they won't
succeed."

"You'd stop us, perhaps?" sneered Cowan.

"Easily," answered Neil, smiling sweetly; "there are only a hundred or
so of you."

"There's no one like a week-old freshman for self-importance," Cowan
said, laughing in order to hide his vexation.

"Unless it's a third-year sophomore," Neil retorted.

"Oh, well," Paul interposed, "it's all poppycock, anyhow."

"That's all," said Livingston.

"Of course," agreed Cowan.

Neil was silent.

CHAPTER VII

THE GENTLE ART OF HANDLING PUNTS

Life now was filled with hard work for both Neil and Paul. Much of the
novelty that had at first invested study with an exhilarating interest
had worn off, and they had settled down to the daily routine of lectures
and recitations just as though they had been Erskine undergrads for
years instead of a week. The study and the adjoining bed-room were at
last furnished to suit; The First Snow was hung, the "rug for the
wash-stand" was in place, and the objectionable towel-rack had given way
to a smaller but less erratic affair.

Every afternoon saw the two boys on Erskine Field. Mills was a hard
taskmaster, but one that inspired the utmost confidence, and as a result
of some ten days' teaching the half hundred candidates who had survived
the first weeding-out process were well along in the art of football.
The new men were coached daily in the rudiments; were taught to punt and
catch, to fall on the ball, to pass without fumbling, to start quickly,
and to run hard. Exercise in the gymnasium still went on, but the
original twenty-minute period had gradually diminished to ten. Neil and
Paul, with certain other candidates for the back-field, were daily
instructed in catching punts and forming interference. Every afternoon
the practise was watched by a throng of students who were quick to
applaud good work, and whose presence was a constant incentive to the
players. There was a strong sentiment throughout the college in favor of
leaving nothing undone that might secure a victory over Robinson. The
defeat of the previous year rankled, and Erskine was grimly determined
to square accounts with her lifelong rival. As one important means to
this end the college was searched through and through for heavy
material, for Robinson always turned out teams that, whatever might be
their playing power, were beef and brawn from left end to right. And so
at Erskine men who didn't know a football from a goal-post were hauled
from