“Yes. Suppose the fellows who are after the positions you want play hard but don’t keep their minds on what they’re after, don’t use their wills; and suppose you play just as hard and never lose sight of why you’re doing it, of what you’re going after, and use all your will power. Isn’t it fair to assume that you’ll have the edge on the other chaps?” “Y-yes,” assented Clif. “I see what you mean.” “So do I,” said Tom, “but what I’d like to know is what’s to prevent those other guys trying the psychology stunt too!” “Nothing, but they just won’t think of it. You hadn’t, had you?” “I’ll say I hadn’t! Heck, I never took much stock in this mental suggestion stuff, Loring. It always sounds nutty to me.” “I don’t think it’s nutty,” said Loring. “Doesn’t it stand to reason that your chance of getting a thing is better if you bend all your energies to getting it? And a fellow’s energies aren’t wholly physical, are they? His mind――” “That’s all right, but this thing of ‘willing’ something to happen, now; that’s different from just _wanting_ it to, isn’t it?” “Yes, it is. You can want anything a whole lot and yet not set your mental energies to the job of going after it. That’s the point I’m trying to make. Look here, Tom, have you ever watched a pole-vaulter at work? Do you suppose that he’s thinking about what he’s going to have for supper or――or some fool thing like that? He isn’t. He’s saying to himself, _hard_: ‘I’m going to do it! I’m going over! This time I’m going to _make_ it!’ And he isn’t thinking about a thing in the world but just getting up there and straightening his body out right and clearing that bar! And if he didn’t _think_ he was going to do it, if he didn’t use his will as well as his body, he never would do it!” “Keno!” said Tom. “I get you, old scout. Like when Clif made that last goal in the hockey game awhile back. I’ll bet it was just his _will_ that shot that puck in, for, goodness knows, he didn’t have any command over the rest of him!” Clif laughed, but Loring went on, still seriously. “‘Work and Will’ is the slogan, fellows. But we don’t have to stop there. Remember that it’s ‘one for all and all for one.’ Each of us helps the others every chance he gets.” “Such as how?” asked Clif. “Well, if you see Tom doing something the wrong way you’ll tell him. If Tom sees you making mistakes he will tell you. If I see either of you missing an opportunity I’ll put my oar in. Being on the side-lines, so to speak, I might, you know. Then there’s propaganda. Whenever any of us sees a chance to speak a good word for another we’ll do it. And there may be other ways, too. The main thing is to be looking for them and to use them. Now what do you say? Remember it’s three to one, and that’s a sure thing in any fight!” “Looks to me,” objected Tom, “more like three to two. Suppose I want to play second base. I’ve got ‘Stu’ Evans against me, for one, and Coach Connover for another. Stu wants to keep the job and Steve wants him to.”