a habit of his, seated himself at the bottom of the
stand. Tom followed him and they looked about them and conversed in low
voices while the throng grew with every minute. So far neither had made
any acquaintances save that of Andy Miller--unless Eric Sawyer could be
called such!--and they felt a little bit out of it as they saw other
boys joyously hailing each other, stopping to shake hands or exchange
affectionate blows, or waving greetings from a distance. They had made
the discovery, by the way, that the proper word of salutation at
Brimfield was "Hi"! It was invariably "Hi, Billy"! "Hi, Joe"! and the
usual "Hello" was never heard. Eventually Steve and Tom became properly
addicted to the "Hi"! habit, but it was some time before they were able
to keep from showing their newness by "Helloing" each other.

The stand became sprinkled with youths and the turf along the edge of
the gridiron held many more. A man of apparently thirty years of age,
wearing a grey Norfolk suit and a cap to match, appeared at the corner
of the stand just as the bell in Main Hall struck four sonorous peals.
He was accompanied by three boys in togs, one of them Captain Miller.
The coach was a clean-cut chap with a nice face and a medium-sized, wiry
figure. He had sandy hair and eyebrows that were almost white, and his
sharp blue eyes sparkled from a deeply tanned face upon which, at the
moment, a very pleasant smile played. But even as Steve and Tom watched
him the smile died abruptly and he pulled a black leather memorandum
book from a pocket and fluttered its leaves in a businesslike way.

Miller had predicted that this fall some eighty candidates would appear,
but he had evidently been over-sanguine. Sixty seemed nearer the correct
number than eighty. But even sixty-odd looked a good many as they
gradually gathered nearer the coach. Steve and Tom slipped from their
places and joined the throng.

"Last year's first and second team players take the east end of the
field," directed Mr. Robey. "All others remain here. I'm going to tell
you right now, fellows, that there's going to be a whole lot of hard
work this fall, and any of you who don't like hard work had better keep
away. This is a good time to quit. You'll save your time and mine too.
All right now! Take some balls with you, Milton, and warm up until I get
down there. Now, then, you new men, give me your names. Where's
Lawrence? Not here yet? All right. What's your name and what experi