ontents slipped up to
the cupola without detection and put the college flag at half-mast. The
smile on Reddy's face was conspicuous by its absence and Hendricks
chewed furiously at his cigar instead of smoking it. But when it came to
the daily talk in the training quarters, he was careful not to betray
any despondency. There was enough of that abroad anyway without his
adding to it. Like the thoroughbred he was, he faced the situation
calmly, and sought to repair the breaches made in his ranks.

"Winston will play at right guard until further notice," he announced,
"and Morley will take the place of Axtell."

The two members of the scrubs thus named trotted delightedly to their
places. For them it was a promotion that they hoped to make permanent.
They knew they would have to fight hard to hold the positions if Hodge
and Axtell came back, but they were bent on showing that they could fill
their shoes.

But although they worked like Trojans, the machine that afternoon
creaked badly. The new men were unfamiliar with many of the signals and
made a mess of some of the plays that the old ones whom they supplanted
would have carried out with ease. This, however, was to be expected, and
time would go a long way toward curing the defects.

The real trouble, however, lay with the other nine. They seemed to be
working as though in a nightmare. An incubus weighed them down. Their
thoughts were with their absent comrades and with the altered prospects
of the team. They played without snap or dash, and the coach ground his
teeth as he noted the lifeless playing so strongly in contrast with that
of three days earlier.

Just before the first quarter ended, Ellis, in running down under a
punt, came heavily in collision with Farrar, of the scrubs, and they
went to the ground together. Farrar was up in a moment, but Ellis, after
one or two trials, desisted. His comrades ran to him and lifted him to
his feet. But his foot gave way under him, and his lips whitened as he
sought to stifle a groan.

"It's that bum ankle of mine," he said, trying to smile. "I'm afraid
I've sprained it again."

They carried him into the dressing room and delivered him to Reddy. He
made a careful examination and, when at last he looked up, there was a
look in his eyes that betokened calamity.

"Sprained, is it," he said with a voice that he tried to render calm.
"It's broken."

"What!" cried Ellis as he realized all this meant to him.

"Are you sure