suit, wonder who he is ? " 
 
 Somebody explained that he was their 
 crack half-back, and had just come to 
 school a couple of weeks before. 
 
 A minute later Captain Allen called to 
 us, " Come on, boys, let's get out ; keep 
 close together." 
 
 At a brisk trot and in a close bunch we 
 swung across the short space between the 
 little house and the side line. 
 
 " Here they come, here they come ! " 
 shouted the nearest Ashville supporters 
 as we appeared. It was evident that both 
 they and Belle Monte had been looking 
 toward the other end of the field for us. 
 
 " Here are those men who are about to be 
 ex-champions," yelled somebody. 
 
 We quickly pushed our way through the 
 crowd and out on the field. Instantly the 
 eyes of all Belle Monte were on us, and we 
 were received with such an awful roar that 
 it was enough to put Belle Monte to shame. 
 Then, beginning with Captain Allen, they 
 cheered us each by name, as we scattered
 
 84 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 out and began passing and punting to warm 
 up. 
 
 After some minutes of this work, the two 
 captains held a brief consultation. Luck 
 was with Belle Monte at the start, for Allen 
 won the toss. Of course he took the ball, as 
 there was little or no wind and hence no 
 choice in goals. Markham chose the one 
 toward the entrance of the field. 
 
 The long talked of and long looked for 
 moment had arrived, Belle Monte and Ash- 
 ville stood face to face and ready. The 
 unfaltering logic of strength and speed 
 was about to settle two years of harassing 
 dispute. 
 
 No wonder a dead pause fell over that 
 whole throng, as we gathered into a close 
 V, with old Zell straddling the ball. That 
 half minute's time we stood waiting in sus- 
 pense seemed interminable to me. 
 
 " Are you ready, Captain Markham ? " asked 
 the referee, finally. 
 
 The central figure in the line ten yards 
 away nodded his head. 
 
 " Are you ready, Captain Allen ? "
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 85 
 
 " I am." 
 
 The whistle's sharp note cut the stillness. 
 
 There was a quick and heavy rush of feet, 
 a wild roar from one side, and an answering 
 roar from the other. 
 
 Our wedge was well set, for it made nearly 
 half the distance before their tacklers were 
 on us. If well set, it was also well broken. 
 Their heavy men plunged under, their light 
 ones came over. Still Harkis, who had the 
 ball, struggled forward, Engle's arms around 
 him on one side and mine on the other, nor 
 was he borne down until he made within a 
 single yard of where Ashville had lined up. 
 It was a good nine-yard gain right through 
 them. 
 
 "Well done!" yelled Belle Monte, "hur- 
 rah for Harkis ! " 
 
 " Well stopped, Ashville ! " answered the 
 other side. 
 
 Allen's favourite method, at the beginning 
 of a game, was to kick on the first down. 
 He said it gave us time to steady ourselves, 
 and we could do this easier when the other 
 side had the ball, provided it was well down
 
 86 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 in their territory. Now if our rush-line had 
 any unusually strong feature, it was in de- 
 fensive play. We always prided ourselves 
 on the quickness with which we could stop 
 an opposing team when they had the ball. 
 Upon this Allen relied whenever he played 
 his kicking game. 
 
 So on the very first down the signal was 
 for a kick. The Ashville men came break- 
 ing through with surprising quickness, and 
 very nearly blocked, but Allen, with a power- 
 ful swing of his good right leg, sent the ball 
 sailing high and far down the field. 
 
 Away we went Wheat and I scurrying 
 after it. Their full-back, waiting to receive 
 the catch, no doubt heard us thundering 
 upon him, even above the yells from the 
 side lines. But he stood poised gracefully, 
 with a contemptuous smile upon his face, 
 which told how little he cared for being 
 hurled back to the earth by two strong end 
 rushers at full tilt. He had barely snapped 
 the ball into his arms, before we were upon 
 him almost together. The momentum of 
 our charge, and our combined weight swept
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 8/ 
 
 him from his strongly braced legs as if he 
 had been a mere tenpin, and all three of us 
 rolled and tumbled together on the sod some 
 feet farther back. But he never fumbled, 
 plucky fellow that he was. He clung to the 
 ball as he clung to his life. 
 
 " Great tackles, great tackles, you are all 
 right, Wheat, you are all right, Wilkins!" 
 
 " You are all right, Shaw, gritty boy, great 
 catch ! " echoed the other side. 
 
 Now it was Ashville's chance, and, as we 
 hurried to our places in the line, an ominous 
 silence fell over the field again. 
 
 There was a quick call of signals, and in 
 an instant the two crouching lines became 
 one struggling mass. Here they came my 
 way, their interference well set and running 
 hard. It all happened so quickly that it 
 cannot be described with words. More 
 rapid than thought Harkis and then Moore 
 had hurled themselves into, and shattered 
 their interference as two bomb-shells would 
 shatter the head of an advancing column. 
 Thus the runner became immediately cleared 
 and unprotected, so it was the easiest thing
 
 88 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 in the world for me to swoop down on him 
 and nail him to the earth before he had 
 gained an inch. On the right, Belle Monte 's 
 battle-cry fairly rent the heavens, while the 
 other side was silent. 
 
 " Second down, and five to gain," said the 
 referee. 
 
 The next time they tried the other end, 
 but little Russell, like a winged demon, had 
 shot in behind their interference and pulled 
 the runner to the earth for a loss. It looked 
 as if victory were coming to us right here at 
 the very beginning. 
 
 " Third down, and eight to gain," declared 
 the referee. 
 
 Then Allen and Russell dropped back, 
 and on the next down, as we expected, they 
 kicked. It was still all Belle Monte's way, 
 for Allen had caught and, dodging both 
 their charging ends, made a good return 
 run. Now we were ready for our onward 
 work right down in their own territory. 
 
 " A touch-down in a minute ! Right 
 through them ! They are, oh, so easy. 
 Run over them ! It's a pudding ! " were
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 89 
 
 the various excited shouts from our side, 
 until all was drowned in the yell again. 
 It looked bad for Ashville, and, confound 
 my foolishness, I began to feel sorry for 
 them already. But there was still lots of 
 fight left in them. I could see it by the 
 look of grim determination in their faces, 
 and the left side of the field was now ring- 
 ing with quick cheers of encouragement. 
 
 As a starter, we fired big Jack Engle into 
 tackle. My, but it was well defended ! 
 Though we came with our most terrific 
 rush, running as one man, and hit the line 
 with the force of a battering-ram, still Jack 
 was scarcely able to measure half his length 
 of ground to the good. Hardly before we 
 were well started their men got right under 
 the play. Their tackles came through in 
 a trice, and what seemed to be a splendid 
 plunge through the line merely ended in a 
 confusion of bodies, arms, and legs, with 
 Engle at the bottom of the pile. We next 
 tried on the other side, and set as strong an 
 interference as ever in our lives. Russell 
 got us off well, but the chain-lightning style
 
 90 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 they met us with fairly took our breath 
 away. They seemed to be literally waiting 
 for us, they were so fast. The interference 
 was bowled over before it got a good start, 
 and, horror of horrors, the runner was tackled 
 from behind. You ought to have seen the 
 expression of surprise on Allen's face. Of 
 course our next signal was for a kick, but 
 when their leather-clad man broke through 
 the line and blocked, and another Ashville 
 man fell on the ball, Allen's surprise turned 
 to a deep rage. 
 
 " What's the matter here ? " he burst out 
 almost before the Ashville side of the field 
 realised it was their turn to cheer. 
 
 It did look as if something was the matter, 
 for I had never seen the like of the start 
 those fellows were getting on us in every 
 play. Belle Monte's defence may have been 
 grea,t, but this was the quickest I had ever 
 seen. Nor could we understand why it 
 should have been so much better in pro- 
 portion than their attack. They hammered 
 away at us a few times, but we won the ball 
 again soon. Yet we could do nothing after
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 91 
 
 getting it, and so were immediately forced to 
 kick. The longer we played the more sur- 
 prising it became that we could not get 
 through these men. They did not seem as 
 hard as either Pauloffs or Randall-Mason, 
 but, every time we tried, it ended in noth- 
 ing but losses or insignificant gains. No, 
 sir, I had never seen such defence, nor had 
 any of us. Our friends were as much sur- 
 prised as we, but they never let up in their 
 cheering. There was but little difference in 
 this respect on the Ashville side. 
 
 And so we fought the first half through. 
 Both captains resorted to kicking, when they 
 realised the strength of their opponents' 
 defence. Allen got the best of it on nearly 
 every exchange of punts, and this was the 
 only advantage of which Belle Monte could 
 boast. We did not carry the ball any closer 
 to their goal than the twenty-five-yard line. 
 They were unable to do so well against us. 
 Both teams got through the half in very 
 good trim, though this unusually strong 
 defence they put up became very wearing. 
 
 While Ashville was making a great noise
 
 92 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 over its team during the intermission, Mr. 
 Mathews called us from the crowd over to 
 the little house. After we were all inside 
 and the door carefully closed, there was a 
 short pause, as the cheering had become so 
 loud we could not hear each other speak. 
 
 "Well," said Allen, addressing Mr. 
 Mathews when the noise had finally died 
 away, " what do you suppose is the 
 matter ? " 
 
 " The matter ! " A singularly cold smile 
 lit up Mr. Mathews 's face. Here he paused, 
 for the cheering had broken out again. 
 " The matter is," he repeated, at length, 
 and looking around at our flushed and earn- 
 est faces with the fore parts of our long hair 
 dangling in our eyes. " Why, Allen, I am 
 surprised." 
 
 " I'll tell you what," answered our captain, 
 " they have the best defence I ever went 
 against, that's all." 
 
 " Defence ! " said Mr. Mathews, with almost 
 a sneer; " why, boys," he exclaimed, lowering 
 his voice, " you would go through them with 
 a rush, but they know your signals ! "
 
 " ' THEY KNOW YOUR SIGNALS ! ' '
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 95 
 
 If the little house had jumped up from its 
 foundations and set us down at Belle Monte, 
 we could not have been more astounded. 
 But even as he said it we all seemed to 
 realise the truth. There was a momentary 
 pause when we glanced suspiciously from 
 one to another. Then there came an angry 
 outburst. Who could have dared, we wanted 
 to know, to have given the secrets of Belle 
 Monte to the enemy ? Such a thing was 
 unknown in the history of the school. For 
 several minutes we raged. Then we were 
 recalled to our senses by Mr. Mathews's calm 
 voice. 
 
 " Somebody has certainly given them the 
 signals," he said ; " they even know the trick 
 plays and kicks, and apparently have had 
 time to practise on them. There is no doubt 
 about it, and something must be done." 
 
 " But what ? " answered Allen. 
 
 " Why, you can change the active number 
 of your signals, and they will be that much 
 more in the dark." 
 
 " I don't see how we can very well do that," 
 answered Allen.
 
 96 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 Our code of signals was a very complicated 
 and arbitrary arrangement, and as we had 
 used the same old combinations for three 
 years, you may well imagine they had gotten 
 pretty well fastened in our heads. So when 
 Allen said he did not see how any change 
 could be made, we all agreed with him. 
 
 " But still," answered Mr. Mathews, " you 
 cannot reasonably expect to score when 
 they know every play just as it is called 
 off." 
 
 We agreed with this, too, for it was only 
 sound football doctrine. 
 
 " Maybe we had better make a change," 
 said Allen, finally, " but it is liable to bring 
 about lots of confusion, we have been work- 
 ing these same old numbers so long. Rus- 
 sell will have trouble, I know." 
 
 " That's so," answered Mr. Mathews; " sup- 
 pose you whisper him the plays just before 
 calling the signals ? This will be slow, but 
 cannot be helped." 
 
 It was then agreed, and we determined to 
 change the active number from the second 
 to the third one of the series. Mr. Mathews
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 97 
 
 asked us, in much the same tone I have 
 heard him use at French class, if we could 
 carry that in our heads and not get mixed 
 up. We thought we could. 
 
 A moment later, the referee's whistle re- 
 called us to the field. 
 
 We changed goals, and this time Ashville 
 had the ball. They started with the V, but 
 we brought them down before they made 
 half the distance. They tried us on the 
 ends, but could do nothing, and so the ball 
 went over on kick. It was our turn now to 
 give the newly arranged code a trial. The 
 first time it could not have worked better, 
 for we sent Engle through for twenty yards. 
 How they woke up on the Ashville side ! 
 But the next play, which was Harkis on the 
 end, resulted in confusion and no gain. 
 We made it up a moment later when Allen 
 carried the ball twenty-five yards. The 
 heavens were echoing on our side. Then 
 Moore took it straight through for ten. 
 
 " Oh, this is a snap ! " he exclaimed, with 
 a laugh, as they pulled him down. We were 
 on their thirty-five-yard line now, and they
 
 98 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 were fighting us desperately. Engle again 
 hurled himself through for ten, but there 
 was more confusion because of mixed signals, 
 and we almost lost the ball on a fumble. 
 Plays by Wheat and Harkis ended in losses. 
 I suppose by this time the Ashville team 
 had begun to realise that we had changed 
 our active number. 
 
 We were too far over to try a goal from 
 the field. Allen called my number. The 
 interference cleared a good way, for I was 
 not downed until I reached the ten-yard line. 
 Here Belle Monte students could be no 
 longer restrained by the ropes, and crowded 
 out into the field. They were pushed back 
 only after some delay. Harkis was tried on 
 the end, but there were more mixed signals 
 and a couple of heads bumped. For a 
 moment we lost the ball on a fumble, but 
 Russell, with a great dive, managed to rescue 
 it. Moore went through once again, and 
 this time put the ball inside their five-yard 
 line. Their goal line was almost beneath our 
 feet ! We had the victory won ! One effort 
 more, and it would go over! Again did
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 99 
 
 the Belle Monte crowd throng out over the 
 ropes. Ashville was not silent now in this 
 extremity. Their sharp battle-cry, though 
 it did not seem to possess quite so much 
 snap, still could be heard even above the 
 disorganised and excited yelling on our side. 
 
 The field was cleared once more, and 
 Allen called the signal slowly and distinctly. 
 I can remember it yet. 
 
 " Now, be careful, boys," he said, " thirteen, 
 fourteen, seventeen ! " 
 
 It was for Briggs, the left guard, to go 
 outside of tackle on my side. The man 
 opposite me evidently knew where the play 
 was coming, for he crowded in so close to 
 tackle that it gave me no chance to push 
 him out. So, instead, I jumped forward as 
 the ball was put in play, and pushed him 
 farther in toward the centre, at the same 
 time calling, " Outside." It was our usual 
 signal for a play of this kind, and I confi- 
 dently expected the runner and his interfer- 
 ence to pass outside of me. What could 
 have been the trouble with Briggs, I do not 
 know. He said, afterward, that he did not
 
 1 00 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 hear me ; very probably he didn't. I do 
 know, though, that instead of his bucking 
 in on my right, his lowered head hit me 
 squarely between the shoulders, and with 
 his interference crowding fast behind it was 
 no light tap. The Ashville man with whom 
 I was struggling, and myself pitched forward, 
 and Briggs and his interference came tum- 
 bling and piling over us. 
 
 I did not notice my hard knocks, though, 
 for the play was a rank failure, and I feared, 
 at the time, that it had been all my fault. 
 As it was, for the moment I lay at the 
 bottom of the pile. Unless you had seen 
 how it happened, I fear you can never fully 
 comprehend, everything occurred so quickly. 
 I was lying with my cheek right against the 
 dry grass, waiting for the others to disentan- 
 gle themselves. Beyond the head and 
 shoulders of another prostrate player, I 
 caught a fleeting glimpse of part of the 
 Ashville side. Great was my surprise when 
 I saw them suddenly begin to throw their 
 hats in air, and the next instant the whole 
 side of the field rang with the wildest cheers.
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. IOI 
 
 What could be the matter? What had 
 happened ? I was afraid to get up and look 
 around, yet I could not do so quick enough. 
 The sight I beheld sickened my very soul. 
 Forty yards down the field one of their men, 
 with the ball, was running like a frightened 
 deer toward our goal. About ten yards 
 behind were Allen and Russell, making des- 
 perate efforts to reach him. Two Ashville 
 men were between them and the runner, 
 blocking them at every step. 
 
 Though it was foolishness, I could not 
 help but follow. I might have outfooted the 
 runner and his interference if I had been 
 within reasonable distance, but forty yards, 
 oh, no, that was too much to overcome in a 
 hundred-yard race. The man with the ball 
 carried it right between our goal-posts and 
 touched it down. This was something that 
 for more than two years no other team had 
 done. Almost instantly the field was cov- 
 ered with Ashville boys, the craziest mob 
 of yelling lunatics that ever existed. They 
 shouldered each member of that team of 
 theirs, which had been so thoroughly whipped
 
 IO2 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 but a minute before, and carried them around 
 the field in triumph. More could not have 
 been made over them had they bucked our 
 centre for the whole distance. 
 
 On our side all was silence and distress, 
 save now and then a long-drawn cheer. 
 
 And how did it happen, this rank acci- 
 dent ? You may well ask. For my part, I 
 did not see it until the disaster was practi- 
 cally completed. Here is the way they say 
 it occurred. Briggs, who ran with the ball, 
 butted me in the back and then, with his 
 interference, tumbled over me. I have rea- 
 son to recollect this much very well indeed. 
 When he went down, two or three fell on 
 top of him, and in doing so squeezed the 
 ball out of his arms. It escaped from his 
 grasp and rolled clear of the crush. Their 
 full-back picked it up and was off like a 
 shot. You have been told the rest. It was 
 the worst "fluke " that ever changed victory 
 into defeat. I used to try and keep my 
 head on the football field, but in the mad 
 five minutes which followed that touch-down, 
 I hardly know what I did or said. We were
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 103 
 
 not whipped, though. Far from it. The 
 Belle Monte team was the most infuriated 
 set of boys I ever saw. It affected them in 
 different ways. Allen could not talk, his 
 voice was so choked. Zell roared like the 
 big bull he was. Poor Briggs wept, and at 
 that moment we had but little sympathy for 
 him. Engle, who never lost his temper, was 
 the only quiet man in the crowd. Moore 
 wanted to fisrht. We had to hold him to 
 
 O 
 
 keep him from rushing into the crowd and 
 swinging right and left. Some of us tried 
 to take our medicine like men, but it was 
 a most unpalatable and nasty dose. When 
 they finally cleared the field, the Ashville 
 full-back kicked an easy goal. 
 
 Allen warned us, before we lined up to 
 start again, that he was going back to the 
 old signal combinations. There was too 
 much confusion about the other, and another 
 " fluke " would be liable to result. Though 
 Ashville knew them, we had to accept the 
 inevitable and fight it out as best we could. 
 From the very start, they seemed to under- 
 stand that we had gone back to our old
 
 104 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 signals, for after a few short gains we 
 could do nothing. When they tried, we 
 had the grim satisfaction each time of hurl- 
 ing them back with losses. But this would 
 
 t 
 not win the game. We needed points to do 
 
 that. So, as minute after minute slipped 
 by, we became more desperate in our as- 
 saults upon their line. Yet still they balked 
 us each time with only short gains, or maybe 
 losses. It had become very wearing for both 
 teams, but much the more so for us, as our 
 exertions were the greater. 
 
 They were singing a song of victory on 
 the Ashville side, which was now and again 
 drowned by their shrill yell. On the Belle 
 Monte side, grand old Belle Monte, no 
 V quitter " could be found there. Even 
 though defeat seemed face to face with their 
 champions, they chanted the battle-cry and 
 shouted encouragement to us. 
 
 " Now, boys, for the honour of the old 
 school, come for the blue and white ! " 
 
 " Make it a touch-down, then make it 
 two ! " 
 
 " Get through that line ! "
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 105 
 
 " Captain Allen will do it ! " 
 
 " We will win it yet, we will, we will, 
 we will ! Rah, rah, Allen ! " Then would 
 follow the deep, thundering yell. 
 
 It was terrible on us, for even with such 
 sounds in our ears we were powerless. 
 They did not understand, as it had not 
 become generally known that Ashville knew 
 our signals. Mr. Mathews had told no one, 
 for fear another riot might result. 
 
 Could we never get by those ends, or 
 through that line, no matter how furiously 
 we hurled our bodies, now fast weakening? 
 Oh, for one minute of fair play! For one 
 short minute when our signals should be 
 our own and not theirs also. As we strug- 
 gled we reproached them with it, but they 
 only laughed at us. No matter how hard 
 we tried, they flung themselves right in our 
 way. This vicious and desperate work had 
 begun to tell heavily on us. After nearly 
 every play somebody was left stretched 
 upon the sod, and it would be a minute or 
 two before he could take his place. 
 
 We were still about mid-field, neither hav-
 
 106 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 ing gained much from the other. Engle had 
 just gotten the breath knocked out of him 
 on the last try and was taking his time to 
 recover. As we turned to our places, again, 
 the timekeepers gave warning that there 
 remained only ten more minutes to play. 
 Then Allen appealed to us. 
 
 " Now, boys, right through them, for the 
 sake of Belle Monte. Fair play against foul, 
 dirty work cannot win. Oh, now, boys ! " It 
 affected us deeply, battered and weary as we 
 were, and there followed a squaring of shoul- 
 ders and a bracing of legs along the line. 
 Then, when he called my number, such a 
 maddened determination seized me that I 
 could hardly hold my place until the ball 
 was put in play. I would gain my distance 
 this time or 
 
 " Look out there, on the other side," cried 
 their big man, Brown, " Wilkins is coming 
 that way." 
 
 I bit on my nose-mask and answered 
 nothing, but oh, how I raged against them 
 in my heart. For reply Brown received a 
 hard punch in the face from Moore's strong
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. IO? 
 
 arm. It was the first blow that had been 
 struck during the game, but a general fight 
 might have followed if the cooler heads had 
 not run in and immediately put a stop to 
 the trouble. The referee would have dis- 
 qualified Moore, but he did not seen him. 
 When they had been subdued, the ball was 
 snapped. As I sprang from my position I 
 gathered myself together to make the effort 
 of my life. The interference swung in well 
 around me. There was a trample of feet, 
 a grinding of canvas jackets, as we struck 
 the line, and then that peculiar indescribable 
 sound of men tumbling over each other and 
 falling. Suddenly everything grew dark be- 
 fore me, and around my head there seemed 
 to be ten thousand stars dancing. The 
 stars disappeared, and I do not know what 
 happened after that for awhile. I have a 
 faint recollection of hearing several voices 
 speaking excitedly. Somebody was saying 
 that Brown and Moore had been trying to 
 have their fight out, and somebody else, I 
 believe it was Jack Engle himself, that it 
 was the dirtiest trick in the world to kick a
 
 108 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 man in the head. I felt something cold on 
 my forehead, and must have opened my eyes 
 a moment later. Harkis was bending over 
 anxiously and peering into my face. 
 
 " How is it, old man ? " he said. " I believe 
 that dirty dog, Brown, must have kicked you 
 on the noodle after you were tackled, but 
 you made your twenty even if they did know 
 where the play was coming." 
 
 I remember more clearly what happened 
 just after I opened my eyes than what 
 occurred later. Almost everything after 
 that, excepting the few moments that 
 Harkis spoke to me, is a confused jumble 
 in my mind. I remember when I got up 
 on my feet again there was a sound of 
 cheering around the field. I do not know 
 for what, I am sure. Then I must have stag- 
 gered, because several of the boys crowded 
 around and tried to lead me off. I think I 
 broke away from them and ran back into 
 my place. The game must have then gone 
 on, but how it went, or what was done, I do 
 not know. I have a faint idea of hearing 
 the signals called. I knew when they were
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. IOQ 
 
 ours because I recognised Allen's voice. 
 They told me afterward that I was in 
 nearly every play, both theirs and ours, but 
 if so, I do not remember it. I recollect, also, 
 noticing that the longer we played the 
 louder the sound grew on the left, and that 
 fainter and at greater intervals came cheers 
 from the right. Finally, all the sound seemed 
 to come from the left, and the right was 
 entirely silent. Even above this babel of 
 noise, though, I could every now and then 
 catch Allen's voice speaking to us. It 
 seemed quavering and unsteady to be utter- 
 ing words of encouragement. There were 
 other men on our side of the line who 
 talked, too, and raged like demons during 
 that last terrible ten minutes, but I did not 
 hear them. 
 
 Another moment of lucidity punctuated 
 all this confusion. It was when the time- 
 keepers ran in and warned the captains that 
 they had but two minutes more to play. I 
 do not remember hearing or seeing anything 
 after that until it was all over. I have a 
 faint recollection of when the whistle blew.
 
 IIO THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 Then the noise on the left increased with 
 a tremendous burst, and a moment later I 
 appeared to be surrounded by a sea of 
 black figures, shouting and dancing like 
 devils. 
 
 I have an idea that it must have been 
 Harkis's voice, and it seemed to me to be 
 tearful, which said : " Come on, John, don't 
 do that, it's all over now. That's all right, 
 boys, he don't know what he's doing. Don't 
 take offence at it. Come on, John, it's all 
 over, come on." 
 
 " You are all right, Wilkins, but oh, my, 
 you can't play ball with Ashville ! " said a 
 loud voice. I was evidently not surrounded 
 by my friends. 
 
 I begged Harkis to let me go back into 
 the game. 
 
 " But there is no more game, it's over," he 
 answered, in a tone which aroused me to 
 something like an appreciation of what had 
 happened. " There they go, the Ashville 
 men, off on the shoulders of their friends." 
 
 I must have started on away, and then 
 began to stagger, because several boys, whose
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. Ill 
 
 voices I recognised, immediately surrounded 
 and caught hold of me. I jerked away from 
 them and struck right and left. Did they 
 want to disgrace me, by carrying me off the 
 field right in the midst of the whole Ash- 
 ville school ! No, sir, they should not touch 
 me, and they did not, though Harkis walked 
 very near. We trooped slowly out. 
 
 Our schoolmates and friends had already 
 learned the real cause of defeat and were 
 on fire with indignation. The deep cheer 
 of Belle Monte was now echoing back a 
 defiance to the victors. 
 
 As I passed through the end of the field 
 where the vehicles were, a female voice called 
 to me from near by. 
 
 "John, oh, John!" 
 
 I knew even then to whom that voice be- 
 longed, and, looking up, I saw bending over 
 me, from a tall coach, the face of her whom 
 I always thought the most beautiful in the 
 world. It was very pale and seemed to ex- 
 press much fear. Was it a mist before my 
 eyes, or were there tears in hers ? 
 
 " John, are you much hurt ? Oh, John, it
 
 112 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 was so terrible ! How did Belle Monte get 
 beaten ? But are you hurt ? " 
 
 I tried to answer, but, curse it, my tongue 
 was too thick. Then another familiar face 
 appeared, and in an anxious tone, full of dis- 
 tress and motherly kindness, asked me if I 
 was much hurt. I tried to answer again, 
 but could only shake my head. 
 
 Then the motherly voice in the next 
 breath began chiding me. I believe it was 
 about the brutality of football and the rough- 
 ness of the game we had just been beaten. 
 But I did not hear her; I was looking up at 
 the other face, and I think I must have been 
 steadying myself by clutching on to the 
 spokes of the wheel. A moment later the 
 wheel moved, and both faces vanished. 
 
 I remember but little more of that sorrow- 
 ful afternoon. I have a vague idea of when 
 I climbed into the bus. They insisted 
 upon helping me, and I would not let them. 
 Then the weeping of some of the men, the 
 cursing of some, and the silent despair of 
 others made a faint impression upon me as 
 we journeyed back from the field.
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 113 
 
 After that, I have little recollection of 
 anything until I found myself under the 
 doctor's care at Belle Monte that night. 
 My scattered senses had been rearranged, 
 and I was quite myself again, though feeling 
 a little weak and battered. 
 
 And yet they say that football is a rough 
 and dangerous game, the fools. If I had 
 been killed, or really hurt, they might have 
 had some reason to talk. 
 
 There was a subdued air about everything 
 at school that night, an air to which Belle 
 Monte had for long been a stranger. I 
 was excused from study hall, but the doctor 
 had allowed me to get up and dress. I 
 hated to be a sick man, particularly after a 
 game. Besides, I was not so badly trimmed 
 up, either. I had just been a little stunned. 
 They say that fellow, Brown, kicked me in 
 the head. Well, suppose he did. When a 
 man gets damaged by dirty work like that, 
 his hurts cannot be blamed on football. 
 There was a very good-sized lump on my 
 cranium which had already been consider- 
 ably reduced with crushed ice. But what
 
 114 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 is a little stunning? Now if I had broken 
 a bone they might have had reason for 
 argument. 
 
 Lots of boys dropped in to see me, and 
 before study hour bell rang I had quite a 
 reception in my room. Of course everybody 
 was furious over the defeat, and we discussed 
 it very heatedly. 
 
 How could Ashville have gotten hold of 
 those signals ? That was the great question 
 that nonplussed us all. 
 
 " Well," said Harkis, decisively, " there is 
 but one way for it to have happened." 
 
 The rest of us paused, and I forgot my 
 headache for the moment. 
 
 " No outsider could have gotten them 
 while we were at work. It was an impos- 
 sibility, because we have always been very 
 careful. None of the school could do so, 
 much less an outsider. So it leaves only 
 one way for them to have reached Ashville, 
 and that is by the hands of a traitor on the 
 team." 
 
 This was the case exactly, and every one 
 felt it, though nobody answered at first.
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 115 
 
 Nearly all of the team were in my room. 
 We looked suspiciously from one to another. 
 
 " It's a case for a court of inquiry," said 
 Humphries, the politician, finally. 
 
 On account of my headache I was lying 
 upon the bed again. I turned around on 
 my pillow, and thought of all the different 
 members of the team, going over them every 
 one carefully. There were none, to my way 
 of thinking, about whom I could find in my 
 heart the smallest shadow of a doubt. A 
 traitor among them why, it is entirely im- 
 possible ! Yet the facts spoke unmistakably. 
 We were silent for some moments, when at 
 last Moore said : " Well, something ought to 
 be done about it." 
 
 " I tell you, it's a case for a court of in- 
 quiry," repeated Humphries. 
 
 " Do you think they will give us another 
 game ? " continued Moore, wistfully, to me, 
 as he seated himself on the edsre of the bed. 
 
 O 
 
 I told him that I was afraid they would 
 not ; that if a team would profit by such a 
 low trick, we could certainly not expect a 
 fair chance from them.
 
 Il6 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 " We can make them play," he shouted, 
 angrily. " They cannot claim any cham- 
 pionship on a ' fluke' like that. We will let 
 it be known to every school in the State how 
 they won. We will make them the laugh- 
 ing-stock of the country. We will show 
 everybody what cowards they are, if they do 
 not play us." 
 
 " No, we won't do anything of the kind," 
 growled Zell, sarcastically. " They will give 
 us the laugh, that's all. Who ever listens to 
 claims of that kind ? When you are beat 
 you are beat, and that is all there is to it." 
 
 We felt the truth of this, and none of us 
 had a confident or hopeful answer to make. 
 A strange mixture of feelings animated that 
 roomful of boys. They were indignant, sor- 
 rowful, and defiant, by quick turns. 
 
 Everybody was talking at once, when sud- 
 denly Allen appeared in the doorway. His 
 strong face wore the most singular expres- 
 sion, intensified all the more by a long 
 scratch across his forehead. There was a 
 lull in the conversation. He paused at 
 the door, and looked eagerly through the
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. II? 
 
 crowded little room. Then, as a shadow of 
 disappointment flitted across his face, he 
 turned toward me where I lay on the bed. 
 He seemed about to speak, but hesitated, 
 and drew his hand to his head. 
 
 " What's the matter, Cap ? " I said, spring- 
 ing up, " what's the matter? " 
 
 " You ought to be able to tell me," 
 he answered, after a moment, " where 
 where " 
 
 Just then the study hall bell rang. 
 
 " Well," said I, as he paused again. 
 
 "I I'll see you later, I'll see you later," 
 he replied, turning away. " Haven't got 
 time now, wait till after study hour." 
 
 " Wait ; what is it ? " 
 
 " No, not now, after study hour," and he 
 passed on down the walk with the rest of 
 the boys. I could hear the others question- 
 ing him as they disappeared through the 
 dark alley, but he did not seem to be giving 
 them any answers. When they were quite 
 out of ear-shot, I turned into my room, and 
 threw myself back on the bed again, won- 
 dering what had come over our usually
 
 Il8 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 dignified captain. I could not guess why 
 he had acted so queerly, unless it was some- 
 thing about the great mystery that had been 
 Belle Monte 's undoing. It must have been 
 something of that kind, but what ? I won- 
 dered until my head, which had almost 
 ceased aching, began to throb again. What 
 in the world did he mean ? I could not 
 even frame a guess for the life of me, and yet 
 somewhere in my mind a vague, unnamed 
 suspicion lurked. 
 
 '"You ought to be able to tell me, where 
 where '" 
 
 What did he want to know ? What was I 
 able to tell him ? It seemed all dark here, 
 no matter how I might look at it. Still, 
 there was that half-formed suspicion, I 
 feared to repeat it even to myself. I gave 
 up this entirely profitless guesswork busi- 
 ness, and tried to put the whole question 
 out of my mind. I arose from the bed and 
 took out my Virgil. It might be best to 
 look over a lesson or two, even though ex- 
 cused from study hour. Somehow, though, 
 I could not get my mind on the translation.
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. I 19 
 
 I found myself mixing the quarrel of Aga- 
 memnon and Achilles, in a strange manner, 
 with what really occupied my thoughts. It 
 was something like this : 
 
 "'Go,' he said, 'you can tell me' 
 ' and thy myrmidons ' what could I tell 
 him ? ' with thee.' ' Will see you later.' 
 What ' The brow of Achilles ' why did 
 he put me off? 'grew as black as a 
 thundercloud,' " and so on, until I gave up 
 in disgust trying to translate. 
 
 I threw the book aside, and taking up my 
 hat went out-of-doors. The fresh, cool night 
 air made me feel better. I walked down the 
 cinder path, through the rear gate, and out 
 upon the playground. Try as I might, I 
 could not shake off the singular suspicion 
 that hung in my mind, and the more I 
 wondered about Allen's peculiar behaviour, 
 deeper the mystery became. I continued to 
 turn this over in my mind, while crossing 
 the hard foot-beaten field. The vague sus- 
 picion worried me. Somehow it made me 
 feel sad. A playground is a lonely, deserted 
 spot on a dark night. Maybe it seems the
 
 120 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 more so by contrast to what it is during the 
 day. There was the hardened gray ground, 
 the fading line of tall white fence, and then 
 the study hall window lights on the far side, 
 and a few half-turned ones over in the 
 dormitories. It gave me a weird and un- 
 canny feeling. I continued my way in the 
 darkness to the other end of the grounds, 
 and then through the short lane which led 
 to the football field. Here, leaning against 
 a goal-post. I looked out over the big rect- 
 angle, with its faint white lines, and tried to 
 turn my mind upon the afternoon's battle. 
 How long I stood there I do not know, but 
 it was the town clock striking half-past nine 
 which aroused me. It was nearly time for 
 study hour to be dismissed, so I hurried on 
 back to the hall. The " time's up " bell rang 
 just as I reached the schoolhouse door, and 
 I stepped into a sideway to wait for Allen. 
 To my surprise, the usual trample of feet 
 did not follow the bell. Everything was as 
 quiet as a church, above. A moment later, 
 some one began speaking, and I thought I 
 recognised Allen's voice. I tiptoed rapidly
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 121 
 
 up the steps and stopped in the corridor, 
 near the open door. 
 
 " to tell you " yes, it was Allen speak- 
 ing "that I have made a discovery which 
 puts a blot upon the name of our school." 
 There was a dead pause. Then he con- 
 tinued : " There have been many boys at 
 Belle Monte who have disobeyed rules and 
 customs, as Mr. Landruff can testify." 
 Even at the present tension of feeling this 
 brought forth a faint snicker, which in its 
 turn produced a savage rapping of the ham- 
 mer, and I could see old 'Ruff's frown, even 
 though there was a brick wall between us. 
 
 " Yes," said Allen, when the rapping 
 ceased, " there have been many bad boys, 
 but never until now has there been a traitor 
 in this school." The silence was complete 
 again. "We were beaten to-day on a 'fluke,' 
 so it is said. We were not. We were beaten 
 because one of Belle Monte's team gave its 
 signals to Ashville, and did so as much as 
 two days before the game. Further than 
 that, I know who did it, and will tell you ! " 
 
 There was a ringing shout, and a quick
 
 122 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 rumble of feet on the floor. The whole 
 school had sprung up. Old 'Ruff's usually 
 stern presence had been entirely forgotten. 
 
 But why did I not rush into the room, 
 why did I not throw myself into the midst 
 of that crowd, and be one of them ? Instead 
 of going toward the door, I shrank from it. 
 Instead of being swept along in the stream 
 of righteous indignation, I was seized with 
 terror. The vague suspicion in my mind 
 had grown instantly into a tangible fact, 
 with each link of evidence leading to a 
 conclusive proof. 
 
 " I have a letter here," said Allen's voice, 
 rising again to a high pitch, "from some 
 one in Ashville, who signs himself 'fair 
 play.' It should have been delivered to 
 me this morning before we went, but, most 
 unfortunately, it was mislaid. It reads, ' You 
 have no chance with Ashville unless you 
 change your signals. They have all been 
 given to our captain. Thursday afternoon 
 a Belle Monte boy riding a wheel passed 
 through Winchester on his way to Ashville. 
 He must have decided not to come here,
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 though, for he turned back. In going 
 through Winchester a second time he met 
 Captain Markham, who persuaded him to 
 tell the signals. Harry Sulden is his name, 
 from what ' ' 
 
 I could hear no more, for the terrible 
 bellow that went up from that now frenzied 
 crowd. 
 
 "Where is he, where is he?" they 
 yelled. 
 
 " I do not know, I cannot find him in the 
 whole school." 
 
 " He was excused from study hour to go 
 down-town. He is about back in his room 
 by now," shouted some one. I believe, in 
 the wild confusion of sounds that followed 
 immediately, I heard old 'Ruff's voice shout 
 out something, but he might as well have 
 talked to the wind, for all the good it did. 
 
 Should I warn the boy, or should I let 
 the crowd have him ? I thought of his 
 mother and sister, and for once turned my 
 back on Belle Monte. 
 
 When I reached the stairs, there upon the 
 topmost step, pale and trembling, stood
 
 124 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 Sulden himself! How he ever came to be 
 there at that moment I do not know. 
 
 " What's the matter ? " he asked, in a 
 frightened whisper I could hear even above 
 the roar from behind. 
 
 " They are after you, for giving away the 
 signals ! Run ! Go to your room, and lock 
 the door and windows. The teachers will 
 protect you, you miserable hound ! " I 
 shouted after him. I don't know whether 
 he heard this last or not, but he was out 
 of the schoolhouse in a trice. I tried to 
 follow, but, confound my weakness, I sud- 
 denly became faint and dizzy, and was forced 
 to pause a minute by the side of the fence 
 to steady myself. 
 
 The crowd swept out into the yard with 
 a rush, and across the playground or through 
 the various alleyways toward the dormi- 
 tories. Old 'Ruff was struggling right in 
 their midst, shouting at, and even cursing 
 them, but to no avail. If he tried to stop 
 one boy, he was immediately jostled and 
 almost run over by others from behind. I 
 saw at least twenty fellows snatch palings
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 125 
 
 off the front fence right before his eyes, 
 which crime had always been highly pun- 
 ishable. It was no organised school under 
 rules now, but an enraged mob. I heard 
 several of the older boys giving commands 
 for surrounding the whole place. Every 
 one seemed maddened and desperate. 
 
 I could not move I was so weak, and 
 faint, but only clung to the fence, waiting 
 for that peculiar reeling sensation in my 
 head to pass off. 
 
 " What are you going to do with him ? " 
 piped out the shrill voice of a youngster 
 near me, who had just taken advantage of 
 the general uprising, and was enjoying the 
 rare privilege of wrenching a paling off the 
 fence. 
 
 " Duck him ! " shouted another boy, as he 
 disappeared down one of the alleys. 
 
 " Duck him, the devil ! " growled an older 
 voice from the darkness beyond, " lynch 
 him ! " 
 
 I was in great fear for Sulden's safety, and 
 a moment later, when feeling a little better, 
 I ran as quickly as possible toward his room.
 
 126 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 I found the alley and porch jammed with an 
 excited crowd. Two boys with baseball bats 
 were battering at the door, though there was 
 scarcely room to swing them, the others 
 pressed around so closely. With some 
 difficulty I pushed my way through. 
 
 " What are you doing here ? " I said, 
 crowding in between the boys at work on 
 the door, and pressing them back. They 
 were both good friends of mine, ordinarily, 
 but did not show it now. 
 
 "What do you think we are doing?" 
 snarled one. 
 
 " What's come over you all of a sudden ? " 
 said the other. " Get out of the way, or you'll 
 be hit." 
 
 Somebody caught me by the coat from 
 behind and pulled me backward. I freed 
 myself with a struggle and pushed back to 
 the door again. Many hands were now laid 
 upon me at once, and before I could defend 
 myself I was overpowered. 
 
 The door would have been knocked from 
 its hinges a moment later had not almost 
 every teacher in school arrived suddenly on
 
 "THE DOOR WOULD HAVE BEEN KNOCKED FROM ITS 
 HINGES."
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK- 129 
 
 the scene. It seems that old 'Ruff had given 
 up in despair of stopping the crowd, and 
 gone after the others. Mr. Mathews was 
 first there. He bucked right in, football 
 fashion, and ploughed his way through. 
 " Cap'n " himself and several others fol- 
 lowed close behind. The now shattered 
 door would have given away to another 
 blow, but the boys working on it desisted 
 upon the teachers' appearance. 
 
 " What is this ? " shouted the " Cap'n," 
 above the sound of other voices, now sunk 
 to a murmur, " Are you going to turn my 
 school into a mob of thugs and cutthroats ? 
 Are you going to tear down the houses ? 
 You will be setting fire to them next. Get 
 back to your dormitories ! " 
 
 " Cap'n " had been shaking every boy he 
 could lay his hands on, and there was a gen- 
 eral loosening up of the crowd around him. 
 In the meantime, Mr. Mathews had pushed 
 his way through to the door. The two boys 
 with bats, on seeing him coming, had lost all 
 courage and dodged back into the crowd. 
 
 O O 
 
 Mob feeling, that ran so high a moment
 
 130 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 before, was now completely quelled by the 
 energetic actions of the teachers. Still 
 there was lots of honest indignation burn- 
 ing within the boys' breasts. They doggedly 
 refused to move at " Cap'n's " commands. 
 
 Several teachers had now reached the 
 porch and forced all the boys from it, so all 
 danger of violence to Sulden was passed. 
 
 " Is Sulden in there ? " asked old 'Ruff, 
 breathlessly, of me. 
 
 " Yes, he is," I answered ; " I heard the 
 crowd coming, and managed to warn him." 
 
 Old 'Ruff did not hear this last. He had 
 out his little book and was jotting down 
 names at a great rate. This was a glorious 
 ingathering of offenders for him. I managed 
 to glance over his shoulder, and saw my 
 name first on the list. 
 
 " Cap'n " now spoke from the porch steps. 
 
 " What means this outbreak ? " he asked, 
 in a voice filled with anger. Old 'Ruff had 
 not told him the cause of the trouble. 
 " What am I to understand from such a 
 thing ? Are you all lunatics ? " 
 
 " It means," answered Allen, firmly, " that
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 13! 
 
 this boy, Sulden, was traitor enough to give 
 our signals away to Ashville, merely because 
 he was not selected to play quarterback, and 
 we have lost the championship of the State 
 by it." There was a harsh echo of approval 
 from the crowd. 
 
 " I am surprised at you, Allen, to have 
 taken a hand in such a disturbance, what- 
 ever may be its cause," " Cap'n " answered, 
 " but how do you know Sulden did this ? " 
 
 " Here," said Allen, " read this," and he 
 handed him the letter. 
 
 After "Cap'n" had adjusted his spectacles 
 and read the missive by the faint glow of 
 the alleyway lamp, I think his manner was 
 rather more kindly toward us. He had been 
 a boy himself, "Cap'n" had, and he could 
 realise our feelings. 
 
 " I can understand why you all should be 
 provoked," he said, finally, " but you have 
 gone too far. Every one must go to his 
 room now. Mr. Landruff, see that they are 
 all in their rooms in five minutes. I will 
 investigate this matter." 
 
 " But, ' Cap'n,' " said Allen, as the crowd
 
 132 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 still hesitated, "he cannot stay here. Sulden 
 cannot stay in this school. He will have to 
 go." To these bold words, which surprised 
 us all, though still expressed our sentiments, 
 " Cap'n " answered, without the slightest 
 particle of sternness or anger in his tone : 
 
 " I have the matter in charge now. It 
 shall be investigated and disposed of to the 
 best interests of the school, though if he has 
 done what you say, he certainly deserves ex- 
 pulsion. See that every one is in promptly, 
 Mr. Landruff." 
 
 In this manner was the famous mob dis- 
 persed. It has ever since been looked upon 
 as one of the greatest exploits of the school, 
 and older boys now, who were youngsters 
 then, never fail to draw a crowd of auditors 
 when they tell of it. In this way, also, did 
 the case of Sulden, as it might have been 
 expressed in my Latin reader, "pass from 
 a cause of the people to a cause of the 
 rulers." 
 
 While "Cap'n" had been talking to the 
 crowd, Mr. Mathews made Sulden open the 
 door. I managed to slip by the other
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 133 
 
 teachers and follow him into the room. 
 Instead of finding Sulden hiding under 
 the bed, he was in an attitude of defence 
 behind it, with the table and chairs piled 
 in front of him. Even then it made me 
 feel glad to see that he had shown this 
 much spirit, if he had been a traitor. Mr. 
 Mathews soon told him that there was no 
 cause for fear, though he did not seem in 
 any particular hurry to leave his improvised 
 fortress. 
 
 " Sulden," said Mr. Mathews, with a severe 
 look on his usually genial face, "you have 
 done your schoolfellows a great wrong, for 
 which I don't believe they can ever forgive 
 you." 
 
 I could not help feeling the smallest 
 particle sorry for him then, no matter what 
 he had done, for here he was, just one boy, 
 surrounded by so many enemies. At that 
 moment there was no other name in the 
 mouths of all the school but his, and I am 
 sure no one had a single word of good to 
 say for him. I was such a fool, too, for 
 allowing this weakness to get the best of me.
 
 134 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 Sulden dropped his eyes before Mr. 
 Mathews's look for a moment, and then 
 answered, doggedly, " What have I done ? " 
 
 " What have you done ! " repeated Mr. 
 Mathews, indignantly, " you know well 
 enough what you have done. You know 
 you gave the signals to Ashville." 
 
 " I didn't do anything of the kind," but he 
 looked the lie he spoke. 
 
 " You did, though," I replied, hotly, for- 
 getting my sympathy. " You know well 
 enough I met you coming back from there 
 on the road, Thursday night. You dodged 
 around the lamp, to keep me from recognis- 
 ing you ! " 
 
 He turned a shade paler, I think, but he 
 answered, still sullenly, " No, I didn't." 
 
 " You are a liar ! " I shouted, but instantly 
 regretted my rash speech, for the look that 
 Mr. Mathews turned upon me. 
 
 It was all settled shortly afterward. 
 "Cap'n" came into the room as soon as 
 the boys and other teachers had gone. He 
 asked Sulden about it so quietly, and, though 
 he could get nothing but brusque denials
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 135 
 
 at first, he talked to him in such a kindly, 
 gentle way that soon the poor boy broke 
 down, crying, and confessed everything. As 
 for myself, I had much ado to keep back 
 some confounded tears, while Mr. Mathews 
 turned away to the door and whistled, rather 
 loudly, I thought. 
 
 " Sulden," said " Cap'n," finally, in a fa- 
 therly tone of regret, " you cannot stay here. 
 I will have to send you away." 
 
 " Oh, ' Cap'n,' " and the poor boy was 
 wrung with such a sob that it seemed as if 
 his heart was breaking, " if if you would 
 only let this go I will never, never do 
 so again ! I will I will " but he could 
 not speak further. 
 
 " Cap'n " removed his tall hat, and, resting 
 it on his knee, he shook his gray head sadly. 
 
 " No, no," he answered, in a tone of such 
 gentle sorrow that I was forced to clinch 
 my teeth tightly, " it is not I, Sulden. I 
 could let you stay. But all the boys, they 
 can never forgive you; and if you tried to 
 stay here among them your life would be a 
 burden to you. You will have to go."
 
 136 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 There was not another word spoken by 
 any of us for fully an hour. Sulden sat 
 with his face buried in his hands, trying to 
 control his grief. I was sitting on a trunk 
 at the other side of the room, doing my best 
 to keep the tears out of my eyes, but suc- 
 ceeding very poorly. Mr. Mathews stood 
 by the door, gazing out into the darkness ; 
 and " Cap'n " why, I think " Cap'n " must 
 have been praying. He was sitting with his 
 chin resting in one hand and his eyes on 
 the floor. 
 
 Finally Mr. Mathews looked at his watch, 
 and the spell of silence which had fallen 
 over us was broken. " Cap'n " rose hur- 
 riedly when he learned that it was eleven 
 o'clock. 
 
 " Sulden," he said, as he turned to go, 
 "you had better stay in your room to-mor- 
 row morning until I come over here. I will 
 have to see " (did I catch a faint quaver in 
 the " Cap'n 's " tone ?) " your mother first and 
 make the necessary arrangements. You had 
 better get to bed now, both of you boys," 
 and he and Mr. Mathews passed on out.
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 137 
 
 We continued to sit in silence for some 
 minutes. At length I arose from the trunk. 
 
 " Harry," I said, " I will have to go to bed 
 now." I would like to have said something 
 consoling, but for the life of me I could not 
 have thought of anything. 
 
 " Oh, John," he cried, brokenly, with his 
 face still in his hands, " what shall I do ? 
 what will they say ? how can I ever tell 
 mother ? what will she think ? " 
 
 That was the weight which had borne 
 down upon me so heavily for two hours 
 past. 
 
 Ah, yes, what would his mother think, 
 and his sister, too ! 
 
 As I left Sulden's room, the realisation of 
 what it all would mean came upon me with 
 overwhelming force. I paused for a moment 
 in the dark alleyway, to fight it out with 
 my own feelings. Oh, I did not know what 
 to do, I knew not which way to turn. On 
 one side was the traitor who had robbed us 
 of what we held so dear. But on the other 
 were his mother and sister, who, though 
 entirely innocent, would be the great suffer-
 
 138 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 ers. I would do anything to save them ; but 
 here was the other staring me in the face. 
 How could I shut my eyes to it? Sympathy 
 for the boy himself left me as suddenly as it 
 came, the moment I lost sight of his grief. 
 
 I tried to clear my mind of all these con- 
 tending thoughts. I was doing my best to 
 see where my path should be. I paused 
 long and pondered. Yes, plain duty had 
 swung around, compasslike, and was mark- 
 ing out my course. 
 
 Then and there I stood and declared for 
 Sulden. Ten minutes before, such a thing 
 would have been impossible. But ah, it 
 had cost me a struggle, and the struggle 
 was not yet over ; far from it. 
 
 Now that I had made up my mind, there 
 was nothing I would not do to prevent his 
 expulsion. What a stinging disgrace I 
 knew it would be to Mrs. Sulden and 
 Evelyn ! I just could not bear to think of 
 it. They would never get over it. The 
 boy's life would be ruined the stain 
 would rest on him for ever. But what did 
 I care for him!
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 139 
 
 Harkis and myself argued the whole 
 question over as I was preparing for bed. 
 Naturally enough, he was very bitter against 
 Sulden. I could not blame him or any one 
 else in school for that feeling. 
 
 " But," I expostulated, " it will give the 
 poor boy a false start in life. It is bad 
 enough as it stands, and if expulsion is 
 added, he will go straight to the devil." 
 
 " What do we care how much it might 
 ruin him ? See what he's done for us. 
 Hasn't he ruined us ? " 
 
 " Yes," I answered, hotly, for I felt the 
 deep humiliation of that defeat as much as 
 any one, " he did betray us. But then," I 
 continued, trying to take up the other side 
 of the question with more calmness, " there 
 is something else to be considered besides 
 Belle Monte 's glory." 
 
 To save my life, I don't believe I could 
 have admitted such a thing to myself, much 
 less spoken it out loud, except for the others. 
 The wretched condition of Sulden himself 
 made no appeal to me, and I would not 
 have turned on my heel to try and help
 
 140 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 him. Why, think of the wrong he had done 
 us ! He had blasted our high hopes of two 
 years. No, there was no chanty in my 
 heart for such a boy. I am sure there was 
 not, even though he was without sympathy, 
 and had concentrated upon him the wrath 
 of the whole school. No, he did not appeal 
 to me I don't think he did. 
 
 But it seemed such a terrible punishment 
 to put upon his mother and sister, why, in 
 his whole life they could never lose sight of it. 
 I hardly believe it was any deep-set element 
 of malice which made him betray Belle 
 Monte. Then, too, there was the extenua- 
 ting circumstance of his having turned back 
 to school and telling what he did only after 
 he had been persuaded by his cousin. Mark- 
 ham just took advantage of the boy's fool- 
 ish pride, that's all. Oh, it was nothing 
 but mere weakness. The boy was spoiled. 
 Yes, and for this his mother may have been 
 to blame. But because her indulgent love 
 might have led him to be a traitor, should 
 we fix upon them both an unending punish- 
 ment ? This is what his expulsion meant.
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 141 
 
 Why, he was only a young boy; a foolish, 
 spoiled boy, whose character was no more 
 formed than his muscular development. 
 Were he struck this blow now, it would give 
 his whole life a downward turn, from which 
 he might never have strength enough to rise. 
 
 Could I see him gone, lost, ruined, and 
 his mother at last broken-hearted, and his 
 sister? In the face of this, how could the 
 students of Belle Monte mistake their duty? 
 
 " Yes, Pete," I said, " there is something 
 else for us to consider in this besides Belle 
 Monte's honour and glory." 
 
 " What is it ? " Harkis asked, scornfully. 
 
 " Why, can't you see that if the boy is 
 expelled, it will make his disgrace complete ? 
 He will never recover from it, and look 
 what it will mean to his family." 
 
 " Doesn't he deserve it all, and more too ? 
 What do we care for his family? They 
 ought to have taught him better ! " The 
 little fellow jumped up. " Oh, John, I did 
 not mean that I did not think I did not 
 mean that." A moment later he added, 
 " But even with that considered, I hardly
 
 142 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 see how you can feel as you do. Don't you 
 realise how much the defeat means to us?" 
 
 " I do as much as any one, but if you were 
 in my place you would feel and act as I do. 
 I am going to ask to-morrow that Sulden 
 be allowed to remain in school, and that 
 the matter be dropped. I will first ask the 
 'Cap'n' about it " 
 
 " But he has practically decided with the 
 school." 
 
 " Then I will put the question to the 
 boys. Now, Pete," I continued, " if you 
 are a friend of mine, I want you to aid 
 me in this." 
 
 " You don't mean to say that you are 
 going to be so foolish as to really try? 
 You are not only attempting something 
 impossible, but you are putting yourself in 
 an awfully bad light. Help you ? I don't 
 see how I can, and do what is right." 
 
 " Oh, Pete, you do not see it in the right 
 way. Consider it from my side. Here is 
 his mother and his sister." 
 
 The little fellow hesitated long. " I'll tell 
 you what I'll do," he said, finally. "If it
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 143 
 
 comes to a vote before the school I'll be for 
 letting him stay, though not because I think 
 he ought. But, pshaw, my say is not a drop 
 in the bucket." 
 
 " I don't like to accept such unwilling 
 support, Pete, but as it is for the right I 
 will do so." 
 
 We discussed the question long and 
 earnestly, but Harkis remained fixed in his 
 opinion. 
 
 I was determined to have it all settled 
 immediately. I could not think of waiting 
 until Monday. My plan was to have the 
 school assemble in study hall after break- 
 fast and before church hour. 
 
 So I was out early the next morning in 
 order to make the required arrangements. 
 Of course to get " Cap'n's " consent was 
 the first important step. Somehow I felt 
 that this would not be difficult. 
 
 After leaving my room, the first thing I 
 did was to step across the alley to see 
 Sulden. Though the rising-bell had not 
 yet been sounded I found him already up. 
 The first sight of him turned me bitterly
 
 144 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 against him, it brought back with such a 
 sharp force what he had done, and its terri- 
 ble consequences of the day before. For 
 this reason being unable to greet him civilly, 
 I refrained from greeting him at all. But 
 when I noticed his red and swollen eyes and 
 the look of intense pain upon his face, I took 
 a little comfort in the fact that I was trying 
 to aid him. 
 
 He said nothing, and after a pause I spoke. 
 
 " Would you still stay here if the school 
 allowed you ? " 
 
 I had my back turned to him and was 
 looking out of the window. 
 
 "Oh, yes, do you think there is any 
 chance any hope ? Why, John, I can never 
 go home. I can never look my mother in 
 the face again." 
 
 To keep him from even suspecting just 
 how I really felt, I continued, sternly, " Do 
 you think you would ever do anything like 
 that again ? Do you think you will learn 
 any self-control from this ? Do you " 
 
 " Yes, indeed," he cried, eagerly, " oh, yes. 
 But will they really give me any chance ?
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 145 
 
 Will they let me stay? If they only 
 will " 
 
 He had caught me by the arm, but I 
 pushed him away, and continued, " Do you 
 think you can stand the life which you will 
 be bound to lead if you stay in Belle 
 Monte? Do you think you can endure 
 the scorn and the curses, and maybe even 
 blows, from nearly every boy in school ? " 
 
 There was no hesitation in his answer, 
 which to me at least made a point in his 
 favour. " Anything, anything ! " he cried, 
 putting his hands to his face. " All that 
 and more too. I deserve it every bit, and 
 more. I only ask for a chance, but will 
 they give it to me ? " 
 
 I drew a step farther away from him. 
 
 " I cannot tell, they are now in a terrible 
 rage at the very thought of you. But I am 
 going to try to try and get their consent 
 to your remaining." 
 
 " John," he exclaimed, coming close to me 
 again, confound him, " will you do you 
 think you can ? Oh, if you only could, I 
 I would would be so "
 
 146 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 " Don't think," I answered, in as brusque 
 a tone as I could command, and starting to 
 go, " that I am doing this for you. If it 
 were not for your mother, I would not lift 
 a finger to help you." 
 
 But I felt a sharp pang of regret for this, 
 because, as the door was closing behind me, 
 he called out, " I don't care what becomes 
 of me if they will let me stay, if they only 
 will ! " 
 
 Oh, if they only would ! 
 
 His was a changed state, indeed. I 
 thought the smallest bit better of him for 
 showing as much anxiety as he did to keep 
 his disgrace from his mother and sister. 
 Then, too, he showed that he had pluck 
 enough about him to stick it out at Belle 
 Monte, if he was but allowed to stay; and 
 gameness, you know, in the opinion of some 
 foolish fellows like myself, is an offset to 
 many shortcomings. 
 
 From Sulden's room I went to " Cap'n's " 
 study. He was always there on Sunday 
 mornings, preparing the lesson he taught 
 his Bible class later in the day.
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 147 
 
 " You are out early this morning, Wil- 
 kins," he said, when after his response to my 
 knock I had entered. " Has the rising-bell 
 rung yet ? " 
 
 " I hardly believe it has, sir." 
 
 I paused, standing by his desk, while 
 " Cap'n " leaned forward and stirred the fire. 
 Though I was about to speak upon a doubt- 
 ful point, still I did not feel at all embar- 
 rassed. " Cap'n," bless him, was the most 
 approachable man in the world, and, I ex- 
 pect, the most considerate. 
 
 When he leaned back in his revolving 
 chair again, he glanced up inquiringly. 
 
 " ' Cap'n,' " I said, " I came to see you 
 about Harry Sulden, if you have time." I 
 believe he had already guessed something of 
 the kind, for he did not seem surprised. 
 
 " What is it ? " he asked, in a deeply 
 interested tone. 
 
 Now, I am the most awkward fellow in 
 the world for introducing a difficult subject, 
 but I felt there was no occasion then to 
 measure words on this topic, so I just spoke 
 right out.
 
 148 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 " I don't want to see the boy expelled, 
 ' Cap'n,' indeed I don't. Why, his mother 
 would never get over the disgrace of it. I 
 feel the injury he has done us as much as 
 anybody in school, but expel him, and 
 he will go to the dogs." I hesitated for very 
 surprise at my own outspokenness. " Not 
 that I care for him," I continued, hastily. 
 " How could I, after what has passed ? But 
 you know, sir, what the ruination of him 
 would mean to his family." 
 
 " Cap'n " was looking into the fire. 
 
 "You are right, Wilkins," he said; "it is 
 distressing from every point of view, but I 
 don't see how he could remain here in spite 
 of the bitter feeling against him, even though 
 I should refuse to expel him. I hardly know 
 just what to do," added " Cap'n," in a worried 
 tone, rising from his chair and taking a turn 
 or two about the room. " They are always 
 doing something outrageous, getting them- 
 selves into some impossible, unheard-of 
 tangle," he continued, with an impatient 
 half -gesture in the direction of the dormi- 
 tories.
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 I hated to worry the " Cap'n," but this 
 was a case of necessity. 
 
 " There can be no doubt about it," he 
 said, " that the boy deserves severe punish- 
 ment for the contemptible spirit that he 
 has shown. But to expel him, and be con- 
 fronted with all this other side of the ques- 
 tion, puts a more serious light on it. The 
 truth of the business is, Wilkins, there are 
 a dozen boys in school I would rather expel 
 than Sulden. I do not take him to be a bad, 
 but a weak boy." The " Cap'n " had put the 
 whole case so clearly and concisely, just as I 
 regarded it. " But the school has made such 
 a clamour," he said, finally, " that to expel 
 him may be the best way out of it, after all." 
 
 " ' Cap'n,' " I asked, " would you consent 
 to his staying, if the school did ? " 
 
 " Why, of course I would, Wilkins, quick 
 enough, but I rather committed myself last 
 night. Besides, it is my candid opinion that 
 the school should settle this for itself. The 
 offence is against the spirit of the school, 
 no violation of any rule." 
 
 " I have thought of all that, ' Cap'n,' " I
 
 150 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 answered, eagerly, " and I have come to ask 
 that you allow me to try and gain the con- 
 sent of the school." 
 
 " Oh, yes, you can try," said the " Cap'n," 
 shaking his head gravely ; " but after what 
 happened last night it will do no good, I am 
 sure." 
 
 " It might," I said, " though I'll admit that 
 I do not feel very hopeful. What I want is 
 to have the school assemble after breakfast 
 in study hall. Then if you could speak to 
 the boys " 
 
 " No, Wilkins, I cannot do that. If the 
 school of its own accord consents to Sul- 
 den's remaining, all well and good ; but, even 
 as much as I would like to see the boy stay, 
 neither my assistants nor myself can take 
 any active part in the matter. I think it best 
 to abide by whatever the school decides." 
 I felt the entire justice of what " Cap'n " had 
 said. " You must do what you can," he 
 continued, " if you intend to follow up your 
 idea. Put it to the vote fairly. I will have 
 Mr. Landruff assemble the school after 
 breakfast. You had better get the presi-
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 151 
 
 dent of the athletic association to pre- 
 side." 
 
 " I think that would be best, sir."' 
 
 " You might see some of your friends 
 before the school is assembled, too." 
 
 " Oh, yes, sir, I know, I will." I under- 
 stood that part all right, but the speech- 
 making was what I dreaded. I had made 
 set speeches in declamation class, though 
 never any other kind. The thought of 
 facing the whole school, when so much 
 depended on my words, made me weak with 
 fear. I had begun to realise the great diffi- 
 culty of my task. "Cap'n" must have 
 understood what was passing in my mind, 
 for he shook his head doubtfully, and said : 
 
 " You have a hard job before you, Wil- 
 kins, though it may not be an impossible 
 one." 
 
 After leaving the study I turned in the 
 direction of Allen's room. Here I had a 
 long and, at times, a heated discussion with 
 him and the two Briggs', who were his room- 
 mates. At first none of the three would 
 even listen to me, especially the Briggs'.
 
 152 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 Allen finally said he would think it over, 
 though he still felt very bitter about it all, 
 an extraordinary state of mind for him. 
 The strong argument with him was Sulden's 
 mother and sister. You doubtless under- 
 stand that Allen in spirit was as gallant and 
 chivalrous a knight as ever in the old days 
 took the part of the weak and defenceless. 
 But he was also intensely loyal to Belle 
 Monte. The Briggs' laughed me to scorn, 
 and so I left not very much reassured. 
 
 I next went to look for Humphries, and 
 found him in the library. He became bit- 
 terly sarcastic when I introduced the subject. 
 He wondered at my " intense interest in so 
 thoroughly an unworthy cause " in such a 
 provoking manner that I had a good deal to 
 do to keep my temper. You see, I was so 
 miserably awkward in bringing up the sub- 
 ject, and particularly with an unsympathetic 
 fellow like Humphries, that I did my cause 
 more harm than good. A sure-enough 
 quarrel would have ruined our chances, so 
 far as he was concerned, had not the break- 
 fast call cut short our colloquy.
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 153 
 
 I felt by no means encouraged over the 
 start I had made in " influencing " the 
 school. A rumour of my attempt had 
 gotten out among the boys, for many were 
 the dark looks turned in my direction 
 during breakfast. 
 
 When I left the hall I started toward 
 Sulden's room to let him know how matters 
 stood, but, after going a few steps, changed 
 my mind. I don't think it would have done 
 me any good to see him at that moment. 
 So I returned and lingered near the dining- 
 hall door to speak to some of my friends as 
 they came out. I urged the question upon 
 Engle, and even he objected. He said, 
 though, he would wait and see how the 
 school took it. If it was close, he would 
 not let his vote turn it against Sulden. 
 This was cold comfort, and I told him 
 that I was not after his vote so much as 
 the influence of his example. He did not 
 see how he could exert himself conscien- 
 tiously in Sulden's behalf. Maybe if I had 
 been able to point out the strength of my 
 position I could have had some effect on
 
 154 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 Engle, but I was so confoundedly awkward 
 about it all. After speaking to several others 
 I was nearly ready to give up the whole 
 business. It seemed so hopeless. Though 
 good friends of mine ordinarily, they all 
 either laughed or sneered at me. They would 
 not even pause to hear what I had to say. 
 
 " So you have taken sides with the traitor. 
 I wouldn't have thought it of you," said 
 Moore, with a frown. 
 
 " Yes," said Wheat, " he's no longer for 
 Belle Monte." 
 
 I told Wheat to be careful how he talked. 
 Several other Allies came by just then, and 
 they stopped for a moment to pass some 
 harsh criticism. 
 
 As soon as the big school bell sounded 
 for assembly, I hastened to the hall and took 
 my seat upon the front row of benches. I 
 was never so unnerved in all my life. 
 
 With the clatter of many feet and the 
 clamour of many voices the school gathered 
 together. The sharp rapping of the hammer 
 in old 'Ruff's hands soon brought every one 
 to their seats quietly and in order.
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 155 
 
 I tried to brace up for the ordeal, but it 
 seemed as if there was not a bit of nerve left 
 about me. After a dozen belated ones had 
 straggled in and taken their seats, old 'Ruff 
 arose from his desk and walked to the front 
 of the little platform. 
 
 " You are called in here," he said, running 
 his sharp eye over the whole school, " to 
 decide a question for yourselves. It is some- 
 thing that the school, and the school alone, 
 should determine, so it is proper that one of 
 your number preside. I suggest your -ath- 
 letic association president, Mr. Saunders. 
 The question before you is in the hands 
 of John Wilkins." It cut me to the quick 
 to hear the loud murmur of disapproval that 
 followed the mention of my name. 
 
 " If you wish Mr. Saunders to preside, 
 make it known," continued old 'Ruff. Ed- 
 mondson, who was also a politician, jumped 
 up. 
 
 " What is the question ? " he asked. He 
 knew it well enough, but just asked this for 
 meanness. Old 'Ruff nodded in my direc- 
 tion, and with a mighty effort I arose.
 
 156 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 " The question is," said I, trying to look 
 squarely into that coldly attentive array of 
 faces, " whether or not the Belle Monte 
 student body will allow Harry Sulden to 
 remain one of them." There was an omi- 
 nous rumble from every part of the hall, and 
 half a dozen fellows were on their feet at 
 once. 
 
 " I don't see," shouted one, " why that 
 question is brought up again. We have 
 already passed on it ! " This allusion to 
 the previous night's mob brought forth a 
 half howl, half cheer. Old 'Ruff pounded 
 viciously for order. Two or three others had 
 similar protests to make. Then Humphries 
 arose, and though I knew there was noth- 
 ing to hope for from him, still I was terribly 
 interested in what he had to say, for his 
 word carried with it a big influence. 
 
 " I think it only fair," he said, " that Mr. 
 Wilkins and his question be given a hear- 
 ing, as foolish and impossible as it may be. 
 I therefore move that Mr. Saunders take 
 the chair, so we can be through with this 
 as quickly as possible." The vote was called
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 157 
 
 for and Saunders took the chair. Old 'Ruff 
 immediately left the hall. 
 
 My time had come at last, and I felt 
 anything but equal to it. 
 
 " Well," said Saunders, as he seated him- 
 self, " we will now hear what Mr. Wilkins 
 has to say." 
 
 I got up again and faced the school. To 
 be as bold as possible had been my plan, 
 but when I saw that look of distrust and 
 dislike levelled on me from more than three 
 hundred pairs of eyes, my last bit of cour- 
 age seemed to leave me. I had felt that 
 same strange sensation of fear many a time, 
 just before the kick-off of a big game, but 
 never had it been so intensified. 
 
 I started to speak, but had no voice, and 
 there I stood in front of the assembled 
 school, with a great cause to plead and 
 never a word to express it. How long I 
 wavered in this miserable state I do not 
 know. My utter confusion had doubtless be- 
 come apparent to the whole school, for finally 
 there was a suppressed titter from among 
 the smaller boys in the rear of the hall.
 
 158 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 This brought up with a leap my rage 
 against myself and every one else. For 
 the moment, passion got the better of my 
 fear, and I blurted out the first words that 
 came into my mouth. They happened to 
 be, "Will Belle Monte demand bare jus- 
 tice, or will she give mercy? Which is the 
 true spirit of this school," I asked, "for 
 unyielding justice, or mercy ? " I felt a little 
 better now. 
 
 " It is well we decide this here. It is well 
 we have such a vital question with which 
 to test us now. In all else I believe Belle 
 Monte has stood for what is true and what 
 is right. The test of the idea is now with 
 us. Here is where we lay down a precedent, 
 so see to it that you consider well before 
 deciding. Remember, too, that you are not 
 only judge and jury in this case, but also 
 plaintiff. Lay aside your prejudices if you 
 can, and pass on what I am about to say, 
 with nothing but your reason. In asking 
 this I am asking something very difficult, I 
 know. I know the violent state to which 
 your minds are wrought. The same indig-
 
 "'FOR UNYIELDING JUSTICE OR MERCY?'"
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. l6l 
 
 nation still burns in me, when I think of 
 only one side of this question. And you, 
 my comrades, who still feel the bruises of 
 yesterday's struggle, I ask you, particularly, 
 to deal reasonably with what I have to say." 
 I was all right now, just as a fellow be- 
 comes warmed up after the game is well 
 started. 
 
 " I ask again, is it the spirit of this school 
 to be merciful where mercy means so much, 
 or to demand a punishment which, while it 
 be just, works such a deep injury ? I will try 
 and state the case. 
 
 " You charge Harry Sulden with the 
 betrayal of Belle Monte to Ashville. You 
 charge him with thus having lost Belle 
 Monte the State championship, her right- 
 ful honour, and, also, that he caused Belle 
 Monte to be subjected to a driving hard game, 
 where we should have had an easy victory. 
 You charge him with all this, so do I ; you 
 know he was guilty of all this, so do I. 
 
 " And why did he do it ? Simply and 
 solely because he was not given the quarter- 
 back position after he had proven beyond
 
 1 62 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 every doubt that he was not the best man 
 for the place." In your indignation you put 
 the question, ' Was there ever a more cow- 
 ardly and contemptible spirit shown ? ' and 
 I will answer, ' There never was ! ' : 
 
 Then from all parts of the hall there 
 arose a yell : " You are right, Wilkins, you 
 are right, in spite of yourself ! " 
 
 It cost me an effort to resist this torrent 
 of feeling. 
 
 " Then you will ask me, ' Why do you get 
 up here to plead his cause ? ' and I will 
 answer, ' I am not pleading his cause.' " 
 
 There was an intense moment of un- 
 broken silence. 
 
 " ' Then why should you have us withhold 
 the punishment ? ' is the question in your 
 minds," I cried. 
 
 " Because I would rather have vou 
 
 j 
 
 rather have old Belle Monte declare for 
 mercy, instead of insist on stern justice. 
 
 " ' But mercy to whom ? ' you ask, ' mercy 
 to Sulden, the dog, the miserable traitor, 
 when the punishment he deserves is far 
 greater than what we can give him ? '
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 163 
 
 " ' Mercy,' I answer, ' not to him, but to his 
 mother and sister, to those who love him 
 and do not know even now of the shame 
 with which he has stained himself. What, 
 will you have your justice even though it 
 give them a lifelong sorrow ? You have your 
 revenge you disgrace him a weak boy, 
 whose character is unformed. He can never 
 hope to rise from it. His future course will 
 be a downward one.' 
 
 " There is not one of you here who truly 
 believes in your heart that I am not loyal to 
 Belle Monte. If there is one, let him say 
 so, and I will stop speaking." I paused a 
 moment, and then went on. " But I will 
 say, that while the triumphs of Belle Monte 
 and her reverses mean much to our lives, 
 still there are other things in life of a deeper 
 and more serious result. For all of us are 
 young. There is not one of us here who 
 has reached the really serious beginning of 
 his life. While Belle Monte's triumphs may 
 mean much to us now, there will come other 
 things that will mean much more. I feel 
 that it is the most serious question any of
 
 1 64 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 you were ever called upon to decide. Its 
 decision belongs to a time in life more 
 thoughtful than ours. Will you still demand 
 your vengeance, even though it inflicts the 
 deep sorrow that a mother suffers for a lost 
 son ? If equally as great a punishment could 
 be placed upon the offender, and the offender 
 alone, I believe I would stand with you to 
 demand it. But to crush those who are 
 entirely innocent, to darken the lives of 
 those who stand for whatever there might 
 be good in that miserable boy Oh, Belle 
 Monte, is this Belle Monte ? is this Belle 
 Monte's spirit ? Are you true boys, true 
 men, or are you relentless entirely? You 
 notice that I do not ask your mercy for his 
 sake. I do not urge your forgiveness to 
 save him from ruin, nor do I point out as 
 an extenuating circumstance the fact that 
 he had turned back to school when he 
 passed Winchester, and only gave the 
 signals after yielding to the persuasion 
 of his cousin, whom, by a chance of miser- 
 able misfortune, he had met. I am not 
 seeking to appeal to your sympathies by
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 165 
 
 telling you that Sulden has just said to me, 
 ' Let me stay, I do not care what becomes 
 of me, just so they don't know! ' But Belle 
 Monte cares nothing for what he asks ! 
 These are not my arguments. I do not ask 
 you to weigh them. Take them, do with them 
 as you will. I am not pleading his cause ! " 
 Here the disheartening thought struck 
 me that I must bejosing the attention of 
 the school. Many of the boys did not seem 
 to be looking at me. So instead of stop- 
 ping then, I continued : " Oh, boys, my 
 friends, Allies, First Yearsmen, and you, 
 my comrades of the team, put away your 
 prejudices, and consider this with reason and 
 mercy. If possible, each one of you put 
 yourselves into the place of Sulden now. 
 Most of you have mothers or sisters. Sup- 
 pose you were proud and wilful to a great 
 degree, and suppose you were proportion- 
 ately weak. Suppose in the passion of 
 disappointed pride you committed a rash act, 
 the consequences of which you did not 
 realise. Still you would deserve the punish- 
 ment, would you not ? But how about your
 
 1 66 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 mother ? What if it meant your ruination, 
 what if it meant her lifelong sorrow! Oh, 
 then, would you not pray for mercy, would 
 you not abase yourselves, bringing your 
 pride to the dust? I am ready for your 
 answer, would you ask for mercy? " 
 
 It was with the energy of despair that I 
 cried out this last, for the fear was stealing 
 over me that my words had fallen on deaf 
 ears. There was hardly an older boy around 
 the whole hall, the attention of whose eye 
 I still held. Allen, with his head between 
 his hands, was looking down on his desk. 
 Humphries was studying the ceiling with 
 a thoughtful air. Engle's eye was fastened 
 on {he floor, while Moore, with one finger 
 to his lips, gazed reflectively out of the 
 window. As I ceased speaking, many 
 others also seemed to be in the same mood 
 of inattention. 
 
 I had lost, beyond question ! The bit- 
 terness of my defeat flung itself over me. 
 I sank to the bench, and placed my hands 
 to my ears, to shut out the verdict that was 
 about to be thundered against me.
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. l6/ 
 
 There was a dead pause, a long pause, 
 and I was almost tempted to look up. 
 
 Then I heard Saunders speak. His voice 
 seemed strange and muffled : " Is there 
 any one else. to be heard on this question?" 
 
 Another complete silence ; it fairly rung 
 in my ears. I could not help but look up 
 now. At that moment Humphries arose 
 tall, stern, and forbidding. 
 
 I had lost indeed, for he was a sure-enough 
 speaker. 
 
 " Mr. Chairman," he said, with a graceful 
 wave of his long arm, and in that high 
 ringing treble that never failed to command 
 attention, " Mr. Chairman, I move that we 
 take the vote without hearing further from 
 any one on the subject." (I was dumfounded.) 
 " I hardly think, after what we have heard, 
 that the opposition has anything to say." 
 
 What did he mean, what did he mean ! 
 
 " Second the motion," a low voice said. 
 I believe it was Allen, but I am not certain. 
 
 " It has been moved and seconded," 
 repeated Saunders, " that the vote be taken 
 without further discussion. All who are in
 
 1 68 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 favour of that motion, signify by saying 
 aye." 
 
 I did not know what to think when a low 
 ripple of assent ran over the hall. 
 
 " Those opposed, no." 
 
 Complete silence. 
 
 I was utterly bewildered. 
 
 " Question ! " shouted Humphries, jump- 
 ing up. " Question ! " yelled Harkis and a 
 number of others from different parts of the 
 hall, springing to their feet. The whole 
 school was standing now. Its hesitation of 
 a moment before had disappeared, and a 
 condition of sudden determination had re- 
 placed it. 
 
 What could it all mean ? I did not know ! 
 I hardly dared to hope ! 
 
 " The question is," said Saunders, in a 
 loud and measured tone, " will you allow 
 Harry Sulden to remain at Belle Monte, or 
 will you insist upon his expulsion ? " 
 
 " I move that he be allowed to stay," 
 Humphries's clear voice rang out instantly. 
 
 " Second the motion ! " shouted twenty 
 others at the top of their voices. It was
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 169 
 
 hard indeed for me to follow what happened 
 after that, my fear was so quickly turned to 
 joy. 
 
 " It has been moved and seconded," pro- 
 nounced Saunders, with great dignity, " that 
 Sulden be allowed to remain at Belle Monte. 
 All who are in favour of that motion, signify 
 by saying " 
 
 There was a thunderous aye that rang 
 and reechoed against the roof. The call of 
 noes was completely lost in one long, ear- 
 splitting cheer. 
 
 The next instant my dear friends crowded 
 around me. Humphries himself was the 
 first to take me by the hand. Though he 
 uttered no word, the tight grip of his fingers 
 told me all he felt. And I tried to thank 
 him with might and main, but could not for 
 the confounded lump that had come up into 
 my throat. 
 
 Then Allen put his hand on my shoulder, 
 and said : " You were right, Wilkins, you 
 were right," and spoke no more. 
 
 How happy I was that Sunday morning! 
 
 " I want to shake your paw, Jack," said
 
 I/O THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 bluff old Moore, in his own rough, hearty 
 manner, " you are the gamest fellow in 
 Belle " I tried to wave him aside. 
 Harkis pressed close to me. 
 
 "John, old boy " was all he said. 
 
 I caught Jack Engle's bright smile over 
 the heads of the others. Wheat, Briggs, 
 and all the boys had something to say. 
 Even Edmondson, the First Year leader, 
 and Humphries's deadly rival, came forward. 
 
 " Great piece of work, great piece of 
 work," he commented, with a smile. " You 
 and Humphries stampeded 'em in fine 
 style." 
 
 A motion for adjournment was entirely 
 overlooked. The boys poured down the 
 steps and out of the hall. A few minutes 
 later the bell sounded for church. 
 
 As soon as I could get away from my 
 friends, I hastened to find " Cap'n." He 
 was not in the study, and I came up with 
 him just as he was leaving the front gate, 
 on his way to church. 
 
 It seems that somebody had already told 
 him, and I felt greatly embarrassed when,
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. \Jl 
 
 extending his hand to me, he said : " You 
 did well, Wilkins, you did very well. It is 
 something you will never have cause to 
 regret." 
 
 I stammered out that I did not know he 
 had already heard it. 
 
 " Have you told the boy ? " he asked. 
 
 " No, sir, I am going to tell him now." 
 
 At first I knew nothing but the sense of 
 complete relief that possessed my mind. It 
 was such a balm in place of the anxiety I 
 had undergone. Soon, however, another 
 side of the question presented itself, and 
 grave doubts began to dissipate my feeling 
 of security. Suppose Mrs. Sulden and 
 Evelyn should hear about it, after all, sup- 
 pose they would learn that the boy had 
 played the traitor, and was at that moment 
 practically an outcast from the school. If 
 they knew this, I feared the added knowledge 
 that he had been saved from the further 
 disgrace of expulsion would help them 
 but little. 
 
 Well, what must I do ? what remained 
 for me to do ? There was nothing. I
 
 1/2 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 could only hope that they would never 
 hear it. Then I began to wonder if by any 
 chance it had already reached them. The 
 bare thought of such a possibility worried 
 me so I could not shake it off. 
 
 Late in the afternoon, when I could 
 stand this uncertain state of mind no longer, 
 I decided to call on the Suldens and ascer- 
 tain just what they had heard, if anything. 
 
 So I went to old 'Ruff for the necessary 
 leave. 
 
 " Where do you want to go ? " he asked. 
 (Dog-gone his impertinent curiosity.) 
 
 " I would like to go see Mrs. Sulden." 
 
 " I hardly think, Wilkins, that you will 
 be wanted down there this afternoon." 
 (Confound him ! ) " Harry is there now." 
 
 " I know, sir," I replied, " but I am well 
 acquainted with them, and I would be very 
 much obliged if you can give me a leave." 
 
 " Oh, I'll give you a leave," he growled, 
 " and you can go anywhere you please in 
 town, but I was only telling you what's 
 merely proper." 
 
 Now what do you think of that!
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 173 
 
 I could have smashed a chair over his 
 head with the utmost pleasure. It was on 
 the end of my tongue to declare that, what- 
 ever I might acquire in my daily contact 
 with him, I would never learn good breed- 
 ing. But I didn't, because you know the 
 mess that would have immediately made 
 for me. 
 
 So I silently withdrew, and, after giving 
 my shoes and hair a touch, started on down 
 to the Falkners. I had not gone far be- 
 fore it struck me that, as Harry was there, 
 I would be rather out of place if the others 
 did know about the trouble. Still I could 
 not endure this uncertainty, and just had 
 to find out some way. Another phase 
 of the question suddenly flashed over me. 
 Suppose they did know everything, includ- 
 ing what had happened in the morning, 
 they would very naturally think that I was 
 presenting myself to receive their thanks 
 and commendation. At the very idea of 
 such a thing, I whirled around and started 
 back toward school. 
 
 No, I would not go near the Suldens, and
 
 174 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 run the risk of doing myself such an injury. 
 I would wait until the boy came back, no 
 matter how late it might be. It was a for- 
 tunate thing, I thought, that this side of the 
 question had occurred to me in good time. 
 
 I had hardly gone twenty steps, when, 
 looking up along the walk, I saw old 'Ruff 
 approaching, some distance away. This 
 brought me to a sudden halt, for it would 
 never have done to let the old crank know 
 I was turning back without seeing the 
 Suldens. Never, after what he had said 
 about propriety! 
 
 But, worse luck to it, there was no lane 
 to turn down, or any other way to dodge 
 him. I felt certain, too, that the old fellow's 
 hawk eye rested upon me at that moment. 
 So, turning, I beat a hasty retreat down into 
 town before the advancing enemy. 
 
 It was my plan to get by him unseen at 
 the cross streets. There I met little Joe 
 Falkner, and for a moment my escape was 
 a secondary thought 
 
 " Joe," I asked, " was Mrs. Sulden at the 
 house when you left ? "
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 1/5 
 
 "No, she wasn't," he answered; "she and 
 Harry went walking just a few minutes 
 ago." 
 
 "Well, er er did Evelyn go with 
 them ? " 
 
 " No, I don't think she did," he replied. 
 
 As old 'Ruff was not far behind now, I 
 turned quickly up the cross-way. This 
 happened to be the direction in which the 
 Falkners lived, but of course it was as good 
 a way to evade old 'Ruff as any. 
 
 If Mrs. Sulden and Harry had gone walk- 
 ing, I thought, that doesn't look as if she 
 had heard anything; but there is no telling. 
 It might be easier to find out just how 
 matters stood from Evelyn by herself, than 
 if I saw both her and her mother together. 
 I would not run the risk of causing Mrs. 
 Sulden pain, for anything. Then Evelyn, 
 why, I would not cause her a moment's pain 
 for the whole of Belle Monte. You see she 
 was such a fine girl, and all our people liked 
 her so much. The more I turned the matter 
 over in my mind the more I became con- 
 vinced that there had been no chance for
 
 1/6 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 either Mrs. Sulden or Evelyn to hear any- 
 thing of it. 
 
 I would have liked to make sure, but it 
 was out of the question to see Evelyn and 
 run the risk of her having heard what hap- 
 pened in the morning. It was, therefore, 
 my plan to just slip through the back way 
 and return to school. 
 
 So occupied was my mind with these 
 thoughts that I had forgotten all about old 
 'Ruff, and not until I was almost opposite 
 the Falkners' gate did it occur to me to look 
 around. 
 
 There he was, close behind ! 
 
 Appearances certainly seemed to indicate 
 that he had dogged my footsteps, though he 
 may have only been out for his evening con- 
 stitutional and happened to choose this par- 
 ticular way. I felt like a fellow caught out 
 in a sudden thunder shower, who must make 
 a quick run for cover. There was only one 
 thing to do, turn in to the Falkners', no 
 matter what might be the consequences. 
 So with every outward appearance of per- 
 fect indifference, for old 'Ruff's benefit, but
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 1 77 
 
 with many an inward doubt, I passed through 
 the gate and, mounting the steps, pulled the 
 bell. Then I turned to note the effect that 
 this might have upon the old villain, but he 
 strode by with the stern and stately air of a 
 grenadier on dress parade, neither looking 
 to the right nor to the left. 
 
 When the servant answered my ring, I 
 asked for " the ladies," to be on the safe 
 side. This included the Falkner girls, but 
 I hardly thought they would avail them- 
 selves of my society. Things could not 
 have suited me one whit better when the 
 servant came back and said that " Miss 
 Evelyn was the only one at home and she 
 would be down in a few minutes." 
 
 I now began to feel that my mission 
 would not prove such a difficult one, after 
 all. Still, how I might lead up to the subject, 
 or the best thing to say if she introduced it, 
 puzzled me not a little. My mind was yet 
 in an uncertain state when I heard a rustle 
 of skirts on the stairs, and the next moment 
 Evelyn appeared in the doorway. 
 
 The first sight of her convinced me that
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 she had heard something at least, but what ? 
 There was such a world of meaning in her 
 look. How could I fathom it? Nor did I 
 try, for with it all there was a smile of wel- 
 come for me. At the sight of this I gathered 
 courage, and forgot my fears and doubts of 
 a moment before, though there was still a 
 tremor of nervousness as I took her hand. 
 
 It was not until then she spoke. 
 
 " John," she said, quietly, " I am so glad 
 you have come. I have been hoping you 
 would, and thought you might." 
 
 " I did not know," I answered, " I was 
 uncertain whether I should or not." She 
 looked so beautiful in her pretty blue dress, 
 to which her black hair and fair face made 
 such a striking combination of contrasts, that 
 I felt glad I had come, and rather lost sight 
 of the embarrassing possibilities of my visit. 
 But her troubled look recalled me quickly. 
 
 There was a pause as I drew chairs for us 
 toward the fire. 
 
 She has heard, I thought, but how much ? 
 
 Great indeed was my surprise when, on 
 turning around, I found her standing with
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 179 
 
 both hands to her face and quivering with a 
 suppressed sob. 
 
 "Why, Evelyn, Evelyn," I cried, " why 
 what can be the matter? Won't you tell 
 me? What is it?" 
 
 How furious I felt at that dog of a brother 
 now ! 
 
 Anything at all, anything on earth but a 
 woman's tears, I cannot stand the sight of 
 them. 
 
 She sank into a chair, her face still buried 
 in her hands. What would I not have given 
 for the right to kneel beside and comfort 
 her! But no, I dare not trust myself with 
 such a thought, and turned away to the 
 window that I might not see her grief. 
 
 After a moment I asked again, " Evelyn, 
 what can it be ? I hate to see you so 
 distressed." 
 
 There was another pause, when she finally 
 answered, " You surely surely know about 
 Ha Harry. To think my brother should 
 do such a thing ! Ethel told me " (may the 
 devil take Ethel), " and and I would not 
 have mother know it for anything on
 
 180 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 earth, but she will when they ex expel 
 him. To think that my brother " 
 
 Oh, it was all clear now! 
 
 I turned toward her, for I could not relieve 
 her anguish quick enough. 
 
 " Why," I said, " he will not be expelled, 
 
 no, he will not, Evelyn. You have only 
 heard half. The school held a meeting 
 this morning, and after after the question 
 had been discussed er we decided not 
 to demand his expulsion. We thought it 
 would be better in every way to let the 
 whole matter drop." 
 
 She looked up quickly, her eyes still wet 
 with tears, but a sudden light had come into 
 her face. I could not turn away again, 
 though I tried. 
 
 " They have ! " she exclaimed, " they have ! 
 Oh, I am so thankful, so thankful, so thank- 
 ful ! But how why really, is it settled 
 
 is there no chance ? " 
 
 " Absolutely no doubt of it." 
 
 " Now mother will never know ah, that 
 is such a mercy. Harry was here awhile 
 ago, and though he seemed rather quiet I
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. l8l 
 
 thought it was so strange he did not say 
 anything about it. Of course I said nothing, 
 because of mother. To think, though, that he 
 should have done such a thing ! " and she 
 looked away again. " But, John," she said, 
 in a low tone, a moment later, and facing me 
 once more, " tell me about how it all hap- 
 pened ; I only heard in a general sort of 
 a way." 
 
 It was hard to do, but I finally managed 
 to stumble through it, and she listened very 
 calmly. When I told her of how the boy 
 had barricaded himself in his room and evi- 
 dently prepared to make a desperate resist- 
 ance, there was the smallest bit of a sparkle 
 in her eye. 
 
 " And the others," she asked, when I had 
 finished about the mob, " what could have 
 made the school relent ? " 
 
 " Why, it was their brave generosity, 
 nothing less, their spirit of forgiveness." 
 
 For some minutes we were silent. 
 
 " John," she said at last, " you have a 
 right to be proud of Belle Monte." 
 
 I did not stay long after that. Somehow
 
 1 82 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 I felt a queer misgiving of conscience, and 
 though I was happy to be there with her 
 (for she treated me less like a youngster 
 than usual), still* I wanted to get away by 
 myself and think it all over. I took a long 
 walk out on the road before returning to 
 school. 
 
 I have told you how the manly generosity 
 of Belle Monte saved Sulden from expulsion, 
 though it did not lessen the ill feeling 
 toward him. I will now tell you how he 
 not only cleared himself of this but won the 
 favour and praise of every boy at Belle 
 Monte. Candidly, I had never thought 
 much of the boy, though he came from a 
 splendid family. However, as I had brought 
 him up to school I felt in a measure respon- 
 sible for his actions; so nothing could 
 have delighted me more than by his prov- 
 ing at last that he had some truly manly 
 instincts about him. 
 
 As I said, the Suldens were sterling 
 people. My father has often told me of 
 them. He knew them in his youth, when 
 they were both numerous and wealthy.
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 1 83 
 
 Their title to honour was clear, I thought. 
 In the war they had given all of their 
 fortune and most of their lives for what 
 they believed to be right. 
 
 So you see I could not reconcile the 
 spirit that had been shown by Sulden with 
 what I knew of his family. Even before 
 the trouble, I used to say to myself that he 
 was not worthy of his name, though all the 
 time I measured him by too hard a standard, 
 for really his character had not yet been 
 formed. 
 
 Blood will tell in men just as it does in 
 horses, and so it was with Sulden. 
 
 Monday morning found Belle Monte still 
 in a state of great indignation. The cur- 
 rent of the school's wrath was now turned 
 upon Ashville, and we were ready for all 
 sorts of desperate measures. We would 
 proclaim their dirty methods throughout 
 the State. Everybody would know how they 
 had won. All this and a great deal more 
 we would do, if they did not grant our 
 demands for another game. We would 
 send them our threats and our defiance
 
 184 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 immediately, and at second recess had about 
 completed the arrangements to do so. It 
 was then, while at the height of our indigna- 
 tion, we were given a great surprise. 
 
 Thomas, the Ashville manager, appeared 
 at Belle Monte. Before we learned his 
 mission he was by no means in perfect 
 safety. But when he told us that he had 
 come to offer Belle Monte the chance of 
 another game, our scornful distrust of a 
 moment before was turned to hilarious joy. 
 
 " You got a letter from me," he said to 
 Allen, " and that's why I thought you knew 
 before the game we had your signals." 
 
 " Oh, you are the fellow who signed him- 
 self ' Fair Play,' ' exclaimed our captain. 
 " Well, unluckily, that letter was delayed." 
 
 " The Ashville school, and professors, too, 
 think you deserve another game." We 
 greeted this with a wild shout. Thomas 
 continued, "The whole thing was Markham's 
 doing, as you know, and he claimed that he 
 had found a card with the signals on it. A 
 friend of mine in Winchester had seen him 
 with Sulden, and I only learned the real
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 1 85 
 
 truth the day before the game. It was then 
 I wrote you the letter. Now that we know 
 at school what really happened, everybody 
 thinks Belle Monte was served a low trick. 
 So we are ready, team and all, to do what's 
 fair about it. Markham, of course, is 
 opposed to another game, and only agreed 
 to it after a conference with ' Big Medi- 
 cine ' " (which was their pet name for Pro- 
 fessor Coleman). " No, we cannot claim any 
 championship on Saturday's game." 
 
 " Why," said Moore, catching the Ash- 
 ville manager by the hand, " you are a real 
 gentleman, you ought to be here at Belle 
 Monte." 
 
 It was quickly agreed that we should play 
 in Ashville, on Thanksgiving Day. So all 
 was serene at Belle Monte once more. 
 
 A complete change of our signal system 
 was instituted, and that afternoon we re- 
 sumed practice. The order of the day 
 was signal work. Every fellow fell to 
 pounding away at the new code harder 
 than he had ever battled with the toughest 
 Latin and Greek roots. We had gotten
 
 1 86 THE SUBS7^Tl)TE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 along very satisfactorily, when, on the after- 
 noon before the game, a great misfortune 
 befell us. It was the lightest kind of prac- 
 tice, but somehow, by an unlucky chance, 
 Russell made a false step and severely 
 turned his ankle. We had to carry him to 
 his room. The little fellow's distress was 
 pitiful, for he knew the sprain would keep 
 him out of the great game. Though we 
 did our best to console him, still we too 
 felt the loss keenly. 
 
 It also presented a very perplexing prob- 
 lem. Who would play quarterback ? There 
 w r ere no substitutes for the place, and cer- 
 tainly nobody could be broken into it at the 
 last moment. Allen did not know what 
 to do. It was then that I called him aside 
 and suggested he put in Sulden. At first 
 he would not hear of it. 
 
 " It would be an insult to the school," he 
 exclaimed. 
 
 " I do not think so," I replied, " and it's 
 a chance to redeem himself, for which the 
 boy would give his life. Besides, you know, 
 he is in training, and a fairly good player
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 1 87 
 
 for the position. He is the quickest boy I 
 ever saw to pick up a code of signals, and 
 that will count for a good deal here at the 
 last moment." 
 
 " Yes," answered Allen, with a touch of 
 sarcasm, " he's a good man at signals." 
 
 " Why, I'd bet my head on his fidelity 
 now. He has learned a lesson he will never 
 forget. Besides, he is allowed to stay at 
 Belle Monte now only for his family's sake. 
 Give him a chance for his own sake to live 
 this down." 
 
 Allen shook his head doubtfully, and 
 approached the others. He told them what 
 I had suggested, and they, of course, ob- 
 jected at first, but when they realised that 
 there was no one else to play quarterback, 
 they looked at it more favourably. They 
 were all practical players, and as their minds 
 were more intent upon the next day's game 
 than anything else, they did not stop to 
 consider sentiment in a situation so critical. 
 Thus it was agreed that Sulden should 
 play. 
 
 I went to the boy in his room and told
 
 I 88 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 him. His astonishment and delight made 
 me all the more confident in him. 
 
 The rapidity with which he picked up 
 that new code was simply marvellous. He 
 jumped into every play with so much dash 
 and spirit. He was fairly on tiptoe with 
 eagerness to do his part. The rehearsal of 
 signals continued until dark, in order to 
 give Sulden a good chance at them. 
 
 As we trotted off toward the gymnasium, 
 Allen whispered to me, " Now I know we 
 did not make a mistake last Sunday." 
 
 That night and the next morning, there 
 was a great deal of adverse comment about, 
 putting Sulden into quarter, but Allen paid 
 no attention to it. 
 
 Before leaving the gymnasium dressing- 
 rooms, I made up my mind to go straight 
 down-town and tell the Suldens what had 
 happened. At least I would tell Evelyn, 
 for I knew that it would make her very 
 happy, but I was rather uncertain about 
 Mrs. Sulden. 
 
 Supper call would be sounded in only 
 half an hour, and for that reason, if no other,
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 189 
 
 I knew there was not the slightest chance 
 of getting a leave from old 'Ruff. So I 
 decided to take the law in my own hands, 
 which, by the way, I had done on other 
 occasions of necessity. The risk of getting 
 caught did not amount to much, for all the 
 teachers were generally in their rooms at 
 that hour. 
 
 My time was very limited, so, hastily 
 climbing the fence opposite school, I set 
 out at a brisk trot across a field to the 
 lane which we called the back way. I felt 
 unsafe even here, for old 'Ruff was not in 
 his room when I had left, and as he had a 
 habit of sometimes lurking in the back way, 
 for the sole and only purpose of catching 
 boys who might be stealing off, I kept a 
 sharp lookout. The coast was clear, how- 
 ever, and I soon got through into the street. 
 
 On reaching the Falkners' gate I had not 
 decided just for whom to ask, but there was 
 no time to consider, so I hurried across the 
 yard and up the steps. 
 
 Luck favoured me, for, glancing through 
 the side-light of the door, I saw Evelyn in
 
 IQO THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 the hallway. It was evident that she was 
 just come in, for she still had on her hat 
 and cloak. So, instead of ringing the bell, I 
 knocked very gently, and, as I hoped, she 
 came to the door. 
 
 Of course she was considerably surprised 
 to see me. 
 
 " Come right in, John," she exclaimed, 
 " and you must stay to supper, too, for it is 
 almost ready." 
 
 ' " Instead of coming in, Evelyn," I replied, 
 " I'll ask you to come out. I have run down 
 from school to tell you something and will 
 have to rush right back, for I'm not on leave." 
 
 " Nobody here will give you away, John," 
 she answered, smilingly. " Come on in ; but 
 what have you to tell me ? " she asked, with 
 a suggestion of alarm in her tone. 
 
 As I resolutely held back from the light, 
 she crossed the threshold and drew the door 
 shut after her. It was too dark to see her, 
 but still I would have to stand that. 
 
 "What is it? " she asked again, eagerly. 
 
 " Harry is going to play in the game 
 against Ashville to-morrow."
 
 '"I KNOW HE WILL REDEEM HIMSELF. 1 "
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 191 
 
 " Why," she hesitated, " why, is he really ! 
 When was that brought about?" 
 
 " This afternoon." 
 
 " What was the cause of it, John ? " 
 
 I could see her face now, by the faint 
 lamplight glow that found its way through 
 the side-lights. 
 
 As quickly as possible I told her how 
 Russell had been hurt, and how Allen had 
 consented to Sulden's taking his place. 
 
 " I am so glad," she said, " I am so glad. 
 Poor little Russell, it is hard on him, but I 
 am so glad for Harry's sake. I used to 
 dread the very thought of his playing at all, 
 but it is different now. How thankful I am 
 to Mr. Allen for giving him the chance." 
 There was a proud flash in her dark eyes, as 
 she added : " I know he will redeem him- 
 self!" 
 
 Ah, she was a true Sulden, heart and soul. 
 
 " How about telling your mother ? " I 
 asked. 
 
 " Oh, yes, I will tell her," she answered ; 
 "she will go to the game, of course we 
 will both go."
 
 1 92 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 There was something else, though I 
 started away without speaking of it, but 
 turned back at the steps. 
 
 " Evelyn," I called, as she was about to 
 close the door, " are you going to Charles- 
 ton, Friday morning ? " 
 
 " Oh, yes," she answered, stopping a 
 moment, " that is my plan." 
 
 " I had hoped you would stay here this 
 time," I said, in a desperate frame of mind. 
 
 " I am so very sorry, John, but you see 
 they expect me." 
 
 I don't think I said good night, and didn't 
 come down the steps but jumped off the 
 porch. 
 
 Always to Charleston, always to Charles- 
 ton! 
 
 Pauloffs was at Charleston, Jack Harding 
 was at Pauloff's, always to Charleston ! 
 I was in the lane again, now, but did not 
 hurry. Confound it, what did I care 
 whether I be late or not! What did I 
 bother about demerits! What difference 
 did it make about supper or study hour 
 or old 'Ruff they could all go to the
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 195 
 
 devil ! In fact, I did not care much whether 
 or not I found the school there on the hill 
 when I got back. What did it matter ! 
 
 To Charleston ! 
 
 Ah, well, come now, be a man, brace up. 
 You are young yet. Yes, most painfully 
 young most disastrously young. Not as 
 old by a year and a half as Jack Harding. 
 But what right have you to complain ? 
 Did she treat you badly? No, she didn't. 
 Well, what is it? Indeed, she could not 
 have been more gracious, but it was not 
 it was not why, it was just like she might 
 have treated her own brother ! Oh, con- 
 found it all, she knows well enough that 
 you are sixteen days older than she is, and 
 you ought to be treated with a little more 
 a little more but it's not consideration! 
 
 I could just see the school lights across 
 the field when I heard supper call. Though 
 not a bit inclined to hurry, for anybody or 
 anything, still as there was no use in getting 
 demerits just for the want of a little extra 
 exertion, I made a run for it, and reached 
 the dining-hall in fairly good time. Old
 
 196 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 'Ruff did look at me rather inquiringly, but 
 said nothing. 
 
 Of course the whole of Belle Monte went 
 to Ashville to see the game. It was such 
 another big event as the one at Winchester. 
 
 When we trotted out on the field, some- 
 thing occurred that made me very angry. 
 Our people cheered every one of us, by 
 name, except Sulden. Though the boy 
 certainly noticed this slur, still he was smil- 
 ing brightly when I caught his eye. 
 
 " Oh, John," he said, " this is the greatest 
 day of my life." 
 
 There is no question in your mind, I 
 know, who won the game, for if you have 
 any idea at all of football you will under- 
 stand how far we outclassed Ashville. They 
 gave us a good strong fight, though, but, 
 pshaw, we fairly mowed them in that first 
 half. Why, it only took us a little more 
 than three minutes to score. We went at 
 them fiercely, Til tell you. 
 
 How Sulden played ! I had never 
 thought it was in him. Russell had al- 
 ways been considered the finest quarter-
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 197 
 
 back in the State, but I believe he was 
 equalled on that day. Why, the boy's play 
 was especially noticeable, though in this 
 game every member of the Belle Monte 
 team was working as he never worked 
 before. His passing was swift and true, 
 and he ran in the interference like a vet- 
 eran. There was no hesitation now about 
 the way he flung himself under and 
 dived through the Ashville interference. 
 Nothing could have been prettier. They 
 could not help but have noticed it on our 
 side, but, so far, there was not a single cheer 
 for Sulden. 
 
 Everybody was happy, for we rushed the 
 ball down the field and over the Ashville 
 goal-line a second time before the half 
 ended. We were giving them a good 
 drubbing. 
 
 Of course the boys made a great fuss 
 over us members of the team, during the 
 intermission. At least they did over all 
 except Sulden, but they let him severely 
 alone. This was utterly unfair, if nothing 
 else, for they knew the dashing game he
 
 198 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 had been playing. It made me mad, and I 
 got out of their way, through the crowd, 
 before they could pick me up with the 
 others. 
 
 I wanted to see the Suldens not to 
 speak to them, of course, for I hardly had 
 time but to find out how they appeared 
 to be taking things, with Harry in the game. 
 I soon caught sight of them, with two of the 
 Falkners, in an open carriage among the 
 vehicles drawn up at one side of the field. 
 Both Mrs. Sulden and Evelyn were intently 
 watching the excited crowd of Belle Monte 
 students. They were evidently searching 
 for Harry, and their anxiety was very ap- 
 parent. Confound that thoughtless boy ! 
 Why didn't he come and show them that 
 he had not been hacked to pieces, or broken 
 in two for that was their idea of what 
 often happened to players in a football 
 game. They both looked so troubled that I 
 thought it my duty to reassure them. 
 
 " Mrs. Sulden," I said, approaching the 
 step, " haven't you noticed what a great 
 game Harry has been playing ? "
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 199 
 
 " Why, John Wilkins," she exclaimed, 
 nervously, " where is my boy ? " 
 
 " He's right over there, in the crowd," I 
 answered, "and hasn't a scratch or a bruise 
 on him anywhere, though he's certainly play- 
 ing a fine game." 
 
 " Fine game, indeed fine game ! I most 
 sincerely trust and hope that he will never 
 again get into anything so terrible so 
 utterly terrible!" 
 
 This must have indeed been exquisite 
 torture for her. It was such a pity, I 
 thought, that she did not know, and could 
 not appreciate ; but still it would be a cruel 
 thing to tell her. 
 
 I turned toward Evelyn ; she knew and 
 appreciated. In her was the proud Sulden 
 spirit, and no matter what her anxiety might 
 have been, I was certain she felt happy that 
 her brother was standing the test so well. 
 
 She was looking at me with such a singu- 
 lar expression I did not know what to make 
 of it. 
 
 " He is playing a good game, is he ? " she 
 asked, and then added, " I am so glad."
 
 20O THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 " The best game of us all," I answered. 
 
 " But they haven't cheered him even 
 once," she said, questioningly, and with a 
 doubtful shake of her head. 
 
 I looked down to the ground. 
 
 " I am ashamed of Belle Monte," I an- 
 swered. 
 
 Mrs. Sulden was now talking to the 
 Falkners. 
 
 "John," said Evelyn, leaning forward over 
 the carriage rail, " you have told me two big 
 stories." She paused for a moment, as if 
 uncertain what to say. 
 
 So she had found out no doubt from 
 that little busybody, Ethel Falkner, again. 
 What must a fellow do? I could run, but 
 still 
 
 " Two big stories," she repeated, finally 
 (for the life of me I could not tell whether 
 she was serious). " Ethel had heard all 
 about what happened both Sunday morn- 
 ing and yesterday " (there, I knew it). 
 " Don't you think it was very wrong to 
 deceive me that way?" (Now, what could 
 I answer to that!) "Why did you do sp?
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 2OI 
 
 No one could ever have thanked you, if 
 I hadn't heard. How ungrateful it would 
 have seemed " I held up my hand. 
 
 " Oh, please don't," I asked. What right 
 had I to such gratitude for only doing my 
 duty? Then the question challenged me 
 for the first time: Was it nothing but my 
 sense of duty toward the Suldens that had 
 prompted me to what I had done for the 
 boy? Was it only that? 
 
 " I don't see why you didn't tell me," she 
 continued. 
 
 " I don't see how I could have," I replied. 
 
 " It's so silly to talk that way, John. 
 How could I help but hear, when the whole 
 of Belle Monte school knew all about it ? 
 Why, you ought to have known that Ethel 
 would have heard all about it and told me." 
 
 I was forced to acknowledge that I had 
 not considered the possibilities of Miss 
 Falkner in the case. 
 
 "You were a very foolish boy, John." 
 
 Though, of course, I was rather confused, 
 still there appeared to be something in her 
 manner toward me which I had never
 
 2O2 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 before seen. It may have been only my 
 imagination, but, somehow, I did not so 
 feel my lack of years, which had always 
 been the effect of her presence upon me. 
 To speak the plain truth, she did not treat 
 me so much as if I were her own brother. 
 
 So, with a desperate effort, I determined 
 to try and tell her, then and there, just what 
 I was certain now I felt, no matter what 
 happened, no matter if the earth should 
 open and swallow me, or the sky fall down 
 upon me. But I was a coward, for all of 
 that, because I took courage in the fact that, 
 in possibly three minutes, the whistle would 
 blow, calling the game again. 
 
 " Why did I try and help your brother 
 out of this trouble, Evelyn ? " I blundered. 
 
 " It was because you were thoughtful and 
 kind enough to save him from the disgrace 
 of expulsion," she answered, quickly. 
 
 This made me waver. Could she have 
 thought I was angling for such praise ! But 
 I continued : 
 
 " Yes, but I had a better reason than that. 
 What is it?"
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 2O3 
 
 " It was because you were noble enough 
 to want to save mother from all the sorrow 
 it would have meant," she replied. Oh, 
 this was terrible, but I could not and would 
 not turn back now. 
 
 "But that's not all, you know that's not 
 all, Evelyn. Why, don't you understand 
 what I mean ?" 
 
 She hesitated, and then finally answered, 
 with her face half averted, " I don't know 
 unless unless you wanted to spare me 
 from pain." 
 
 " That's it that's it! But why, Evelyn, 
 was I more anxious to spare you from pain 
 than your brother from disgrace or your 
 mother from sorrow ? " 
 
 This seemed reckless, but it was true. I 
 repented it quickly enough, though, for 
 the look of reproach she turned upon 
 me. 
 
 " You were very wrong to feel that way," 
 she said, though there was nothing of re- 
 proach in her tone. 
 
 " Right or wrong," I answered, " why was 
 it, or don't you know ? "
 
 2O4 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 She would not look at me, or even glance 
 up, but only shook her head. 
 
 "Why, you do know, too, you do know 
 that " At this moment the whistle blew, 
 and, contemptible coward that I was, I hesi- 
 tated and stopped right there. I looked 
 around, the field was cleared and the men 
 were hurrying to their places. In a moment 
 they would be calling me. 
 
 I had failed ! Oh, why didn't I have 
 power or manliness enough to speak right 
 out, even one word of all that I felt ? " 
 
 " Good-bye," I said, bitterly. " As you are 
 going to Charleston in the morning, I will 
 not see you again until until away next 
 summer." 
 
 I took her hand, but she drew it suddenly 
 from me and, looking up, exclaimed : 
 
 "Why yes, you will, too, John, because 
 I have decided not I mean I am not 
 going to-morrow," and with a beautiful 
 blush, she quickly added, " Mother has 
 asked me to delay my visit." 
 
 In the second half, after we had scored 
 our third touch-down, Ashville took a
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 205 
 
 strong brace, from sheer desperation. They 
 ran around our end, but it was Sulden who 
 cut the runner down with a sweeping tackle, 
 before he had made much gain. They 
 charged into tackle, but Sulden was first to 
 throw himself right under the whole play. 
 I was so glad that all of this happened close 
 to the Belle Monte side. The breath had 
 been knocked out of him, and he was down 
 a minute, before he could take his place 
 again. On the next play he broke through 
 the Ashville line and tumbled the runner 
 back for a loss. But he was hurt again. It 
 had become evident that he did not possess 
 the physical strength to stand such a severe 
 game. No cheer for Sulden had yet been 
 heard, but we members of the team ex- 
 pressed what we felt, in fragmentary sen- 
 tences, between the rushes. 
 
 " Good tackle, boy," grunted Moore. 
 
 " That's the way to get under 'em ! " 
 exclaimed Allen. 
 
 " You are right in the game," Harkis 
 called out. Sulden was hurt again, but he 
 would not stay down, even a moment. He
 
 206 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 seemed very unsteady on his feet, and Captain 
 Allen looked at him doubtfully. Once more 
 we were at it. This time we managed to 
 block their kick. Sulden dodged through 
 somehow, and, picking up the ball, started 
 toward their goal. But, in his weakened 
 state, he could not sprint hard enough to 
 shake off his pursuers. He ran maybe 
 thirty yards, when one of them finally pulled 
 him down with a vicious diving tackle. 
 This hurt him again, of course. When I 
 came up, Allen and several of the others 
 were trying to make Sulden lie still a 
 moment or so, but he would insist upon 
 getting on his feet again. The game was 
 delayed, though, for the boy was in no con- 
 dition to play. 
 
 "That's the gritty boy," exclaimed Moore, 
 admiringly. " Bad leg, eh? it'll be all right 
 in a minute." 
 
 " It's all right now, I tell you," answered 
 Sulden. 
 
 But Allen thought differently. 
 
 " You cannot play any more on that, 
 Sulden," he said.
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 2O/ 
 
 "Why, Cap, I'm not hurt, don't put 
 me out," pleaded the boy, though there was 
 a trace of pain in his voice. 
 
 " But you are," I answered. 
 
 He shook off my supporting hand, and 
 pushed through the crowd of Belle Monte 
 students, who had taken advantage of the 
 delay to throng ou.t on the field. He stag- 
 gered, and would have fallen had they not 
 caught him. 
 
 It was then that Belle Monte forgave 
 Sulden, for his own sake. Gently did half 
 a dozen Allies raise him to their shoulders. 
 
 " What do you think of him ? " shouted 
 Humphries. 
 
 " He's all right ! " roared a hundred voices. 
 Then followed three long cheers for Sulden. 
 Though this made him very happy, still I 
 knew he would not be content with being 
 left out of the game. Allen was calling a 
 substitute, when Sulden, who had freed him- 
 self from the Belle Monte crowd, limped up 
 to him. 
 
 " You are not going to put me out, are 
 you ? " he asked, anxiously. " This leg's all
 
 2O8 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 right now, Cap, I'll swear it is," and he 
 bravely tried to take a step or two without 
 limping. 
 
 " But it may lay you up, if you play on it 
 any more," answered Allen. 
 
 "Oh, no, it won't, Cap, let me stay, 
 do let me stay. Why, Cap you'll not put 
 me out of this game, now ! " 
 
 The pain, I knew he felt, found no expres- 
 sion in his face. It was all anxiety, so I 
 could not help but speak a word for 
 him. 
 
 " Let him stay, Cap," I said, though at 
 any other time I would have wanted him 
 put out, for he was really in no fit condition 
 to play. 
 
 Belle Monte caught up the cry: "Let 
 him stay, Cap, let him stay ! " 
 
 The game went on with Sulden in his 
 place. It was only the boy's grit that kept 
 him going at all, and, at that, he was down 
 after nearly every rush. But there were 
 just a few minutes more to play. During 
 this interval we made another touch-down. 
 Belle Monte, having given her rivals such a
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 2OQ 
 
 thorough beating, was entirely satisfied. So, 
 by the time the whistle blew, the excitement 
 and bitter rivalry with which the game began 
 had subsided to nothing more than ordinary 
 interest. 
 
 But right on through to the end, the 
 cheers for Sulden never ceased. Each time 
 he went down and would gamely rise again, 
 they were renewed. Belle Monte was now 
 as willing to forget as Sulden was anxious 
 to have forgotten. 
 
 It was all so splendid so great. They 
 were receiving back the outcast, and he was 
 struggling there before them, giving them 
 in the true Belle Monte fashion stern proof 
 of his worthiness to their confidence. In- 
 terest had ceased to centre in the game 
 as a contest between Belle Monte and 
 Ashville. For all of Belle Monte it 
 was only Sulden's game Sulden's vic- 
 tory. 
 
 I'll tell you it made me feel happy, and 
 you may know how the boy must have felt, 
 despite his hurts and bruises. 
 
 When the end came at last, we other
 
 2IO THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 players were forgotten, but we did not care. 
 With cheer after cheer they picked him up, 
 and bore him across the field. They 
 crowded all around him. 
 
 Here he was, a hero ; it seemed impos- 
 sible. 
 
 I was pushing my way into the crowd, 
 when some one grabbed me by the arm. 
 
 " Here ! " shouted a voice, which I hardly 
 distinguished above the roar, " bring him 
 over that way, his mother wants to see 
 him." 
 
 I plunged in through the throng, shoulder- 
 ing boys right and left, until I finally man- 
 aged to push myself close to those leading 
 the procession, who, to my surprise, were 
 Humphries and Edmondson, arm in arm. 
 I shouted into Humphries's ear to turn off 
 to the left, where the carriages were, and 
 told him why. 
 
 They did as I said, and soon we were 
 crowding along the line of vehicles. The 
 instant I saw Mrs. Sulden, I knew, by her 
 look, she had heard all that had gone 
 before.
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 211 
 
 Evelyn told me of it afterward. When 
 her mother saw Harry go down in nearly 
 every rush, the poor lady became desperate. 
 She started to get out of the carriage and 
 make him quit the game. Then it was, 
 Evelyn told her the whole story in a few 
 words. It cost her a hard struggle, but 
 pride finally prevailed over anxiety. She 
 had waited through the remainder of the 
 game without another word. . 
 
 They had been standing up in the car- 
 riage, waving their handkerchiefs, but, as 
 the boys drew near, Mrs. Sulden descended 
 to the ground. The crowd gathered all 
 around. Those bearing Sulden stopped, 
 and eased him slowly to his feet. He 
 hobbled with pain. The cheering ceased 
 suddenly and completely. As if by com- 
 mon impulse, hats went off all around. 
 Sulden could not well walk alone, so I put 
 my arm around him and helped him the few 
 steps toward his mother. 
 
 The boy's head was bent forward, and 
 he was mumbling something that I could 
 hardly catch.
 
 212 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 " Can you forgive mother " 
 
 She did not speak, she did not brush 
 away the gathering tears. She looked 
 straight at him and such a look! 
 
 It was but a moment, though, for she 
 caught sight of the blood spots on his 
 jacket front. Then, dirt-grimed and sod- 
 stained as he was, she threw her arms 
 around him and pressed him close. 
 
 " My boy " was everything she said. 
 
 With all her womanly fears, she was a 
 true Spartan mother at last, for she was 
 thinking more then of her son's honour 
 than the hurts he might have received. 
 She held him off a moment she hardly 
 realised he was her son. It made him seem 
 so different, more like a man, yes, and 
 more like his father. 
 
 She would have taken him from us then 
 and there, but, no, the boys had picked him 
 up once more. Motherly pride overcoming 
 anxiety, she smiled happily after him, 
 through her tears, as he was borne away 
 amid Belle Monte's pealing yell. 
 
 I looked up at Sulden. That same
 
 THE SUBSTITUTE QUARTERBACK. 
 
 bright smile I had seen before the game 
 was lighting up his face once more. It 
 was indeed the greatest day of his life. 
 Yes, and the happiest of mine, too ! 
 
 THE END.
 
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