Suddenly there was a second commotion. Every head turned toward the
door. Benz was entering.
"Behold, the conquered hero comes!" noised Curns.
All eating stopped. Benz hesitated at the threshold, glowering
defiantly up and down the tables. One eye was still badly swollen and
colored a glossy black. His nose looked sadly mis-shapen. In all he
presented a glorious spectacle.
"Oh you shiner!" cried some student from a far corner of the room.
This exclamation was too much. A roar of laughter went up as Benz
stood hands twitching in anger and humiliation.
"Laugh, you guys, laugh!" he cried hoarsely.
"Don't worry, we will!" somebody assured him.
Benz stood the gaff a moment longer, then turned about, and leaving the
fellows in an uproar, strode off to his room where he remained the rest
of the day.
Two weeks more slipped quickly by, during which time the Bartlett
eleven captured two more victories, one over Everett and the other over
Lawton Academy, by top heavy scores. Both of these schools were
supposed to have fairly strong teams and the results of their games
with Bartlett came as quite a surprise in football circles. Students
began to herald the present team as the greatest in the college's
history, and talked of Thanksgiving day when the big game of the year
was to be played against the rival college, Pennington.
Benz had held aloof from Judd, not even speaking to him when meeting
face to face. Fellows still smiled when passing Benz and Benz resented
those smiles. "I'll get even with Rube some how!" he thought, angrily,
"He's just a rube. The lucky stiff!"
Meanwhile Cateye had written another letter to Bob describing in full
Judd's escapades, and adding: "He's fast developing into some football
man, Bob. You should see him punt! And tackle! Say, I never saw him
miss a man yet,--he's that sure! The bigger they are the harder they
fall. Judd's good enough for the varsity right now and I'm expecting
Coach Phillips to give him a chance any night. Of course Benz is
captain and he'll put up an awful fuss if anything like that happens.
Judd, in my opinion, could make good any where you put him on that
eleven to-day. He's that much better than any of us. But then, this
is his first year and he is green yet, I'll admit. Wish you could come
down for the big game. Your side-kick ... Cateye."
The campus clock had just struck nine one evening late in October when
some one pounded on Cateye's door.
"Let 'em in, Judd," said Cateye, "before they break the door down!"
Judd was quick to respond. The door swung open. Pole and Potts
stepped in.
"Welcome to our city," greeted Cateye, tossing aside a notebook upon
which he had been working, "I'm always glad to entertain callers, for
then I feel that I have a legitimate excuse to quit studying. What
have you got there, Pole?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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