very word as if it had been gospel. And that about Professor
Rhodes was the last straw.

Ken could stand the deception no longer. He marvelled at Reddy's
consummate lying and how he could ever stand that look on Worry's
face. Bounding down-stairs four steps at a jump, Ken burst like a
bomb upon the sad-faced group.

"Oh, Worry, it's all a joke!"

XVI

THE FIRST PLACE GAME

Rain prevented the second Herne game, which was to have been played
on the Herne grounds. It rained steadily all day Friday and Saturday,
to the disappointment of Wayne's varsity. The coach, however, admitted
that he was satisfied to see the second contest with Herne go by the
board.

"I don't like big games away from home," said Worry. "It's hard on new
teams. Besides, we beat Herne to death over here. Mebbe we couldn't do
it over there, though I ain't doubtin'. But it's Place we're after, and
if we'd had that game at Herne we couldn't have kept Place from gettin'
a line on us. So I'm glad it rained."

The two Place games fell during a busy week at Wayne. Wednesday was the
beginning of the commencement exercises and only a comparatively few
students could make the trip to Place. But the night before the team
left, the students, four thousand strong, went to the training-house
and filled a half-hour with college songs and cheers.

Next morning Dale and Stevens, heading a small band of Wayne athletes
and graduates, met the team at the railroad station and boarded the
train with them. Worry and Homans welcomed them, and soon every Wayne
player had two or more for company. Either by accident or design, Ken
could not tell which, Dale and Stevens singled him out for their especial
charge. The football captain filled one seat with his huge bulk and faced
Ken, and Dale sat with a hand on Ken's shoulder.

"Peg, we're backing you for all we're worth," said Stevens. "But this is
your first big game away from home. It's really the toughest game of the
season. Place is a hard nut to crack any time. And her players on their
own backyard are scrappers who can take a lot of beating and still win
out. Then there's another thing that's no small factor in their strength:
They are idolized by the students, and rooting at Place is a science. They
have a yell that beats anything you ever heard. It'll paralyze a fellow
at a critical stage. But that yell is peculiar in that it rises out of
circumstances leading to almost certain victory. That is, Place ha