e
forsook him and he hit too short; the ball stopped a foot from the hole.
The game was decided. Professor Beck again announced the score:

"The two more to Whipple. Thirty-two to thirty-four."

Again Whipple addressed his ball, and this time, but too late to win the
victory, the tiny sphere dropped neatly into the hole, and the throng
broke silence. And as West and Whipple, victor and vanquished, shook
hands over the Home Hole, Professor Beck announced:

"Thirty-two to thirty-five. West wins the Cup!"

CHAPTER IX.

AN EVENING CALL.

The last week of October brought chilling winds and flying clouds. Life
at Hillton Academy had gone on serenely since West's victory on the
links. The little pewter tankard reposed proudly upon his mantel beside
a bottle of chow-chow, and bore his name as the third winner of the
trophy. But West had laid aside his clubs, save for an occasional hour
at noon, and, abiding by his promise to Joel, he had taken up his books
again with much resolution, if little ardor. Hillton had met and
defeated two more football teams, and the first eleven was growing
gradually stronger. Remsen was seen to smile now quite frequently during
practice, and there was a general air of prosperity about the gridiron.

The first had gone to its training table at "Mother" Burke's, in the
village, and the second ate its meals in the center of the school dining
hall with an illy concealed sense of self-importance. And the grinds
sneered at its appetites, and the obscure juniors admired reverently
from afar. Joel had attended both recitations and practice with
exemplary and impartial regularity, and as a result his class standing
was growing better and better on one hand, and on the other his muscles
were becoming stronger, his flesh firmer, and his brain clearer.

The friendship between him and Outfield West had ripened steadily, until
now they were scarcely separable. And that they might be more together
West had lately made a proposition.

"That fellow Sproule is a regular cad, Joel, and I tell you what we'll
do. After Christmas you move over to Hampton and room with me. You have
to make an application before recess, you know. What do you say?"

"I should like to first rate, but I can't pay the rent there," Joel had
objected.

"Then pay the same as you're paying for your den in Masters," replied
West. "You see, Joel, I have to pay the rent for Number 2 Hampton
anyhow, and it won't make any differen