hinking he would never hear of his property again.
Jack and Pepper were glad to see Bert Field again, and also to see their
old friend, Joseph Hogan. Emerald came back wearing a smile that was
sunniness itself.
"Sure, an' it does me heart good to be here once more, so it does," he
said, in his rich Irish brogue. "I traveled all over the ould sod this
summer, so I did. But Putnam Hall an' the States fer me every toime!"
"Is this your last term here, Emerald?" asked Dale.
"I think so--if I am lucky and get through. How about you?"
"I hope to graduate next June."
"And so do Jack and I," added Pepper. "But you can't always tell. I'll
be sorry to leave Putnam Hall."
"That's so; such good times as we have had here," added Jack.
As soon as the cadets were settled down at the Hall, and the excitement
over the runaway, the loss of Andy's things, and the fight between Jack
and Ritter, was at an end, the talk of the boys turned to football and
other Fall sports. As in the past, the cadets hoped to have a good
eleven and win some substantial victories.
"Wonder if we'll be allowed to play Pornell," said Jack.
"I don't know," answered Dale. "I rather think the captain is sore over
the reply he got from the head of that school, over the carryall affair,
and maybe he won't let us play them." And in this Dale was correct.
Pornell was cut out that season, but it played Putnam Hall the year
following.
Dale Blackmore was at the head of the football eleven, and, as before,
he organized a fine team. Jack, Andy, Hogan, and Bart Conners were in
their usual places.
"And I want you, too, Pepper," said Dale.
"Oh, I can go on the sub-bench," was the answer, for Pepper did not care
very much for football. "Give Fred Century and Bert Field a chance."
"I know what Pepper wants," said Andy. "He wants us to play, while he
sits in the grandstand, having a good time with the girls."
"Sure thing," answered The Imp, coolly. "Somebody has got to entertain
'em."
"They ought to be entertained by the game," came from Dale.
"Girls make me tired when they are at a football game," put in the cadet
named Brown. "I took one once, and she said she knew all about football.
After the game was half over she asked me how many runs and base hits
had been made, and what they had done with the bats!"
Reff Ritter felt extra sore when the football eleven went out for
practice. He wanted to play, but Captain Putnam would not allow it, an
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