ded Bert.

"And if I have any skin left on my nose I'm lucky," asserted Jack,
trying to look cross-eyed at his nasal member.

"It's just a little sunburned," said Tom, with a laugh. "I guess we'll
have a team after a bit."

"Sure!" chorused his chums.

Practice went on for several days after this, and there were a number
of changes of position made, though Sam was still at quarterback, and
Tom held his same place.

"Now, fellows, we're going to have a little different form of exercise
to-morrow," announced the coach, at the conclusion of a short game one
afternoon. "I want you all to take part in a cross-country run. It
will improve your wind, and work some of the fat off you fellows that
can stand losing it. It will be good for your legs, too.

"We'll start from the gym after last lectures, hit the turnpike for
Aldenhurst, cross the river at Weldon, circle up the hill through
Marsden, and come back along the river road. You can go in bunches, or
singly as you choose, but you must all make those towns, and there'll
be checkers at each one to see that you don't skip. It's only fifteen
miles, and you ought to do it in four hours without turning a hair.
There'll be a five-hour time limit, and those who don't make all the
checking points, and report back by eight o'clock will be scratched off
the active football list. That's all."

A silence followed the announcement of the coach, and then came several
murmurs of disapproval.

"Fifteen miles!" came from Sam Heller. "That's a stiff run all right."

"I should say yes," agreed Nick Johnson.

"Can't we shorten it in some way?" asked Sam of his crony in a whisper,
but not so low that Tom did not overhear him.

"Dry up!" commanded Nick. "I'll see. Maybe we can cut off a few
miles. Fifteen is too much!"

"He sure is working us," said Jack to Tom.

"And a time limit," added Bert, with a note of grievance in his voice.

"Oh pshaw!" exclaimed, Tom. "Anyone would think you fellows had never
tramped before. Why in camp you thought nothing of doing twenty miles
in a day."

"But we could take our time," asserted Bert.

"Nonsense! We always did better than four miles an hour and never
minded it. Come on, be sports! We'll go together, won't we?"

"Sure," said Bert. "Well, if it has to be, it has to--that's all.
Hang it! I wonder if I want to play football anyhow?"

"Of course you do," said Tom. "We'll have some fun on the run. And
think of the sup