at's neither here nor there. It isn't what I
came for. I didn't want to talk about myself but about you."

Will looked up eagerly but did not speak, though his question was to be
seen in the expression of his face.

"My advice to you is to go to work and try for the track team in the
spring."

"Do you think I can make it?" said Will breathlessly.

"I don't say that," laughed Wagner. "That's something to be decided
later. All I said was that you'd better 'try' for it. You've nothing to
lose if you fail and something to win if you succeed."

"But if I should try and then not make it."

"Yes, that's a possibility, of course. No man can ever tell about that.
But I shouldn't let it break my heart if I didn't make the team the
first year. Very few do that. All I say is go ahead and try. No man can
ever tell what's in him till he tests himself, can he?"

"No, I suppose not."

"Now don't have any nonsense about it, Phelps, and don't misunderstand
me. I believe in every man doing his best and then just resting there
and not crying over what he can't ever have. If a man does his best and
then doesn't have the whole world bowing and scraping before him because
he isn't very high up, that isn't any reason why he should kick. Take
what you've got, use it, test it, and then if you find you're not a star
but only a candle, why, just shine as a candle and don't go sputtering
around because you can't twinkle like a star. At least that's the way I
look at it."

"Perhaps a fellow's father and mother don't look at it that way."

"Are you having trouble with Splinter?" demanded the senior sharply.

"A little. Yes, a good deal. I detest the fellow!" said Will bitterly.

"No wonder you lost the hundred," responded Wagner with a smile. "Do you
know, Phelps, I had the same experience you're having with him when I
was a freshman."

"What did you do?"

"Do? There's only one thing to do and that is to do his work. But I
advise you to go down to his house and see him and talk it over."

"He won't want to see me."

"Yes, he will. He's not half so bad as you think. Try it; I did."

"He'll think I'm trying to boot-lick."

"No, he won't. You can run if you have to, can't you?" demanded Wagner.
"You've got a good stride, and, like trying for the track team, you've
nothing to lose and everything to gain."

CHAPTER XIV

THE ADVICE FOLLOWED

For a time after the departure of Wagner, Will Phelps sat thinking over
the stirr