Boarding schools -- Juvenile fiction; Football stories; School sports -- Juvenile fiction; Teenage boys -- Juvenile fiction
Presently he got up and climbed the stairs again to Number 17. Walter
Treat’s trunk had arrived and he was unpacking. Clif sat down on a
window seat and watched. Walter was astonishingly methodical and
particular. It took him many minutes to dispose of a couple of dozen
collars to his liking in the left-hand top drawer of his chiffonier,
and he rearranged his five pairs of shoes exactly three times along the
bottom shelf of his closet. Clif began to wonder if he was going to
like Walter Treat, after all. Conversation was desultory, consisting
mainly of questions from Clif and answers from Walter. The latter was
parsimonious of information, then and ever after. It seemed to be
Walter’s philosophy to never offer anything not asked for and then
to give as little as possible of it. But by dint of requestioning
Clif managed to elicit information regarding school customs and rules
which he stood in need of; information regarding the hours for meals,
the location of class rooms, the time of rising and so on. With his
father――they had reached Freeburg at half-past twelve and had luncheon
at the Inn before proceeding to the school――Clif had been conducted
through the buildings by one of the faculty and had everything shown
and explained. But there were certain details that Mr. Frost, Latin
instructor and Assistant to the Principal, had neglected, and it was
these that Clif now obtained, not without difficulty, from Walter.
“What sort of a chap is this Mr. McKnight?” Clif inquired. “He’s my
adviser, you know.”
“‘Lovey’? Not a bad sort. He’s Chem.”
“Yes, I know, but is he――is he a young man or a fossil?”
“About twenty-eight, I believe. Haven’t seen him yet?”
“No, I’ve got a date at seven-thirty to fix up my schedule. I’m glad
he’s youngish. And how about Wyatt?”
“You won’t like him. ‘Alick’s’ a tartar. But you won’t have him more
than four hours a week. He’s English Lit.”
“Do you have McKnight, too?”
“For adviser? No, ‘Cheese’ is my ‘nurse.’ He’s French. You don’t have
him until next year.”
“Is Cheese his real name, or――”
“Parks, Charles Parks. They call him ‘Charlie’ sometimes.”
“Do they all have pet names?” asked Clif.
“Naturally. There’s ‘Old Brad’ and ‘Lovey’ and ‘Pink’ and ‘Cocky’――and
‘Wim’――”
“Who’s ‘Cocky’?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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