e reading lamp for a moment. Then, "I'm sorry I said
anything, Miller," he remarked. "I guess it wasn't quite a fair thing to
do. Only I thought--maybe----"

"You thought," said Andy cheerfully, "that perhaps I'd give you a lift.
Didn't you, Edwards?"

"I suppose so."

"In other words, you wanted me to advance you over the next man on the
strength of our acquaintance. Sounds as though you had rather a punk
impression of me, Edwards."

"I haven't! I--I suppose, though, I didn't stop to figure it out much.
It seemed to me that Marvin wasn't giving me a fair show, and here it is
the last of September already, and I'm just where I started----"

"That's your fault, not Marvin's," responded Andy with a smile. He
walked over and laid a hand on the younger boy's shoulder. "Brace up,
Edwards," he said kindly. "Don't waste your time looking for favours.
Don't want them. Buckle down and grit your teeth and just show Marvin
and the rest of us that you're so good he can't keep you on the third!
That's your line, old man. And now, just as a bit of encouragement, I'll
tell you that Robey and I have noticed your work in the field and we've
liked it. You carry yourself like a veteran and you follow the ball
well, and we both expect big things from you some day. Perhaps you won't
make good this year, but there's next year and the year after. Put your
nose back on the grindstone, Edwards, grin hard and tell Marvin to turn
faster!"

"All right," laughed Steve. "Thanks. I guess you're right. And--and I'm
not sorry now I came."

"Good! Now sit down again and let's have a chin. How do you like the
school? Have you met many of the fellows yet?"

"You're making the same mistake, Edwards," said Marvin the next Monday
afternoon. He spoke a trifle wearily. "Get your body in _front_ of the
runner and not at one side. Bind his legs together with your arms, then
block him with your body and lift him back. If you do that he's _got_
to stop, and when he falls he will fall towards his own goal and not
yours. Try it over now."

And when Steve had tried it over, Marvin glanced at him sharply. It
seemed to him that for almost the first time the candidate had really
tried! He hadn't made a clean tackle, but he had profited by the
instruction that had been heaped upon him for two weeks, and little
Marvin mentally patted himself on the back and was very pleased with
himself, for Marvin, although he would probably never play through a big
game, and