hand.

"This is a swell fix I'm in," Mack bemoaned, with the Coach having
gone. "Talk about being hoodooed! How should _I_ know that Coach
Edward would ever be out after my brother's coaching job? I'll bet you
every time Coach sees me he thinks of my brother and that kills my
chances. But I was good enough so he had to make me a sub anyhow."
Mack's gaze suddenly fell upon Coach Edward's pile of papers. Diagrams
of football plays caught his eye. He leaned forward that he might see
them better, then gave a glance toward the door and arose from his
chair. "Hello! Pretty nice!... Maybe my brother wouldn't give a lot
to have a copy of all these plays!... He's probably had his scouts
covering Grinnell games ... but here's some plays we haven't used all
season. Boy--that lateral pass opening out into a forward is a pip!...
Coach Edward's been saving the fireworks to shoot on Pomeroy all
right!... Guess he'd give his left ear to beat my brother's team this
year. Huh! I'd give my right ear to get in the game!"

Impelled by curiosity, Mack lifted some of the papers and studied other
diagrammed plays. He became more engrossed than he had intended when
he was seized with the uncomfortable feeling that someone else was in
the room.

"Well?" spoke Coach Edward, standing quietly just inside the door.

"Oh! I ... er ... a ...!" stammered Mack, badly fussed. "Pardon
me!... I saw these plays here and I...!"

"... and you thought you'd get them _memorized_," said the Coach,
bitingly.

"No, sir!" flashed Mack, stung at the insinuation. "I was just
interested. I...!"

There was nothing further that he could say. It dawned on him in that
moment that his relationship to the coach of Pomeroy's eleven was apt
to cause many actions of his to be misconstrued. He would have to be
more careful. Coach Edward was even now regarding him suspiciously.

"I hope, Mack, that I can trust you," he was saying.

"You sure can," Grinnell's disgruntled substitute answered, inwardly
resenting the suggestion that he might use such information as he had
gleaned against his school.

"I am surprised," Coach Edward finished, "that you would have permitted
yourself to examine anything on my desk."

"I'm sorry, sir," Mack apologized, realizing that the Coach had reason
for complaining. "But I wouldn't think of passing anything on to
anyone else."

"It wouldn't be exactly wise," said Coach Edward as the two stood face
to face.