u really want to give him a good jolt?" said Bassett to Campbell.

"I told you I did."

"Then why not try my plan? I know it will work."

Bassett leaned forward and talked in low tones as if fearing to be
overheard, but there was no danger of that, for the other persons in the
restaurant were too much interested in their own affairs to eavesdrop on
two young fellows chatting in a booth.

At eight o'clock Campbell and Bassett sauntered out and Chuan Kai
received his fat tip. The big car rolled out to the "mansion" on the
hillock and, when the chauffeur had been found, sped to Ridgley School.
Five minutes before nine it discharged its burden at the doors of
Gannett Hall.

During the week that followed there was a frenzy of football talk in
every Ridgley dormitory. At chapel on Tuesday morning Doctor Wells
granted Neil Durant's request to speak to the school. The football
captain mounted the platform a little nervously, but he made a
straightforward speech in which he appealed for more candidates for the
scrub. "There are a good many likely-looking fellows in this school who
have never tried for the football team," he said. "It's late in the
season, but there's a chance for them now on the scrub and, if they show
any real ability, an opportunity with the team. We've got to do our best
to beat Jefferson this year and we can't afford to overlook good
material even now, so if you want to show your school spirit come down
to the field this afternoon."

The result of the speech and of numerous personal appeals was that a
dozen new players appeared with the scrub that afternoon; they were not
a remarkable addition in respect to quality, however, and after a couple
of days of looking them over Coach Murray remarked to Neil Durant that
he was afraid that none of them would "set the world on fire."

Those were days of feverish activity on the football field; the coach
drove the members of the first team for all they were worth and when he
thought they were in danger of being overworked from too much
scrimmaging he called them together in the locker building and gave them
blackboard talks. In the middle of the week he advanced Tracey Campbell
and Fred Harper to the first squad; he then began to test some new and
intricate formations.

Among the candidates who had responded to Neil Durant's appeal had been
Snubby Turner. Snubby succeeded Fred Harper as quarter-back of the scrub
and felt an immense elation which he intimated