"Prescott said he didn't know I was there!" exclaimed Mr. Cantwell angrily to himself. "Bosh! That boy has been a thorn in my side ever since I became principal of the school. Of course he saw me---and he kicked wonderfully straight! Oh, how I wish I could make him wear this hat every day during the balance of the school year! Such a handsome hat---eight dollars!" "It's a shame to tell you," confided Dave Darrin, as he and Dick headed the sextette of chums on the homeward tramp, "but you're certainly looking in great condition, old fellow." "I feel simply perfect, physically," Dick replied. "I have, in fact, ever since I first began to train in the baseball squad last season. It's wonderful what training does for a fellow! I know there's a heap of bad condition in the world, but I often wonder why there is. Why, Dave, I ought to knock wood, of course, but I feel so fine that it seems as though nothing could put me out of form." At that moment young Prescott had no idea how easily a few minutes could bring one from the best possible condition to the brink of physical despair. CHAPTER XIX LAURA AND BELLE HAVE A SECRET "Only a team of fools would hope to stop Gridley High School this year." Thus stated the Elliston "Tribune" after Gridley had walked through Elliston High School, one of the strongest school teams of the state, by a score of eight to nothing. That copy of "The Tribune" found its way over to Gridley, and fell into the hands of some of the High School boys. "Be careful, young men," warned Mr. Morton. "Don't get it too seriously into your heads that you can't be beaten, or your downfall will date from that hour. The true idea is not that on can't be beaten, but that you won't. Stick to the latter idea as well as you do to your training, and it will be a good eleven, indeed, that can get a game away from you." "Only two more to play this year, anyway," replied Hudson. "We can't lose much." "The team might lose two, and that would a worse record than any Gridley eleven has made in five years," retorted Mr. Morton dryly. "We won't lose 'em, though," rejoined Tom Reade. "Every fellow in the squad is in a conspiracy to pull the eleven through the next two games---by its hair, if necessary." "That line of thought is better than conceit," smiled the coach. The game with Paunceboro High School came off, one of the most stubbornly fought battles that Gridley had ever entered. It seemed impossible to score against this enemy. Again and again Dick broke around the left end in a spirited dash, or Dan Dalzell made one of his swift sorties at right end. Then, by the time that Paunceboro had grown used to end dashes, Gridley would make a smashing charge at center. All these styles of attack, however, Paunceboro met smilingly. In the first half there was no score.