ods you will be O. K. You will have to give three
afternoons a week to it; maybe more. I'll drive to Hamilton and hire
that hall tomorrow. I'll wire the coach before we go back to the campus
tonight. He's in New York and I can have him here by Saturday."

"It's going to cost oodles of money. Why are you so bent on doing it,
Les?" Joan asked curiously.

"I won't be kept out of things." Leslie turned almost fiercely upon her
questioner. "I loathe that nippy Robina Page and I hate Marjorie Dean
and her crowd. They can play basket ball, I'll admit. I'll show them
they are not the only stars. You girls have got to take a game away from
them. You are not to play them for a while. You are to whip the freshies
first. They are a handful, too. Later, you are to beat the sophs. With
the help of Ramsey, this coach, you can do it, and I know it."

CHAPTER XVIII.

"THE SOFT TALK."

The senior try-out did not take place on Friday. No aspirants appeared
at the gymnasium. The seniors were not ambitious to shine as basket-ball
stars. The freshmen went to work at once to perfect their playing under
the willing guidance of Professor Leonard. The soph team was not quite
so zealous, but put in at least two afternoons a week at practice. This
team was the pride of the active director's heart. He assured them more
than once that they could meet a team of professional men players and
acquit themselves with credit. If he wondered why the junior five did
not take advantage of his offer, he made no comment. While he took a
deep interest in basket ball, he left all the arrangements of the games
to the senior sports committee, preferring to allow them to do the
managing.

Owing to the delay in forming the teams, no games were scheduled to be
played until after Thanksgiving. Directly college routine was resumed
after that holiday the freshmen challenged the sophomores to meet them
on the eighth of December. The sophs graciously accepted the challenge
and beat the freshies after one of the hardest fought contests that had
ever taken place at Hamilton. The score stood 24-22 in favor of the
sophs when the game ended, and the tumult which ensued could be heard
half way across the campus. The freshmen had fought so gallantly they
came in for almost as much acclamation as the winners.

Ready to give the defeated team an opportunity to square itself, the
sophs challenged the freshmen to meet them on the following Saturday.
The unexpected ill