CHAPTER XVI
A DECLARATION OF WAR
Dick was lucky enough to find Roy Taylor at home, huddled close to thefireplace, and evidently busy with his studies. His welcome to-nightwas less suave than on the occasion of Dick’s previous visit. Hisgreeting was almost impolite, and Dick, who on his way from the yardhad resolved to keep his temper no matter what happened, already felthis anger rising.
A declaration of war.]
“I came to see you about crew work, Taylor,” he began. “In the firstplace we need you in the boat; in the second place we’ve got to haveyou.”
“My dear chap----” began Taylor in bored tones.
“No, wait a minute,” interrupted Dick. “Let me have my say. You’ve leftus in a hole. It would have been better if you hadn’t started trainingat all; better than letting me think you were going to row and thenbacking down in this way; as I say, it leaves us in a hole. Besidesthat, it’s not--not patriotic. You know what a hard time we’ve gotahead of us; you know that we’ve got to have good material if we are towin out from St. Eustace; and you know that when you cut rowing you’redoing about all in your power to get us beaten.”
Taylor flushed angrily.
“That’s tommyrot!”
“No, it isn’t; it’s the truth; you know it is, Taylor. And you knowvery well that if the fellows learned it you couldn’t stay here.”
“Well, on my word!” ejaculated Taylor; “you’ve got a lot of cheek tosit there and--and throw insults at me. You must be crazy!”
“I don’t think so; and I’m not insulting you, at least not intentionally.But I am telling what’s so. You’ve taken about the meanest course in thematter you could, and all the school would say so if they knew.”
“I suppose that’s a threat,” sneered Taylor.
“No, it isn’t. I have no intention----”
“But let me tell you that I don’t care a fig for all your nastyinsinuations, Hope; you can tell all the lies about me you want to. Idon’t believe that the fellows will call it dishonest for a chap togive up crew work because he finds that he can’t do justice to hisstudies; I don’t believe that they will call it mean. I tell you, Hope,you crew and football and baseball beggars have got a false notion ofschool life; you think that all a chap comes here for is to row inyour dirty old boat, or mess round with a football; that study is asecondary consideration. But it’s not that way, by ginger; no, sir;that’s where you are off!”
“That’s nonsense,” replied Dick calmly. “And you know well enoughthat I don’t think any such thing, nor do any of the fellows here. WhatI do think is that the average fellow can do his studies and take partin sports and be all the better for it. Look at the Honor Men of lastyear; look----”
“I don’t care a fig for the Honor Men of last year. What I say----”
“Taylor, when you tell me that you’ve chucked rowing because you can’tkeep up with your studies you’re saying what isn’t so,” cried Dick.
“Oh!” Taylor glared with an ugly expression in his eyes. “Oh, is thatso? Maybe you know all about my affairs--better than I do, perhaps?”
“I know that much,” answered Dick, striving to speak calmly. “I knowthat the reason you’ve left the crew is because you want to do all youcan to prevent me from turning out a winning eight. And I know you wantto do that because you have a grudge against me for beating you lastspring for the captaincy. I know that much, Taylor, and I want you toknow that I know it. We might as well understand each other right hereand now.”
Taylor’s snarl died away, and he grinned mockingly across at Dick.
“All right, my smart friend. Supposing that is so? Mind, I don’t saythat it is so; but supposing it is, what are you going to do about it?”
Dick hesitated for an instant and the grin on Taylor’s face widened ashe saw it.
“Perhaps you’re going to tell that yarn to the fellows?”
“No,” answered Dick; “I’ve thought of that, but I’m no tell-tale; and,besides, it wouldn’t do any good. It might make things unpleasant foryou----”
“If any one believed it,” sneered Taylor.
“But it wouldn’t better the crew any. And that’s all I care about,Taylor. I’m captain this year, and I’m going to turn out a good crew;I’m going to do it in spite of you or anything you can do!”
“Dear me, dear me, you ought to go into melodrama, Hope; you’d make ahit, really you would.” Then his manner changed suddenly, and he leanedforward toward the other, scowling darkly. “Look here, I don’t mindtelling the truth, Hope, to you; I’m not afraid of anything you can do.You’re right about the captaincy; you’re right about the grudge, ifyou care to call it that. Let me tell you: This is my last year here.I’m not going up to college like you; I mean a college where they haverowing; I’m going to Tech. Ever since I came here I’ve wanted to becaptain--for one year if no more; that’s been my--my ambition, if youlike; I’d set my heart on it. I went into rowing when I was a junior;made a place. The next year I went into the varsity boat. The next yearI hoped to be captain, but I missed it; Brown won it, hang him! Lastspring I thought I had it at last; there was no reason why I shouldn’thave had it; I’m a good oar, as good as there was in the last year’svarsity; I’m old enough; and I’m a senior. But no, you had to spoil it;you were popular with the crew, more popular than I was; and you hadBeck with you. If it hadn’t been for Beck I’d have made it, I know; buthe wanted you to have it.”
“Beck had no part in the election,” said Dick.
“He didn’t attend it and he had no vote, but don’t you suppose thefellows knew what he wanted? Of course they did; they were willing toplease Beck; and so they chose you captain. And that’s why I’ve no lovefor you. I’ve worked all the fall and all the winter, so far, to keepthe fellows from joining the crews; and I’ve succeeded, too; and I’mgoing to keep on unless----” He paused and dropped his gaze from Dick’sface for an instant.
“I see,” said Dick, with traces of wonderment in his voice. “Butwhat--what does it all lead to? You may bring defeat to Hillton, buthow will that better things? You wanted the captaincy; I can understandthat; I--I think I’m sorry you were disappointed----”
“Cut it out!” growled Taylor.
“But it’s too late now, isn’t it? Haven’t you made trouble enough? Asfar as I’m concerned personally I don’t care a row of buttons whetheryou have it in for me or not, but what’s the use in taking your spiteout on the whole school?”
“Maybe it isn’t too late,” answered Taylor, smiling oddly. “You see,I know pretty well what sort of a chap you are; you’re one of thoseconscientious dubs; you’d do all kinds of stunts and be tickled todeath if you thought you were helping the school. And you’re honestall through; if you lied to any one--even yourself--you’d go offinto a corner somewhere and throw a fit! I’ve taken all that intoconsideration.”
“Drop that,” said Dick stiffly, “and say what you mean.”
“All right. Look here; do you want Hillton to win the race? Very well;and do you think she can do it with the material she’s got now?”
“Yes, I do.”
“Oh, no you don’t; and if you do you’re mightily mistaken. I said awhile ago that you’d find a man for my place at seven, but you won’t;there isn’t one to be found; there isn’t a fellow that’s heavy enoughfor it. I know; I’ve watched what’s going on, and I know who you’vegot. And you’ll lose other men before long; I’ve fixed that. Now,listen; there’s just one way you can turn out a crew that will run awayfrom St. Eustace: that’s by getting me back into the boat, keeping allthe experienced fellows you’ve got, and getting one or two good menthat will only go in for crew work when I ask them to.”
Taylor paused and smiled triumphantly. Dick clenched his hands,fighting down an almost overpowering impulse to leap across the widthof the hearth, and--yes, as Trevor had suggested--punch Taylor’s head!
“That makes you mad, eh?” grinned his host.
“What are you dri
ving at?” cried Dick angrily. “If you’ve got anythingto say, say it and get done.”
“Well, I’ve got an offer to make,” replied Taylor softly. “I’ll go backto work and bring three, possibly four, good fellows with me, and doall I can for the success of the crew, if----”
“If what?”
“If you’ll resign from the captaincy.”
Dick stared at the other for a moment in speechless amaze. For thefirst time a full understanding of Taylor’s conspiracy came to him; buteven then he could scarcely believe that the other was in earnest.
“But--how would that help you?” he gasped.
“I should get the captaincy, because according to the bargain you wouldpromise to do all you could to help me get it. Well, what do you say?”
Dick jumped up and stared angrily at the other’s smiling, imperturbableface.
“I say no! I say you’re a mean, contemptible scoundrel, Taylor. AndI’ve heard enough; you make me sick!” He buttoned his coat with fingersthat trembled despite him, and strode to the door. Taylor’s face wasflushed, and he arose and took a step after him. Then he stopped and,seemingly with an effort, laughed harshly.
“I thought you’d refuse at first,” he said. “There’s no hurry; think itover. You’ll consent in the end because”--he raised his voice, for Dickwas already in the hall--“because it’s the only way you can make sureof success for the crew.”
Dick strode down the stairs without replying, and plunged intothe darkness toward the academy, striding along as though shod inseven-league boots, in an unconscious effort to escape from the furythat possessed him. At the gate leading into the yard he pausedbreathlessly, looked about him, and laughed shortly.
“And I started out with the resolve to keep my temper!” he sighed.
As he reached the head of the stairs the sound of a voice, even-toned,monotonous, met his ears, and as he approached Number 16 he discoveredthat it issued from that study. He paused outside the door andlistened; Trevor was apparently translating aloud:
“‘The hippopotamus is esteemed sacred in the Papremis district, but inno other part of Egypt. I shall describe its nature and properties. Ithas four feet, which are cloven--like the devil’s--or like an ox’s;the nose is short and tip-tilted--like Trevor Nesbitt’s--and the teethare prominent--like Professor Sharp’s; it resembles a horse in itsmane----’”
“Excellent, Nesbitt, excellent,” said a deep voice, for all the worldlike Professor Garrison’s. “Hence, gentlemen, we have the saying‘Remember the Mane.’ Proceed, Nesbitt.”
“‘It resembles a horse in its mane, its tail, and its voice; it is ofthe size of a big ox, and has an epidermis--otherwise, and in vulgarparlance, a skin--so remarkably thick that when dry it becomes veryoffensive.’” The monotonous voice paused; apparently the rendering ofthe latter portion of the narrative was not quite satisfactory. But thesecond occupant of the study was evidently lenient, for the deep voicesaid:
“Proceed, Nesbitt; that is correct.”
“He’s reading Herodotus,” said Dick to himself. “But who in thunder isthat with him?”
“‘The Nile,’” continued Trevor, “‘also produces otters, which Egyptiansvenerate, as they do also the fish named lepidotus--so called onaccount of its spots, which resemble those of a leopard--and the eel;these are sacred to the Nile, as among birds is one named chenalopex.’What is that, professor?”
“The chenalopex,” responded the deep voice, “is a bird----”
But Dick’s curiosity got the better of him at this point, and he openedthe door and entered. At the study table was Trevor, Dick’s volumeof Herodotus open before him, and a Greek lexicon at his elbow. Dickstared about the room in surprise. Save for Trevor and himself it wasempty.
“What in thunder----” he began.
“Hope,” said Trevor, pointing a paper-knife at him in the manner ofProfessor Garrison, and speaking sternly in deep tones, “take yourseat, sir. The habit of tardiness appears to be growing upon you, sir.Pattern your conduct upon that of the excellently punctual Nesbitt.”
Dick seized Trevor’s head and rubbed his nose violently into Herodotus.“You silly chump, you! What do you think you’re doing?”
“Amusing myself, I fancy. What can a chap do when his roommate goesoff and leaves him this way?” He struck the paper-knife against thegreen shade of the drop-light. “Beg pardon, professor, I believe thebell rang.” Then, in the professor’s voice, “The bell, Nesbitt? Ah,the time passes very quickly when deep in the beautiful utterances ofHerodotus. We will begin to-morrow where we leave off this morning, atthe seventy-first paragraph.” Trevor slammed the book shut, jumped up,and grinned at Dick.
“You’d better be learning your own lessons than mine,” laughed thelatter. “And, now that Professor Garrison’s gone, I propose to go tobed.”
Long after the light was out Trevor sat up suddenly and asked:
“I say, Dick, did you thump Taylor?”
“No,” was the drowsy answer. Trevor snuggled back under the clothes,grumbling.
“What do you expect to amount to when you grow up,” he askeddisgustedly, “if you continue to neglect your opportunities in thisway?”
The next day Waters, rowing at five in the first squad, informed Dickthat, because of not having enough time for his studies, he had decidedto stop work with the crew.