T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., his sunny, Cheshire cat grin
illuminating his cherubic countenance, beamed on the
eleven and Coach Corridan a moment.
“Oh, that’s a mystery,”
he said, cheerfully. “If I do
gain the courage and confidence, I’ll explain,
but unless I do—it remains a—mystery!”
COACH CORRIDAN SURPRISES THE ELEVEN
“ALL MEMBERS OF THE FIRST ELEVEN ARE URGENTLY
REQUESTED TO BE PRESENT IN THE ROOM OF T. HAVILAND
HICKS, JR.—AT EIGHT P. M. TONIGHT; YOU WILL
BE DETAINED ONLY A FEW MINUTES, BUT LET EVERY PLAYER
COME, AS A MATTER OF EXTREME IMPORTANCE WILL BE PRESENTED.
PATRICK HENRY COERIDAN, HEAD-COACH.”
“Now, what do you suppose is up Coach Corridan’s
sleeve?” demanded T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., cheerfully.
“Has Ballard learned our signals, or some Bannister
student sold them to a rival team, as per the usual
football story? Though the notice doth not herald
it, I am to be present, for my room is to be used,
and the Coach gave me a special invitation to cut the
Gordian knot with my keen intellect.”
The sunny Hicks, with Butch, Beef, Tug, and Monty,
had just come from “Delmonico’s Annex,”
the college dining-hall, after supper; they had paused
before the Bulletin Board at the Gymnasium entrance,
where all college notices were posted, and the Coach’s
urgent request had caught their gaze. The announcement
had caused quite a stir on the campus. The Bannister
youths stood in excited groups talking of it, and in
the dormitories it superseded all thought of study;
however, there seemed little chance that any but the
“’Varsity” and T. Haviland Hicks,
Jr., who was always consulted in football problems,
would know what took place in this meeting.
“There is only one way to find out, Hicks,”
responded big Butch Brewster, his arm across his blithesome
comrade’s shoulders, “and that is, attend
the meeting! You can wager that every member of
the eleven will be there, except Thor—he
regards it as ‘foolishness,’ I suppose,
and he won’t spare that precious time from his
studies.”
At five minutes past eight, Butch’s prophecy
was fulfilled, for every member of the eleven was
in Hicks’ cozy room, except Thor, the Prodigious
Prodigy, whose presence would have caused a mild sensation.
It was an extremely quiet and orderly gathering, for
Coach Corridan, who had the floor, was so grave that
he impressed the would-be sky-larking youths.
Having their undivided attention, he proceeded to make
a speech that, to all intents and purposes, had much
the same effect on the team and Hicks as a Zeppelin’s
bombs on London:
“Boys,” he spoke, in forceful sentences,
driving straight to the point, “I am going to
take the eleven, and Hicks, whose suggestions are always
timely, into my confidence, in the hope that we, working
together, may carry out an idea of mine for the awakening
of Thor to a realization of things! I ask you
not to let what I shall tell you be known to the student-body,
but you fellows play with Thor every day, and you will
understand the crisis, and appreciate why
it is done, if I decide it necessary to drop John
Thorwald from the football squad.”
