Mrs. Arlington said nothing more, and Chester almost lifted each one of the girls into the carriage. They lingered a few moments to witness the joyous demonstration on the platform and listen to the cheering of the cadets. “If we’d known you were all in such good shape,” said Anson Day, “we would have brought the band.” At length, when the confusion had subsided somewhat, the cadets formed near the station, with the ball players at the head of the procession, and away they marched, followed by the immense crowd. One of the leaders struck up “Fair Fardale,” and every boy in the ranks took up the song. Singing thus, and followed by the laughing villagers, scores of whom found their eyes dimmed with blurring mists, the boys paraded the main street of the village and finally turned toward the academy. CHAPTER XX. DICK’S CONFIDENCE. The following day Earl Gardner was ill in bed. Among the others, although more serious results had been anticipated, no one was laid up. True, some of them were stiff and lame, but all were up and about. Late in the afternoon, while Dick was alone in his room, there came a knock on his door, and Darrell entered. “Hello, Hal!” cried Dick. “Sit down, old man.” Darrell seemed strangely awkward and ill at ease. “They tell me Gardner is in bed,” he said. Dick nodded. “Yes; I am afraid he is in for a sick spell. It’s lucky none of the rest of us are in bed. How’s your head, old man?” “Oh, I’d hardly know anything had happened to it. Just cut my scalp a little, that’s all.” “It looked pretty serious for you when I found you covered with blood in that mess, Hal.” “I came to speak about that, Merriwell. They tell me you crawled back into that wreck after every one save me was out of it. You did that for me, and yet you must have known——” He stopped, biting his lip. “Go ahead, Hal,” urged Dick. “I must have known—what?” “Well, you know what happened in that baseball game. You saw the kind of a game I put up, didn’t you?” “Of course.” “What did you think of it?” “You were out of practice.” “Oh, you know I didn’t play like that just because I was out of practice. See here, Merriwell, I am disgusted with myself! You’re a white man, and I feel like a cur!” “That’s a bad way to feel, Darrell,” said Dick. “But that’s just the way I do feel. You must know that it is a blamed hard thing for me to come here and tell you this, but I have thought it all over, and I made up my mind to do it, no matter how hard it was. Merriwell, I was sore on you Saturday. I can’t explain just why, but I was dead sore. I didn’t expect to stay in that game long enough to lose it for you. I thought you would take me out. Frankly and squarely, I was looking for trouble. Had you put me out of the game it would have given me the excuse I sought.”