Boarding schools -- Juvenile fiction; Boys -- Juvenile fiction; Football -- Juvenile fiction
It's a peculiar fact that no matter how glad a chap may be to get home
he's equally delighted to get back to school. At least, that's the way
with most fellows, and it was the way with Roy. Vacation seemed over
almost before it had begun, and then, one bright, snowy January morning
when the new year was but a few days old, he woke up to find himself
snuggled under the yellow comforter that adorned his bed in the Senior
Dormitory. And before he could gather courage to slip even one foot out
into the cold there was a rush on the stairs and Chub, all blue pajamas
and grins, was on him like a small tornado, had thrown the coverings in
all directions and had dragged him out on to the unsympathetic floor.
Jack bore down to see justice done and Tom Forrest, holding a bath towel
about him, paused on his way back from the wash-room to watch and give
encouragement. Roy and Chub had it out on the next bed and Chub
eventually begged for mercy from beneath a feather pillow. And
subsequently they dashed downstairs together and reached the dining
room just on the nick of time, feeling like hungry colts.
Yes, it was mighty good to be back again, even though mid-winter exams
were due in a few days. Roy had missed Chub and Jack and the others, and
even his brother's breathless narrative of the Yale-Harvard game from
the point of view of a Crimson right-tackle who had become next year's
captain hadn't seemed half so wonderful as it would have a year before.
Chub's badly-spelled letter regarding the outlook for the Ferry Hill
Hockey Team had been much more interesting.
The rink was flooded that afternoon, a round two dozen boys working with
a will at the pump which drew water from the river and ran it through an
iron pipe into the enclosure. It was a cold day--the thermometer read
eight degrees above at four o'clock--and although the river was frozen
only along the banks and out near Fox Island, there was no doubt but
that they would have a nice sheet of ice for the morrow's practice. Chub
borrowed a thermometer from the kitchen window--without telling anyone
about it--and hung it outside his own casement. Sid solemnly affirmed
that Chub was leaning out of the window reading the thermometer by
moonlight every time he woke up. And as Chub observed scathingly that
Sid was never known to wake up from the time he went to sleep until he
was pulled on to the floor in the morning, Sid's statement doubtless
held some truth. Chub was at Roy's bedside the next morning long before
the rising bell had rung. As he had no business there at that time, he
moved and spoke very cautiously.
"It's four below, Roy!" he whispered.
"Huh?" asked Roy sleepily.
"It's four below zero, you lazy chump!"
"Who? What?"
"The thermometer! What did you think I was talking about?"
"Thought you might mean the dormitory," answered Roy, now thoroughly
awake, drawing the bed clothes closer about him and shivering.
"Pshaw, you're not cold! Come on; get up."
"Bell rung?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account