A Quarter-Back's Pluck: A Story of College Football

by Lester Chadwick

  CHAPTER XXII

  A CHANGE IN SIGNALS

  The scene in the room was one of confusion. Tom was dancing about,rubbing first here and then there on his anatomy. The snake which Sidheld was wiggling as if in protest at being suspended by the tail, andwas tying itself into all sorts of complicated knots and geometricalfigures.

  "Look out, it may bite you!" cried Phil, who was holding the mudturtleby the tail, the feet of the animal working back and forth in a vaineffort to get a grip on the air.

  "It isn't a poisonous snake," declared Sid, who was something of anaturalist. "But I wonder who played this trick on us? What ails you,Tom?"

  "Yes; what are you wiggling around in that fashion for, son?" inquiredPhil, who began to laugh, now that the extent of the scare was evident.

  "Wiggle! I guess you would, too, if some one had filled your bed withneedles that came right through your pajamas," replied Tom.

  "Needles?" from Sid.

  "Needles?" reiterated Phil.

  "Yes, needles; ten million of them, by the way I feel!"

  Phil placed the mudturtle in the wash basin, where it vainly tried toclimb up the slippery porcelain sides. Then he went over to Tom's bed.

  "There are no needles here," he said.

  "No? What are they, then?" demanded Tom, continuing to rub himself.

  "Chestnut burrs," replied his chum, after a more careful inspection."Some one has taken the stickers off a lot of chestnut burrs andscattered them in your bed. No wonder they went through your pajamas.I'd rather have the mudturtle than them."

  "Or a snake," added Sid. "I wonder who did it?"

  Phil pulled back the covers from Tom's bed. At the foot, between thesheets, was a piece of paper. The quarter-back made a grab for it andread:

  "Compliments of the freshmen. Maybe you won't be so smart next time."

  "The freshmen!" cried Tom. "We'll make them smart for this!"

  "They've made you smart already," commented Sid, as he put his snakein a pasteboard box, and carefully closed it with a weight on top. "Iguess they got ahead of us this time."

  "This is Gerhart's writing," went on Phil, looking closely at the note."He originated the scheme. Let's see if any other fellows have suffered."

  They partly dressed, and stole silently to the rooms of some of theirclassmates. No one else had felt the vengeance of the freshmen, and ourfriends concluded that the performance had been arranged for theirspecial benefit, on account of the friction they had had with Gerhart.

  "How am I going to sleep in that bed to-night?" asked Tom ruefully, whenthey had returned to their room. "It's like being in a beehive."

  "I'll show you," said Phil, and he carefully took off the sheets,folding them up so that the chestnut stickers would not be scattered."You can do without sheets to-night, I guess."

  "I guess I'll have to," went on Tom. "But I'm going to get another pairof pajamas. Those feel too much like a new flannel shirt," and he wentto his trunk, which he began ransacking.

  "What can we do to get square?" asked Sid, as he again prepared to getinto bed. "We've got to teach Gerhart a lesson."

  "That's what," agreed Tom. "We'll discuss it in the morning."

  But it was not so easy as they had supposed to think up a joke to playon the inventive freshman, that would be commensurate with the trick hehad perpetrated on them. Besides, Gerhart kept pretty well with his owncrowd of classmates, and, as there was safety in numbers, and as ourthree friends did not want a general class fight, they were, to acertain extent, handicapped. By Gerhart's grins they knew that he wasaware of their discomfiture of the night previous. Tom was sorelytempted to come to fistic conclusions with the freshman, but Sid andPhil dissuaded him, promising to unite with him on some scheme ofvengeance. The mudturtle and snake were retained by Sid, who had a smallcollection of live things.

  "We must keep this to ourselves," suggested Phil that morning, as theystarted for chapel. "Only our own fellows must hear of it."

  "Sure," agreed Tom and Sid, but they soon found, from the greetings ofthe juniors, seniors and freshmen, that the story was all over theschool. In fact, to this day the yarn is handed down in the annals ofRandall College as an example of how a freshman, single-handed, played ajoke on three sophomores; for it developed that Gerhart had done thetrick alone.

  It was a day or two after this, when Tom and Phil were walking along theriver after football practice, that, down near the bridge, they sawGerhart just ahead of them.

  "There's a chance to take a fall out of him," suggested Tom, whoseappetite for vengeance was still unappeased.

  "That's so," agreed Phil. "Let's catch up to him and toss him into theriver."

  They quickened their steps, but a moment later they saw a young man comefrom the bushes at one end of the bridge and join Gerhart. The twowalked briskly on, and, as Tom and Phil could see, they were engaged inearnest conversation.

  "We can't do anything now," spoke Tom. "That's a stranger. He's not ofRandall College. Look at his cap."

  "He's from some college," declared Phil. "That cap seems familiar. Iwonder who he is."

  "Give it up," spoke Tom. "We might as well go back now."

  They were about to turn when suddenly the lad with Gerhart swung aboutand made a violent gesture of dissent. Then Tom and Phil heard him say:

  "I'll have nothing to do with such a dirty trick, and you ought to beashamed to make the offer!"

  "Oh, is that so?" asked Gerhart, and he did not seem nonplussed. "Well,maybe some other fellow will be glad to get what I have to offer."

  "I don't believe it!" exclaimed the other. "I'm done with you, and thatsettles it," and he crashed into the bushes and disappeared, leavingGerhart alone on the road.

  "Did you see who that was?" asked Tom, looking at Phil.

  "No; I couldn't make out his face."

  "It was George Stoddard, captain of the Boxer Hall eleven."

  "That's right," agreed Phil. "I knew I'd seen him before. But he didn'tlook as he used to in a baseball uniform. I wonder what he and Gerharthad on the carpet."

  "Oh, probably Gerhart wanted him to go to some sporty gambling affair. Ihear he plays quite a high game at cards."

  "Who?"

  "Gerhart. Lots of the freshmen of our college have found his pace toofast for them. He and Langridge are thicker than ever. Probably Gerhartwanted some new easy-marks to win from, and is trying to take up withthe Boxer Hall boys."

  "Shouldn't wonder. But Stoddard turned him down cold."

  "Yes; didn't make any bones about it. Well, I s'pose we could catch upto Gerhart now. But what's the use?"

  "That's right. Hello! There's Langridge joining him now, Phil," and asTom spoke they saw the sophomore come from a side path and walk alongwith the freshman. The two began talking earnestly, and from the mannerof Gerhart it seemed that something had gone wrong, and that he wasendeavoring to explain.

  Tom and Phil forgot the little scene of the afternoon when they gotdown to studying that night, and as lessons were getting to be pretty"stiff," to quote Sid, it was necessary to put in considerable time overbooks. The three "boned" away until midnight, and after an inspection oftheir beds, to make sure that no contraband articles were between thesheets, they turned out the light and were soon slumbering.

  The next day Phil was turned back in Greek, and had to write out adifficult exercise.

  "Tell Mr. Lighton I'll be ready for practice in half an hour," he saidto Tom, as the latter hurried off to get into his football togs. "I'llcome as soon as Pitchfork lets me off."

  "All right," answered his chum.

  When Tom got to the gridiron he found most of the 'varsity eleven there.Coach Lighton was in earnest conversation with Captain Holly Cross.

  "Where's Phil?" asked the coach as Tom came up. The left-end explained.

  "Come into the gym, fellows," went on the coach. "I have somethingimportant to tell you. Phil will be along soon."

  Vainly wondering what was in the wind, and whether, by
any chance, itconcerned Phil, Tom followed the sturdy lads across the field. Philjoined the throng before the gymnasium was reached.

  "What's up?" he panted. "Aren't we going to practice?"

  "Yes," replied the coach; "but first we've got to arrange for a new setof signals."

  "New signals?" cried half a dozen.

  "Yes. I have just learned, in an anonymous communication, that an offerwas made to a rival college to sell our signals. The offer, I am glad tosay, was indignantly refused; but if some one is in possession of oursystem, we must get a new one. Now, if you will come in here I willchange the signals, and we will then go to practice."

  Tom and Phil instinctively looked at each other. The memory of the scenebetween Gerhart and Stoddard, and Langridge's later presence with thefreshman, came to them both at once.