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Still others, under Greg Holmes, were practicing punt kicks. Drayne's face was flushed, and, though he strove to hide the fact, there was an anxious look there. "I didn't quite understand, Drayne," continued the young captain of the team, "that you were to take a very important part this year." "Pshaw! I'd like to know why I'm not," returned the other boy hotly.
At last it seemed to Phin as though a hush fell over those in the next room. But it was only that voices had been much lowered. Then a door opened, the clerk looking in and calling: "Mr. Drayne, will you come before the Board now?" Phin passed into the larger apartment. Seated in one chair was Dr. Thornton; in another chair Mr. Morton.
"None of us care what Drayne thinks, anyway," broke in Dave Darrin contemptuously. "He wants to play as a regular, and he's slated only as a possible sub. So I suppose he simply can't see how the eleven is to win without him. But, making allowances for human nature, I don't believe we need to roast him for his grouch." "I didn't think his talk was worth paying any attention to," added Laura.
"But, if Drayne has money, and is going to bet, he won't be entitled to any sympathy when he loses, will he?" "Humph!" grunted Dave. "I'd like to have this matter followed up. Any fellow who is betting against us ought not to be allowed to play at all." "Oh, it was just the talk of a silly, disappointed fellow," argued Dick. "I suppose a boy is a good deal like a man, always.
You know, too, Drayne, if you'll be honest about it, that my chums and I have sometimes sacrificed our own wishes to what seemed to be the greatest good of the school." "Then who is the man who has worked to put me on the shelf in football?" insisted the other boy, eyeing Dick menacingly. "Yourself, Drayne!" "What are you talking about?" cried Drayne, more angry than before.
Out on the sidewalk Phin Drayne plucked up courage enough to find his voice. "For goodness' sake, let me go, Chief," he begged, falteringly. "I haven't done anything, although things look against me." "I guess we'll be able to put things enough against you," retorted the police official mockingly. "Think of my mother!" pleaded the wild boy.
"What ailed old Drayne this afternoon, Dick?" asked Tom Reade. "Why, he told me that he had hoped to play quarter this season." "Regular quarter?" demanded Dan Dalzell, opening his eyes very wide. "That was what I gathered, from what he said," nodded Dick. "Well, of all the nerve!" muttered Hazelton. "The star position -for a fellow with a quitter's record!"
Behind the door in the privacy of his own room Phin Drayne shook his fist at the surrounding air. "I have one mission in life, now, anyway!" raged the boy. "I've got some cruel scores to pay. You, Dick Prescott, shall come in for a large share of the payment! No matter how long I have to wait and plan, or what I have to risk, you shan't get away from me!" Dick Meets the Boy-with-a-Kick
The hectoring has even gone so far that I have had to fight, more than once. But never sulked in dressing quarters and refused to go on the field." "No!" taunted Drayne. "And a good reason why. You craved to get out, always, and make grand stand plays!" "I suppose I'm as fond of applause from the grand stand as any other natural fellow," laughed Dick good-humoredly.
"Here's a note for you, on High School stationery," said Mrs. Drayne, putting an envelope in her son's hand. "It came some time ago." Something warned the fellow not to open the envelope there. He took it to his room, where he read the letter. It was from Dr. Thornton, and said only: "You are directed to appear before the Board of Education at its stated weekly meeting to-night.
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