visiting speaker entered the chapel pulpit and
reverently began the service of the day.

He had not been speaking long before it was evident that every eye was
fastened upon him. It was evident that here was first of all a man, and
then a man who was present because he had something to say and not
merely because he had to say something.

"I am appealing to those of you," he was saying, "who are eager and
earnest, not to you who are indifferent or weaklings. Those of you who
are members of your college teams, who are leading spirits in the
college life, who are not living lives that are above reproach because
you have no temptation to be bad, but because if you do right it is
because you have to struggle and fight for it--it is to you I am
speaking this morning."

Will was listening intently, as was every one in the chapel, and then
there followed a sentence that seemed to him almost electric with life
and that made a lasting impression upon his life.

CHAPTER XXII

A FRESH EXCITEMENT

"What I want every one of you young men to do," the speaker was saying,
"is to give your better self a chance. There isn't one of you to-day who
is not proud of his physical strength, not one of you who, if he should
be urged to join one of the athletic teams, would not willingly, even
proudly go through all the training that would be required of him. And
that is right. In your intellectual work some of you see what the
desired end is--the development of power, getting your brains into form
so that you can meet and compete with the forces you will have to face
when you leave your college days behind you and go forth to make your
name and place in the great battlefield of life. Some of you, it may be,
do not as yet see this clearly, and when you can evade a task or dodge a
difficult demand upon you, count it as so much gained. But in your heart
of hearts you know better, and are dimly conscious that you are losing
and not gaining by your neglect."

The earnestness, the sincerity, and naturalness of the speaker acted
upon Will Phelps with the effect of an electric shock. Never had he been
so thoroughly aroused, and every nerve in his body was tingling when he
left the chapel and started toward his own room.

"That's the kind of a talk the fellows like."

Will glanced up and beheld Wagner, who had overtaken him and now was
walking by his side.

"I never heard such a man in all my life," said Will warmly.

"There isn't a