nd them that this was at the very beginning of
the season, and since then two of their best men had left Troop Six for
boarding-school. But from a raw tenderfoot and inconsidered member of the
scrub any such comment would savor of cheekiness, so he kept silent.

On Monday the practice started out in such a casual, perfunctory manner
that Sherman suddenly stopped the play and lashed out, sparing nobody.
He was white-hot, and not hesitating to mention names, he told them just
what he thought of their smug complaisance, their careless, unfounded
confidence.

"You fellows seem to think all you have to do is to show up on the field
Saturday and the other crowd are going to take to cover!" he snapped.
"You walk through the plays without an idea of team-work, or mutual
support, or anything. That isn't football; it's just plain foolishness!
Why, the lines are as full of holes as a colander--and you don't even
know it! I tell you, unless we get together and stop those gaps and work
for the team _right_, that game Saturday will be a joke."

He hesitated an instant, striving for self-control. When he went on, his
tone was slightly moderated. "Come ahead, now, fellows; let's get into it
and do the thing the way it should be done. We can if we only will."

Unfortunately, the appeal failed more or less because of its very
force. Sherman's one fault as a captain was a certain leniency of
disposition. He was a bit easy-going, and preferred to handle the
fellows by persuasion rather than force. The latter did not realize
that it wasn't the happenings of that day alone which had so roused his
wrath, that these were only the culmination of all their shortcomings
for weeks past, that they had been accumulating until the pressure
became so great that an explosion had to come. A few of the players
understood, but the very ones who needed his advice the most set down
the outburst to whim or temper or indigestion. Either they airily ignored
it, or else grew sullen and grouchy. In either case they failed to
make a personal application of his words, and the situation remained
practically unchanged.

CHAPTER VI

THE QUARREL

"Great cats and little kittens!" exclaimed Court Parker, stopping
suddenly beside the flagpole on the green. "I certainly am a chump."

"Just as you say," grinned the tenderfoot. "I'd hate to contradict you.
How'd you happen to find it out all by yourself, though?"

They were on their way to the scout meetin