Tom remained staring after her for a moment. Then, with a shrug of his shoulders, he wheeled and joined Phil, who had been a silent witness to the little scene. "Say, aren't girls odd?" asked Tom. "Very," agreed his chum. "But you said that once before, you know." "No; did I?" asked Tom, and he was rather silent on the way back to Randall. Meanwhile, Langridge and Gerhart had spent much time strolling about the chapel walk. It was getting dusk, and the fading light of the perfect fall day was shining through the wonderful, stained-glass windows of the little church. The long casements, with representations of biblical scenes, were a soft glow of delicate hues. But the two lads had no eyes for these beauties. "I think that will put a crimp in his playing!" Gerhart remarked, as he paused to light an oriental cigarette, or, rather, something that passed for one. "But it's risky," expostulated Langridge. "If it's found out, and it's sure to be, you'll have to leave college." "I don't care. I'd be willing to, if I could have my revenge on him for keeping me off the team. I don't like it here, anyhow. The other game I put up on him didn't work, but this one will." "And when will you try it?" "At the last and deciding game. The way I figure it is that the final tussle will come between Randall and Boxer Hall. I'll be ready with it then. It will certainly knock him out." "But it may lose us the game and the championship." "What do I care! I'll be square with Clinton, and that's what I want. I got the idea when I saw how frightened he was when Wallops had that telegram. Don't you think it will work?" "Sure it will work. It's a great idea, but--but----" and Langridge hesitated. "It's a brutal trick, just the same." "Oh, you're too chicken-hearted. Come on and I'll buy you a drink. That will put some life in you." "All right," said Langridge weakly, and he went. CHAPTER XXV PHIL GIVES UP Out on the athletic ground Grasshopper Backus was practicing the standing broad jump. It was one of the things he was always at, whence his nickname. But, as Holly Cross used to say, "Grasshopper had about as much chance of making the track team as he had of making a perfect score at tennis," a game which the big lad abhorred. For, though Grasshopper was very fond of jumping and practiced it every time he got a chance, there was something wrong with his method, and he never could get beyond the preliminaries in a contest. Still, he kept at it. "Why don't you give up?" asked Phil, who, with Tom and Sid, strolled down where the lone student was leaping away as if the championship of the college depended on it. "Say, you let me alone," objected Grasshopper, as he prepared for a jump. "I beat my own record a while ago." "By how much?" asked Phil. "Well, not much; a quarter of an inch, but that shows I'm improving." "Yes; at that rate you'll be through college, and a post graduate like Bricktop before you make enough gain to count," declared Tom.