was Evans, for instance, an old Princeton tackle. Good fellow,
Evans--corking good fellow--but after the Blues lost last fall, he had
gloated a little too much. He had met him on the street and clapped him
hilariously on the shoulder.

"Ha, ha, Ames," he shouted, "how about it? We tied the can on the
bulldog's tail, and we'll do the same next year."

That had stung. His face flushed now as he recalled it:

"We tied the can on the bulldog's tail, and we'll do the same next
year."

"They will, will they?" he roared, jumping to his feet.

He pressed a button on his desk, and his confidential man came in.

"Thompson," said Ames hurriedly, "I've been called East on important
business. Keep in touch with me by wire. I've just got time to catch the
Twentieth Century Express."

CHAPTER IX

HAMMERED INTO SHAPE

LIKE a sheaf of arrows, the other telegrams sped over the country, and
most of them went straight to the mark. A mining engineer in Montana got
one, and pulled up stakes at once. A rising young lawyer in Minneapolis
found it necessary to look up some data in the old college library. A
guest on a houseboat down near Jacksonville made hurried excuses and
came North by the first train. Others felt urgently the need of a brief
vacation from their accustomed duties and acted promptly on the impulse.
Not a week had elapsed before ten of the dozen were on the scene of
action. Of the remaining two, one was up in the North Woods and could
not be reached, and the other was on his honeymoon.

They had a royal welcome from the coach, who had not doubted for a
moment that they would heed the call. He knew that the old war horses
would "sniff the battle from afar" and come galloping to the fray. Now
that they were there, he felt the lightening of the tremendous load of
responsibility he had been carrying since the beginning of the season.
These men were not theorists, but from actual experience knew every
point of the game from start to finish. Now he could divide his men up
into squads, each one presided over by an expert who could coach each
individual player in the duties of his position, while Hendricks himself
could exercise a general supervision of the whole.

"It was bully of you fellows to come," he said, as they gathered in his
rooms, as full of life and ginger as so many two-year-old colts. "And,
now that you are here, I'm going to give you plenty of work to do.
Heaven knows there's enough to keep you bu