Laughlin nodded thoughtfully. “That’s not much in these days. I’m under my usual weight at two hundred and ten. Is that the outside wall there, behind the sofa?” “Yes,” answered Wolcott, with wonder. “Let’s pull the sofa out, then; I don’t want to smash a partition.” The sofa out of the way, Laughlin began again. “You know how to charge?” Wolcott nodded assent. “A good way to practise it is to charge against a wall. You ought to do it outside, and of course if you have a charging machine with a padded surface to smash against, it isn’t so hard on the wrists; but I can show you what I mean right here.” Laughlin crouched on the floor a yard from the wall, resting on his finger-tips and toes, with one foot somewhat behind him. Then he counted three and at the last number suddenly lifted and threw himself forward, catching himself with the palms of his hands against the wall. “That’s a charging exercise. It’s hard on the wrists, but it’s good training. The main thing is to hold your head up and go like a shot when you hear the word. Try it with me.” They stooped side by side on the imaginary line. At first Dave counted, afterward Wolcott. Each time, however, the old player, in spite of his weight, got off first and was the first to strike the wall. “I beat you,” said Laughlin, reproachfully, “and they call me slow.” “I’ll learn it,” declared Wolcott, resolutely. “I don’t doubt you will,” Laughlin said, as they resumed their seats, “for you’re naturally quick. It isn’t all the game by a long shot, but it’s much better to start right. The same holds true about tackling. You don’t want to make a single bad tackle the whole season through. That means that the first time you try it, and every time you try it, you go straight for the man’s knees. If you follow that scheme in everything, you won’t have bad habits to come back at you later on.” Wolcott nodded understandingly, and seeing that Laughlin, weary though he was from his hard day’s work, was still inclined to talk, smothered the questions on his lips and listened. “I believe that most of the end-of-the-season careless playing comes from poorly learned elements like tackling, charging, and dropping on the ball. You see, at the start-off, everybody, old and new, is hammering away at these things, and they all do pretty well. Then weeks afterward, when we’re working at signals, and practising combinations, and everybody’s attention is on the team work and not on the elements, there’s likely to be a big slump. The poor tacklers go high, and the fumblers juggle the ball, and the linesmen get interested in their men and don’t watch the ball, and break for the wrong bunch. It’s about then that the new man who has got the elements so sure that he does them right automatically elbows the old player off the field.” “I think I’ve learned the elements,” said Wolcott, cautiously.