ered Drayne, looking at Hazelton and Holmes with undisguised
hostility.

"Cut it, Drayne. And don't you two talk back, either," warned
Wadleigh sternly.

"Oh, acknowledge the corn, Drayne," broke in Hudson, with what
he meant for good humor. "Just say you're no good and let it
go at that."

There was a dead silence, for an instant, broken by one unidentified
fellow, muttering in a voice that sounded like a roar in the silence:

"Drayne? Humph!"

"There you go! That's what all of you are saying to yourselves!"
cried Drayne angrily. "For some reason you idiots seem to think
I'm in no shape today. Hang it, I'm sorry I agreed to play.
For two cents I wouldn't play."

"Drayne can be bought off cheaply, can't he?" remarked one of
the fellows.

The last speaker did not intend that his voice should reach Drayne,
but it did.

"Say, you fellows all have a grouch on, just because I'm playing
today!" quivered the victim of the remarks. "Oh, well, never
mind I'll cure your grouch, then!"

Seating himself on a locker box, Drayne began to unfasten the
lacings of his shoes.

"Here, man! What are you doing?" demanded Captain Wadleigh, bounding
forward angrily.

"Curing the grouch of this bunch," retorted Drayne sulkily.

"Man alive, there's no time to fool with your shoes now!" warned
the team captain.

"I'm not going to need this pair," Drayne rejoined. "Street shoes
will do for me today."

"Not on the gridiron!"

"I'm not going on the field. I've heard enough knocking," grumbled
Drayne.

A dozen of the fellows crowded about, consternation written in
their faces.

Prescott was known not to be fit to play. Only the day before
Dr. Bentley had refused to pass him for the game. Hence Drayne,
even if a trifle out of condition, was still the best available
man for left end.

"Quit your fooling, Drayne!" cried two or three at once.

"Quit your talking," retorted Drayne, kicking off his other field
shoe. "I've done all my talking."

Truth to tell, Drayne still intended to play, but he wanted to
teach these fellows a lesson. He intended to make them beg, from
Wadleigh down, before he would go on to the finish of his togging.
Drayne knew when he had the advantage of them.

"Don't be a fool, Drayne," broke in Hudson hotly.

"Or a traitor to your school," added another.

"Be a man!"

In Drayne's present frame of mind all these appeals served to
fan his inward fury.

"Shut up, all of you!" he sna