t was all right; Mills understood. It was almost as
though they shared a secret between them. Alfred Mills, head football
coach at Erskine College, had no more devoted admirer and partizan from
that moment than Neil Fletcher, '05.

Next the men were spread out until there was a little space between
each, and the coach passed behind the line and shot the ball through,
and they had an opportunity to see what they could do with a pigskin
that sped away ahead of them. By careful management it is possible in
falling on a football to bring almost every portion of the anatomy in
violent contact with the ground, and this fact was forcibly brought home
to Neil, Paul, and all the others by the time the work was at an end.

"I've got bones I never knew the existence of before," mourned Neil.

"Me too," growled Paul. "And half a dozen of my front teeth are aching
from trying to bite holes in the ground; I think they're all loose. If
they come out I'll send the dentist's bill to the management."

A few minutes later Neil found himself at left half in one of the six
squads of eleven men each that practised advancing the ball. They lined
up in ordinary formation, and the ball was passed to one back after
another for end runs. Mills went from squad to squad, criticizing
briefly and succinctly.

"Don't wait for the quarter to pass," he told Paul, who was playing
beside Neil. "On your toes and run hard. Have confidence in your
quarter. If the ball isn't ready for you it's not your fault. Try
that again."

And when Paul and Neil and the full-back had plowed round the left end
once more--

"Quarter, don't hold that ball as though your hand was frozen; keep your
hand limber and see that you get the belly of the ball in it, not one
end; then it won't tilt itself out. When you get the ball from center
rise quickly, put your back against guard, and throw your weight there.
And it's just as necessary for you to have confidence in the runner as
it is for him to have faith in you. Don't fear that you'll be too quick
for him; don't doubt but that he'll be there at the right instant. Keep
that in mind and you'll soon have things going like clock-work. Now once
more; ball to left half for a run around right end."

When practise was over that day the new candidates were unanimous in the
opinion that they had learned more that afternoon under Mills than they
had learned during the whole previous week. Neil, Paul, and Cowan
walked back to coll