The whistle blew before any further advantage had been gained. Coach
and Midshipman Hepson had gained considerable insight into the work
of the team.

"Mr. Hepson," said coach aside, in the interval that followed, "you have
done well, I think, to place two such men as Darrin and Dalzell on the
provisional team."

"I am glad you think so, sir," replied the Navy football captain, "for
that is the way it strikes me."

"If you keep them at the left flank you'll have something like dynamite
there," smiled coach. "Mr. Darrin goes through like a cannon-ball, and
Dalzell is always just where Darrin needs him."

"These men have played together before, and they're used to team work,
sir," said Midshipman Hepson.

"So? Where did they play before coming to Annapolis?"

"On what was, in their day, one of the best High School eleven's
going, sir."

"Oho! Do you know, Mr. Hepson, they play more like college men than
anything else. It must have been a bully High School team that
graduated them."

"From the little that I've heard, sir, that High School team was a
great one."

Coach and captain walked back to the scene.

"You will now play another ten-minute period," directed Mr. Havens.
"Jetson will withdraw from the second eleven during the next period and
Doyle will take his place."

"So that's what coach and team captain were hatching up?" thought
Midshipman Jetson. "That gives me a black eye, and my chances of making
the Navy eleven are now worse than ever. Probably I won't even make sub."

As Navy and Rustlers again collided in the fray, Jetson watched Dave's
work narrowly, furiously.

"Darrin always was a smooth one," Jetson declared angrily to himself.
"And now, just because he raised a 'holler', my football prospects are
set back for this year. Probably I can't make the eleven next year,
either. And it's all Darrin's fault!"

In forming the second half the coach called:

"Mr. Jetson will resume his place as right tackle on the second eleven."

"Jetson's not here, sir," called a midshipman.

"Where is he?" asked Coach Havens.

"I think he went off the field, sir, to un-tog."

"He should not have left the field without permission," remarked the
coach coldly.

Jetson heard of the remark that evening, and his anger against Dave
Darrin increased.

CHAPTER VII

"DID JETSON DO IT?"

No sooner had release from studies sounded through big and handsome
Bancroft Hall, than there came a tap at Dave