Toby set himself earnestly to learn hockey. I’m not going to tell you that after a week of sliding and whanging around with the third or fourth squad he displayed such a marvelous ability that Yardley Hall was amazed and delighted at the advent of a new star, or that Orson Crowell, bowing his head in surrender, offered him the captaincy. Such a thing may happen sometimes, although it is usually in stories, but it didn’t happen in Toby’s case. No, sir, not by a lot! Toby began by being just about as awkward and useless as any one could be. For the first day or two he evidently believed that a hockey stick was meant to trip over, and when he did use it for other purposes, he wielded it like a baseball bat. However, after he had cut Fanning’s forehead open with one of his wild swings, and been sternly reminded for the tenth time that the rules forbade lifting the stick above the shoulder, he handled it more discreetly. Loring Casement, who was slated for the second team captaincy, had charge of the third and fourth squads, and Loring made the mistake of sizing up Toby as a possible forward, and for the better part of a week, in fact until the Monday following the game with St. John’s School, he was allowed to dash wildly and more or less confusedly about the ice to his own vast enjoyment and the entertainment of the spectators. Toby’s method of advancing the puck was to get a good start, stumble over his stick, slide a few yards, scramble to his feet again and hurl himself on the nearest adversary, whether said adversary happened to have possession of the puck at the moment or not. We are told that a rhinoceros, being wounded, will charge at the first object he sees, whether it is a man or a tree or an ant-hill. These were Toby’s tactics. The first person who met his eyes was his prey. It took Toby several experiences to connect his thunderbolt charges with the blowing of the referee’s whistle and the cessation of play. But eventually, after Casement had almost tearfully reiterated that the rules prohibited the checking of a player not in possession of the puck, Toby saw his error. Possibly he would have developed after awhile into a fair sort of center or wing, although all indications were against that supposition, but he wasn’t given the chance. On that Monday before mentioned Captain Crowell advised Casement to try Toby at defense, and so Toby suddenly found himself at point.