But Hugh was wrong. The next day he was again back at the right end of the line and again Ayer yelped at him and Coach Crowley bellowed and Captain Myatt barked. But he did a little better today, just enough, probably, to keep Mr. Crowley from having him instantly drawn and quartered or immersed in boiling oil. Roy Dresser, who played left end on the first, found it harder to entice his opponent away from the play, and Franklin, at left tackle, discovered that he couldn’t always fool him. Still, Hugh missed an easy tackle on one occasion and let Nick slip past for a long gain while he ruefully picked himself from the ground and scraped the mud from his face. Mr. Crowley almost ate him for that and Neil Ayer evinced every desire to officiate with the vinegar and salt. That was a bad day for the second, on the whole, for the first ran up five scores in the twenty minutes of scrimmaging. What troubled Hugh quite as much as his own defects was the sorry performance put up by Bert on the enemy team. Bert fumbled miserably twice, and, while he usually gained when he had the ball, played in such a half-hearted manner that Coach Bonner was “on his neck” half the time. In the last of the second period, when substitutions on each team were numerous, Bert went out in favor of Siedhof. Hugh, too, severed his connection with the game then, and Forbes got back to his own. On the bench, dragging the sleeves of his sweater across his chest, Hugh ventured a remark to Bert, but the result was not encouraging. Bert only growled. After that Hugh watched Forbes and earnestly tried not to indulge in uncharitable thoughts. But he couldn’t help feeling exultant when Vail and Bert swept around their left end, Vail carrying the pigskin, and spurned the recumbent form of Forbes underfoot. That was encouraging to Hugh. Even Forbes, it seemed, was by no means beyond the cunning wiles of the enemy. Then Davy Richards, the trainer, who had been up the field administering to a dislocated finger, hurried indignantly back to the bench and sent them scurrying to the showers.