the idea in their heads
that all we've got to do is mark time from now until the big game. We've
got to be at least twice as good then as we were yesterday. Besides, I
don't call it the middle of the season when we've got only three games
to play before Claflin. The Benton game was the mid-season game. We're
on the last lap now. And," he added grimly, "we've got some work
ahead of us!"

"For my part," observed Amy, who had been rather bored by the
discussion, "I think the whole bunch of you played pretty rottenly."

"You do, eh?" demanded Edwards. "Suppose you tell us all about it, Amy.
Give us of your wisdom, O enlightened one."

"There you go," groaned Tom Hall, "talking the way he does!"

"Oh, I don't know that I care to specify which of you was the worst,"
replied Amy carelessly. "Possibly it was you, Steve. You had a dandy
chance once to upset the referee and you deliberately side-stepped him.
If you're going to play the game, boy, _play_ it! Don't dodge any of
your duties or responsibilities."

"Oh, you be blowed," laughed Edwards. "It's the sorrow of my life, Amy,
that you didn't keep on with football."

"I dare say if I had I'd have shown you fellows a few things about it,"
replied Amy modestly. "Theoretically, I'm something of an authority on
football. When you come right down to brass tacks, it's the fellow on
the side line who sees most of the game. I'm considering coaching when I
leave school. Take my young friend Clint here. Clint owes a whole lot to
my advice and guidance. He wouldn't be where he is today if it hadn't
been for me, would you, Clint?"

"I'm on the bench just now," retorted Clint drily.

"That's where you'll stay if you listen to his ravings," said Steve
Edwards, amidst general laughter.

"By the way, how is that ankle of yours, Thayer?" inquired Innes.

"Pretty nearly all right, thanks. It's my knee, though."

"Oh, is it? Say, Churchill got a peach of a black eye yesterday. Seen
it!"

"Rather!" replied Freer. "He looked positively disreputable, poor chap."

"The fun of it is," chuckled Hall, "that he had to address the Christian
Association this afternoon. Were you there, Jack?"

"Yes. It wasn't so bad. He had a patch over it. Still, it was sort of
funny to hear him talking about clean playing!"

Clint was given a clear bill of health the next day and went back to
practice with a silk bandage around his knee. He was given light work
and sat on the bench again while the sec