"I shouldn't care if I was in pieces after the way we walloped them! Come on over here. I see my sister and Madge!" Tom followed, his head singing from a severe knock he had received. CHAPTER XXIV GERHART HAS AN IDEA Phil's sister hurried down from the grandstand to greet him. "Oh, Phil!" she cried. "Did you get hurt?" for she saw him limping, and she held out her hands to him. "Just a little twist," he explained. "Not worth mentioning. How are you, Madge?" he went on, after patting his sister on the shoulder, and he held his hands eagerly out to Miss Tyler. "Fine!" she exclaimed. "Oh, wasn't it a great game?" "For us," put in Tom, who had greeted Ruth, and now turned to the other girl. "Good afternoon, Tom," spoke Madge, and Tom fancied there was just a tinge of coldness in her voice. She continued talking to Phil. "Did you think you would win?" asked Phil's sister of Tom as she looked eagerly up into his face. "Well, not all the while," replied the left-end. "Once or twice I began to think we'd lose. But you can't down Randall." "No; it takes Fairview to do that, not Boxer Hall," put in Madge quickly. "Now, be nice--be nice!" pleaded Phil with a laugh. "I thought you were a friend of mine, Madge." "So I am," she replied gaily; "but I can't help saying that." "We'll beat you next time," went on Phil, and he dodged back to escape a little blow which Madge aimed at him with her small flag. Then the two laughed. Tom, who was chatting with Ruth, heard them, and he half turned to see what was going on. He was just in time to see Phil grasp both Madge's hands, and his face turned red. Ruth noticed it, and she said: "Phil and Madge seem to get on well together." "Almost too well," was Tom's thought, but he said nothing and changed the subject. "Well, Tom," said Phil at length, "I suppose we'd better go dress like respectable citizens. You've got a spot of mud on your nose." "And you have one on your ear," added Ruth. "I think Tom--I mean Mr. Parsons--looks quite artistic with that beauty spot." "We can dispense with the 'Mister,' if you like, Ruth," said Tom boldly. "Oh!" laughed Ruth. "I don't know what my brother will say. Eh, Phil?" "Oh, I guess it's safe to call 'Dominie' Parsons by his front handle," said Phil. "He's warranted not to bite. Go ahead, sis." "All right," she agreed with a laugh. "There--Tom"--and she hesitated prettily at the name--"better run along and wash up." "Will you wait here for us?" asked Tom. "We'll take you over to Fairview, then, eh, Phil?" "Surest thing you know!" exclaimed the quarter-back. "That is, if Madge is agreeable." He looked at her. She blushed just a trifle, and, with a little gesture, answered: "If Ruth insists on having her brother, why----" "But I don't want my brother!" cried Ruth gaily. "Whoever heard of a sister walking with her own brother? I'm going to let you have him, and I--er--I----" She paused, blushing. "I'll fill in!" cried Tom quickly.