er that afternoon, but more often of Sanford and Nu
Delta. He was so deeply grateful to his father for talking to him
frankly and telling him everything about college. He was darned lucky to
have a father who was a college grad and could put him wise. It was
pretty tough on the fellows whose fathers had never been to college.
Poor fellows, they didn't know the ropes the way he did....

He finally fell off to sleep, picturing himself in the doorway of the Nu
Delta house welcoming his father to a reunion.

That talk was returning to Hugh repeatedly. He wondered if Sanford had
changed since his father's day or if his father had just forgotten what
college was like. Everything seemed so different from what he had been
told to expect. Perhaps he was just soft and some of the fellows weren't
as crude as he thought they were.

CHAPTER IX

Hugh was by no means continuously depressed; as a matter of fact, most
of the time he was agog with delight, especially over the rallies that
were occurring with increasing frequency as the football season
progressed. Sometimes the rallies were carefully prepared ceremonies
held in the gymnasium; sometimes they were entirely spontaneous.

A group of men would rush out of a dormitory or fraternity house
yelling, "Peerade, peerade!" Instantly every one within hearing would
drop his books--or his cards--and rush to the yelling group, which would
line up in fours and begin circling the campus, the line ever getting
longer as more men came running out of the dormitories and fraternity
houses. On, on they would go, arm in arm, dancing, singing Sanford
songs, past every dormitory on the campus, past every fraternity
house--pausing occasionally to give a cheer, always, however, keeping
one goal in mind, the fraternity house where the team lived during the
football season. Then when the cheer-leaders and the team were heading
the procession, the mob would make for the football field, with the cry
of "Wood, freshmen, wood!" ringing down the line.

Hugh was always one of the first freshmen to break from the line in his
eagerness to get wood. In an incredibly short time he and his classmates
had found a large quantity of old lumber, empty boxes, rotten planks,
and not very rotten gates. When a light was applied to the clumsy pile
of wood, the flames leaped up quickly--some one always seemed to have a
supply of kerosene ready--and revealed the excited upper-classmen
sitting on the bleachers.