. Then the next morning the
fellows would "cut" recitations, and the startled professors would find
their rooms deserted, while the hilarious culprits were footing it out
to the camp. The farmer's wife, forewarned in advance, would have the
long rough tables under the trees prepared for the hungry crew. Out from
her capacious ovens would come great pans of hot puffy biscuits, while
from the boiling caldrons the boys drew huge cans of bubbling maple
syrup. And that sugar on those biscuits! Ambrosia, nectar, food for the
gods! He had dined since then in the finest restaurants in the world,
and never tasted anything to be compared to it.

What mattered the sarcastic and cutting remarks of the Profs. on the
following day? They had had their fling and were willing to pay the
price.

He came back to reality and the telegram that he was automatically
folding and unfolding.

"Team gone to pieces." He stirred uneasily.

That was certainly tough luck. It must be serious when "Bull" talked
like that. It had usually been the good fortune of Blue teams to make
the other fellows go "to pieces." Now it really seemed as though the
good old colors were in danger of being dimmed, if not disgraced.

They hadn't been disgraced when he wore them, he remembered. How they
had wound up the season in a blaze of glory the last year he had played
on the team! He saw even now, the crowded stands, the riot of colors,
the frenzied roars of the Blues, when he had squirmed out of the mass
piled on him, and grabbing the ball, had rushed down the field for a
touchdown, with the enemy thundering at his heels. He felt still the
thrill of that supreme moment when the fellows had hoisted him on their
shoulders and carried him in triumph off the field.

He half rose from his chair, but sank back.

"If it wasn't for that confounded deal," he groaned.

He had been so used to Blue victories that their failure for the last
two years had made him "sore." In his business associations and at his
club he came in contact with many graduates from different colleges. He
had usually been able to "josh" them good naturedly over the way the
Blues had "done them up." But lately the shoe had been on the other foot
and they had delighted in getting even.

He was not too thin skinned, and took their jibes smilingly, even though
the smile was a trifle forced. They were entitled to their revenge.
Sometimes, however, he winced when they flicked him "on the raw." There