CHAPTER IV
THE CHOOSING OF THE TEAMS
"Polly, there's no use talking, you must learn to play basket-ball."
Lois had delivered this command a couple of days after the paper chaseand Polly had therefore spent hours in the gym during the month whichelapsed between then and the opening of this chapter.
It was now the first of November. There had already been one or tworeally cold days, and every one had settled down to the routine ofschool life. The strangeness had worn off for the new girls, so thatthey had forgotten they were new.
The chief sport at Seddon Hall was basket-ball. On the first of Novemberevery year six girls, from the Junior and Senior classes, were chosenfor the big team.
Three days later six substitutes were elected. These twelve girls werethe pick of the school, and twice a year they played against an outsideteam.
Although any girl from any of the four upper classes might be chosen as"subs," the team had hitherto been composed of Juniors and Seniors, withan occasional Sophomore. The captain of the big team was elected earlyin the term and was always from the Senior class.
Owing to the rather stiff exams of the year before, only eight of thefourteen Juniors had made the Senior class. Those left had not allreturned and, counting specials, the Juniors had only eleven girls thisyear. Fully a third of them were determined to work and had no time forathletics.
There were plenty of Sophomores, fifteen in all, but they were a queerlot. There is always a miscellaneous class and this year it was the"sofs," who had been dubbed "the impossibles."
It had been rumored that on account of the scarcity of girls it was justpossible that the team might have to come down to the Freshman class forsubstitutes, and great was the excitement.
Betty, Polly, and Lois were discussing this unheard-of possibility ontheir return from practice.
"Of course it is just possible, but--" began Betty.
"No, it's too good to be true," sighed Lois. "Don't let's think aboutit. But I say those 'sofs' are terrible. Well, I'm going to dress; solong!" And she disappeared into her room.
"Betty, has a Freshman ever been on the sub team before?" Pollyinquired.
"Never in my time," answered Betty. "But, then, never, no, never wasthere such a set of impossibles as the 'sofs,' nor was there ever such abully center to be found in the Freshman class." This with a meaningglance at Polly, who had managed to get the ball after the toss-up aremarkable number of times that day.
"Bet, you're crazy; why, I'm only a new girl. Lois would be first choiceand you second."
"You may be a new girl, but don't forget the paper chase," said Betty."But you're right about Lo; she is wonderful. She's all over the placeat once and she keeps her head. But as for me--no, I haven't a chance."
"Why, Betty, you're splendid at making baskets."
"What good does that do me when I can't keep inside those darn lines?No, it's Lo or you; the rest of us haven't a chance."
"Chance for what?" inquired Lois, poking her head out of her room. "Areyou two still gabbing? You'll both be late for study hour." And givingeach girl a violent push, she brought an end to the conversation.
The choosing of the big team on Tuesday was just about what every onehad expected. There were four Seniors and two Juniors; most of them hadbeen substitutes the year before. Louise Preston had already beenelected captain.
The list of names had been posted Wednesday morning and the girls hadcome in for their share of congratulations, but every one felt that thereal excitement would come on Friday.
Wednesday, as soon as Miss Hale dismissed them (the Freshmen had Latinthe last period, and the Spartan had the most aggravating way of nothearing the bell), Lois, Polly and Betty dashed for the gym.
As they entered, Miss Stuart, the gym teacher, called to them:
"Seven and you three girls make ten. We need two more for a game. Someone go and get Angela and Connie; tell them I think they need someexercise."
Miss Stuart was a large, handsome woman, with a firm but good-naturedface. She was renowned for her fairness, and no one had ever evencriticized one of her decisions. She had no favorites, and the girls allliked her tremendously.
In a few minutes Betty, who had gone off to search for Angela andConnie, came back, dragging them each by an arm.
"Here they are," she called. "What'll I do with them?"
"Better superintend their getting into their gym suits," answered MissStuart, "and make them hurry."
Ten minutes later she blew the whistle and tossed up the ball.
It was a good game. Polly was playing jumping center against Mary Reed,a big heavy girl, slow in her movements, but hard to budge. Connie wasplaying second center with Polly, and as she was no earthly help, Pollyhad to bounce the ball to the line and throw it to Betty, who wasplaying forward. Poor Betty was breaking her record for fouls.
Lois, guarding at the other end, was playing like a little fury. She hadto work, for Harriet Ames was so long and lanky that she managed to pickthe ball out of the air above her head, unless frantic efforts were usedto stop her.
Every one was so busy with the game that the arrival of Louise Prestonand two or three members of the big team passed unnoticed. They hadslipped in after the game had commenced and were watching each play verycarefully.
After the game the three girls met, as usual, in Roman Alley, as thewater was running for their cold tubs.
"Hum, I don't call that much of a score--fourteen to four." And Pollysank down on the steps in disgust.
"That's because you were not trying to guard a giraffe with four arms,"answered Lois, dropping down beside her.
Betty folded her arms in solemn dignity and stood looking at the twogirls on the steps.
"Is it possible, my children," she began, in a voice ridiculously likethe school chaplain's, "I repeat, is it possible that you have failed tograsp the full significance of this day's work? Where were your eyes,and have you lost the sense necessary for putting two and two together?"
Polly and Lois looked at her with puzzled expressions.
"Elucidate, Elizabeth, if you please," called a voice from the top ofthe stairs, accompanied by the click-click of a pair of Chineseslippers. Startled, the girls looked up, half expecting to see Miss Haledescending upon them, but beheld, instead, Angela's grinning face andcurly hair above a pale blue woolly wrapper.
"Hey, make room there, you two!" she continued in her own voice, and asshe slipped in between Lois and Polly, she added:
"I repeat, elucidate, Elizabeth."
"Lordy," Betty murmured, "what a shock you gave me! The Spartan's had itin for me and I've been trying to dodge her all day. But to continue,you all seem to have lost your share of intelligence. Did you or did younot see Louise Preston and some of the big team girls watching the game?They were writing giddy little lists and having all kinds of solemnpowwows with Miss Stuart. Well, the reason is--"
"Stop!" exclaimed Polly. "Betty, you're positively leaping atconclusions. You said yourself no Freshman had ever been chosen."
"And besides," interrupted Lois, "you're making my heart beat twice asfast as it ought to."
"Well, of course," Angela remarked, getting up and stretching, "there'sno doubt in my mind that I will be chosen for the sub team. As for therest of you, you have a chance."
"You!" howled Betty. "A spoofy sub you'd make. You'd be helping Caesarbuild his old bridges every time the ball came your way."
Lois looked intently ahead of her.
"Now," she said, "I understand why Bet made all those fouls. Pure flunk,we'd have all done the same thing if we'd known we were being watched.And you never told us--Bet, you're a darling."
"I didn't mean that. I was done for, of course, and I knew it. But passon the merry news? Certainly not." And Betty, having delivered her petphrase, made for her bath and slammed the door.
Thursday and Friday mornings passed somehow and the fatal hour arrived.Because of no school on Saturday, the Friday evening study hour
wasomitted. The time was usually taken up by a lecture or a musical.
There was nothing on for tonight, however, and after dinner the girlscollected in the Assembly Hall. Miss Stuart, Louise Preston, and theteam were on the platform, and in a few minutes the names of the chosensubstitutes were to be read.
Betty, Lois, Polly, Angela, and Connie wandered off together to thefarthest corner of the room and tried to look indifferent. Bettyshivered.
"Shades of the Tower of London," she whispered. "I couldn't feel anycreepier if it were the Black List that was going to be read."
"It is uncanny," agreed Connie. "I never miss less than four balls outof every five and yet I feel strangely excited."
Lois and Polly exchanged understanding glances, and then every one beganto say hush, and Miss Stuart and Louise stood up on the platform. Wheneverything was quiet, Miss Stuart began:
"Good evening, girls. The captain has asked me to read this list forher. It's the names of the substitutes. If you will answer by coming upto the platform, it will save time and keep the cheering for the end.
"'First, for guard, Mary Rhine, Junior. Second, for guard, Edith Fisk, Sophomore. Third, for home, Helen Nash, Sophomore. Fourth, for home, Lois Farwell, Freshman.'"
(And in spite of the gasp of surprise, Miss Stuart continued as if shehad said nothing surprising.)
"'Fifth, for center, Flora Illington, Sophomore. Sixth, for jumping center, Marianna Pendleton, Freshman.'
"Congratulations, girls, and may--" Miss Stuart's voice was completelydrowned in the cheer that went up.
Some one dragged Connie to the piano, and for the rest of the eveningthey sang school and basket-ball songs and cheered all the six subs inturn.
Of course Polly and Lois were wildly happy, and the entire Freshmanclass shared in their joy. They boasted of having broken a record andreminded everybody of what might be expected of them when they werelofty Seniors.
It was only when Polly and Lois were alone in their rooms after the"lights out" bell, that they remembered Betty.
Fifteen minutes later, when everything was very quiet along thecorridor, two ghost-like figures stole out of two doors and met at athird across the way, and tapped gently.
Betty sat up in bed.
"Who is it?" she whispered.
"It's Polly," answered one ghost.
"It's Lois," answered the other.
A minute later, when they were both curled up on the bed, Lois foundBetty's hand and squeezed it.
"Betty, dear, I'm so sorry," she said.
"So am I," agreed Polly. "It's the only disappointment in this gloriousday."
"You know you're cut up about it, dear; no use pretending," pursuedLois.
"We saw you leave long before the bell. Oh, Bet--" but Polly was cutshort.
"Saw me leave? I should think you might have; I didn't leave; I fled.But not because--well not because of what you think, I saw the Spartancoming."
"Then you were not in the 'blues' all evening?" asked Lois doubtingly.
"Certainly not," Betty assured her. "I was studying my Latin, and now dolet me go to sleep."
It sounded very well, but as Polly and Lois each gave her a good-nightkiss, they noticed a suspicious dampness about her pillow.
They stole safely back to their rooms, conscious of having broken a rulefor a good cause and, who knows, perhaps it was because the cause wasgood that they were not caught.