, I never really have
got to know him. Still, I haven't got to know many of the fellows.
Too busy. You haven't paid much attention to me, either; but I like
you."

Rollins, whose father was a multimillionaire with family roots going
deep among the rocks of Manhattan Island, laughed.

"Bully for you! You won't mind my saying so, Jim, but I had it in my
mind to ask you to be a bit inconsequential--especially when Doane
was around--about your taking his place. But I guess it isn't
necessary."

"No,"--Deacon's voice was short--"it isn't."

"Junior Doane, of course, will be hard hit. He'll be game. He'll try
to win back his seat. And he may; I warn you."

"If he can win it back, I want him to."

"Good enough!" The captain started to walk away, then turned back
with sudden interest. "By the way, Jim, I was looking through the
college catalogue this morning. You and Doane both come from
Philadelphia, don't you?"

"Yes."

"I asked Doane if he knew you there. Apparently not."

"No, he didn't." Deacon paused as though deliberating. Suddenly he
spoke. "I knew of him, though. You see, my father works in the bank
of which Mr. Doane is president."

"Oh!" Rollins blinked. "I see."

Deacon stepped forward, placing his hand upon the captain's arm.

"I don't know why I told you that. It isn't important at all. Don't
say anything to Doane, will you? Not that I care. It--it just isn't
important."

"No. I get you, Jim. It isn't important." He flung an arm over the
young man's shoulder. "Let's go back to dinner. That rotten time-row
has given me an appetite."

There was that quiet in the Baliol dining room that evening which
one might expect to find after an unsatisfactory time-trial. Nations
might be falling, cities burning, important men dying; to these boys
such events would be as nothing in the face of the fact that the
crew of a traditional rival was to be met within the week--and that
they were not proving themselves equipped for the meeting.

"If any of you fellows wish to motor down to the Groton Hotel on the
Point for an hour or two, you may go," said the coach, pushing back
his chair. He had begun to fear that his charges might be coming to
too fine a point of condition and had decided that the relaxation of
a bit of dancing might do no harm.

"Yeaa!" In an instant that subdued dining apartment was tumultuous
with vocal outcry, drawing to the doorway a crowd of curious freshmen
who were finishing dinner in th