Tiffany Vergon, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. JACK WINTERS' GRIDIRON CHUMS BY MARK OVERTON CONTENTS CHAPTER I. GRUELLING FOOTBALL PRACTICE II. THE BOY WHO WAS IN TROUBLE III. BIG BOB CONFESSES IV. A FRIEND IN NEED V. A MESSAGE FROM MARSHALL VI. JACK AND JOEL INVESTIGATE VII. STRANGE FRUIT FOR A TREE TO BEAR VIII. A CALL FOR HELP IX. HEADED FOR THE FIELD OF BATTLE X. WHEN THE GREAT GAME OPENED XI. THE STRUGGLE ON THE GRIDIRON XII. GLORY ENOUGH FOR ALL XIII. WHEN BED FIRE BURNED IN CHESTER XIV. WHAT FOLLOWED THE CELEBRATION XV. IN THE BURNING HOUSE XVI. JACK SPEAKS FOR LITTLE CARL XVII. THE AFTERMATH OF A GOOD DEED XVIII. BIG BOB BRINGS NEWS XIX. LOCKING HORNS WITH HARMONY XX. THE GREAT VICTORY--CONCLUSION JACK WINTERS' GRIDIRON CHUMS CHAPTER I GRUELLING FOOTBALL PRACTICE A shrill whistle sounded over the field where almost two dozen sturdily built boys in their middle 'teens, clad in an astonishing array of old and new football togs, had been struggling furiously. Instantly the commotion ceased as if by magic at this intimation from the coach, who also acted in practice as referee and umpire combined, that the ball was to be considered "dead." Some of those who helped to make the pack seemed a bit slow about relieving the one underneath of their weight, for a half-muffled voice oozed out of the disintegrating mass: "Get off my back, some of you fellows, won't you? What d'ye take me for--a land tortoise?" Laughing and joking, the remaining ingredients of the pyramid continued to divorce themselves from the heap that at one time had appeared to consist principally of innumerable arms and legs. Last of all a long-legged boy with a lean, but good-natured face, now streaked with perspiration and dirt, struggled to his feet, and began to feel his lower extremities sympathetically, as though the terrific strain had centered mostly upon that particular part of his anatomy. But under his arm he still held pugnaciously to the pigskin oval ball. The coach, a rather heavy-set man who limped a little, now came hurrying up. Joe Hooker had once upon a time been quite a noted college athlete until an accident put him "out of the running," as he always explained it. He worked in one of Chester's big mills, and when a revolution in outdoor sports swept over the hitherto sleepy manufacturing town, Joe Hooker gladly consented to assume the congenial task of acting as coach to the youngsters, being versed in all the intricacies of gilt- edged baseball and football. It had been very much owing to his excellent work as a severe drill- master that Chester, during the season recently passed, had been able actually to win the deciding game of baseball of the three played against the hitherto invincible Harmony nine.