rnoon that week,--a call that was indorsed by
Mr. Dodsworth, Mr. Dale, and the new manager.

"We have got to get right down to business--if we want to beat
Rockville," said Dave, to the others. "I understand they put up a stiff
game with Elmwood. If we are beaten, all the fellows who were put off
the eleven will have the laugh on us."

"We'll do our best," cried the senator's son.

"It's a good thing we organized the Old Guard," said Phil. "That kept us
in fine condition."

Practice commenced in earnest the next day, and was kept up every
afternoon, under the supervision of Mr. Dale and the gymnasium
instructor. Mr. Dodsworth perfected the eleven in signal work, and
Andrew Dale showed them how to work several trick plays used effectively
by the college he had attended.

Many of the students wondered what Guy Frapley, Nat Poole, and John Rand
would do. On the day following the reorganization of the football
eleven, all three students sent telegrams to their parents, and received
replies the next day. Rand and Frapley left Oak Hall, and announced that
they were going to Rockville Military Academy. Nat Poole had wanted to
go, too, but Aaron Poole would not permit it, for the reason that he had
paid for Nat's board and tuition in advance, and he was not the man to
sacrifice one cent by such a move. Later on he wrote a letter, stating
that he didn't believe in any such foolishness as football anyway, and
Nat had better settle down to his studies and get some good of the money
that was being spent on him. This letter angered Nat exceedingly, but he
could do nothing without his parent's consent, and so he settled down as
best he could.

"I shouldn't wonder if Rand and Frapley become cronies of Merwell and
Jasniff," said Dave to Phil. And so it proved,--the four became quite
intimate, and all of them vowed that sooner or later they would "settle
accounts" with Dave for the trouble he and his chums had caused them.
The ringleader of the four was Nick Jasniff, and he resolved to do
something that would put Dave in the deepest kind of disgrace. Not to
expose himself, he matured his plans slowly and with great caution.

Although Dave was doing all in his power to make the football eleven a
good one, he was not permitted to devote all his spare time to that
organization. Oak Hall, as my old readers know, boasted of a secret
organization known as the Gee Eyes, those words standing for the
initials G and I, which in their turn