Then she rapidly named the other players.

This last formality having been disposed of, the team lined up for
practice. Soon the game was at its height. Miriam in the excitement of the
play, forgot her recently avowed indifference toward basketball and went
to work with all the skill and activity she possessed.

The basketball team, during its infancy in the freshman class had given
splendid promise of future fame. Grace felt proud of her players as she
stopped for a moment to watch their agile movements and spirited work.
Surely, the juniors would have to look out for their laurels this year.
Her blood quickened at thought, of the coming contests which were to take
place during the course of the winter between the two class teams. There
were to be three games that season, and the sophomores had made up their
minds to win all of them. What if the junior team were a famous one, and
had won victory after victory the year before over all other class teams?
The sophomores resolved to be famous, too.

In fact, all of Grace's hopes were centered on the coming season. Napoleon
himself could not have been more eager for victory.

"We must just make up our minds to work, girls," she exhorted her friends.
"I would rather beat those juniors than take a trip to Europe."

Nor was she alone in her desire. The other girls were just as eager to
overthrow the victorious juniors. It was evident, so strong was the
feeling in the class, that something more than a sense of sport had
stirred them to this degree of rivalry.

The former freshman class had many scores against the present juniors. As
sophomores, the winter before, they had never missed an opportunity to
annoy and irritate the freshmen in a hundred disagreeable ways. "The
Black Monks of Asia" still rankled in their memories. Moreover, was not
Julia Crosby, the junior captain? She was the same mischievous sophomore
who had created so much havoc at the Christmas ball. She was always
playing unkind practical jokes on other people. It is true, she was an
intimate and close friend of Miriam Nesbit, but they all were aware that
Miriam was a law unto herself, and none of them had ever attempted to
explain certain doings of hers in connection with Julia Crosby and her
friends during the freshman year.

Grace's mind was busy with these thoughts when the door of the gymnasium
opened noisily. There was a whoop followed by cries and calls and in
rushed the junior players, most of them