Barry had hitherto considered Ike Boardman rather a sensible chap, but now it was apparent that he possessed very poor judgment. To say that Clyde was in danger of losing out to him, Barry, proved it. That was a ridiculous notion, evidently born of Ike’s lack of appreciation of Clyde. Barry almost, but not quite, wished that Major Loring had included his name in the list of those released from the squad. It would have made it much easier to face Clyde presently. Clyde was getting awfully sort of distant nowadays, and Barry didn’t like that. However, such reflections didn’t last long, for Major Loring drove the players hard that day, and when one is plunging at a canvas dummy that is being drawn creakily past on its rusted cable, or is concentrating on a series of numbers in the effort to determine what they mean to a substitute right half-back, there is little opportunity for thought on other matters. For the first time in a drill Barry was called on to punt that afternoon, and although he was inwardly nervous as he retired to kicking position and was over long in getting the ball away, he did well enough. On two subsequent occasions he bettered his effort considerably. When scrimmaging began he sat once more on the bench, with Clyde a dozen spaces beyond and seemingly unaware of his existence. He was glad when Clyde was summoned by the coach. Just before the practice game was over Barry was called in, together with four or five other bench-warmers, and had a few minutes of real battle. He was given the ball but once and then managed to get some three yards off the first-squad right tackle. A minute later he missed a play and so was instrumental in securing a four-yard gain by Demille, for which he received a merited dressing-down from the Major. After that unfortunate incident he was not sorry when the horn squawked an end to the session. He went along with the team on Saturday, one, and perhaps the least important member, of a squad of thirty-two players. Major Loring used twenty-eight of the thirty-two during four twelve-minute periods, but was not able to avoid defeat. Greenville Academy showed more advanced football than did the visitors, using several complicated plays that Broadmoor had learned no defense for. The final score was 14 to 6, Greenville inflicting seven points on an already vanquished opponent in the final moments of the last period. Barry, viewing the contest all through from the side-line, alternately hoped and despaired, rejoiced and groaned, and in the end took the defeat much to heart and didn’t recover his spirits until he had experienced the cheering effects of supper. The fact, gleaned from the Sunday paper the next morning, that Hoskins had fairly romped away with her game that afternoon brought no encouragement to the supporters of the Purple-and-Gray. Pessimism and criticism were rife throughout the school.