As Mr. Collins had suggested, there was no reason why Kendall’s schoolmates should know of his probation, and so Kendall kept the knowledge to himself. There were times when the temptation to tell Harold was strong, times when Kendall felt the need of talking it over with somebody and getting sympathy. But Harold was not what Kendall called a very sympathetic soul, and so the secret was kept. At the end of two or three days the incident of the green paint ceased to interest the school and for the present it remained a mystery. Other things happened to engage the attention of the fellows. There was first scrimmage one Thursday afternoon, when they were allowed to get for the first time some idea of what the line-up of the football team was to be. And then, two days later, came the first game of the schedule, a contest of four eight-minute periods with Greenburg High School. It was a warm afternoon and players and spectators alike sweltered in the sun. Kendall witnessed his first real game of football and found it interesting, although as a matter of fact it was rather a dull and loosely played contest. Neither team had “got together” as yet, and fumbles, mixed signals and other misplays were frequent on both sides. Yardley took the lead in the second period by seizing advantage of a Greenburg fumble on the latter’s twenty yards and from there working over the goal line for a touchdown from which Wallace Hammel missed a try at goal by some six yards. In the next period Greenburg tied the score, missing an even easier goal, and in the last period of play Stearns, right half-back, got away around Greenburg’s end for a sixty-yard run and another score. Hammel again missed a goal and the final score stood 10 to 5. Nobody was unduly elated over the showing of the Yardley team, although, as Tom Roeder pointed out that evening when they were talking it over in Dan’s room, they hadn’t done so badly considering everything. “Look at the heat, Dan! Thunder, I had a regular cascade running down my back all the time! Bet you I lost five pounds!” “What did the scales say?” asked Arthur Thompson, who, a new recruit that fall, was after Roeder’s or Stearns’s position. “Oh, they said a pound and four ounces,” replied Tom carelessly. “But they were probably mistaken!” “Sandy Fogg played a dandy game at center,” said Gerald. “Good on defense,” agreed Dan, “but he was mighty slow on getting into the attack.” “He has too much fat on,” said Tom. “Or he did have before we began playing. I guess he’s some lighter now.” “What the dickens was the matter with Wallace Hammel?” asked Arthur. Tom shrugged his shoulders. “Search me. Both those goals were easy enough, and he had all the time he wanted. He’s feeling rather rotten about it to-night; peevish as you please; I simply had to get out of the room.” “He will come around all right after awhile,” said Dan. “But I certainly wish we had two or three good drop-kickers.”