Evening star., 1935-11-13

Ava AS'
Say, Napoleon" he snarled, who
ever taught you to catch punts on the
fly? That's what I'd like to know"
Arnold looked at him in amazement.
He had caught the ball on the run
that way for years. and always believed
it was highly proper and sound foot
ball.
Before he could say word, Nc
Brair continued Here at Colburn'
our quarterbacks are instructed to
get under the ball while it's still high
in the air. or else let it bounce. No
crazy chances like you just took. No
wild and woody high school stuff. This
is college foot ball now, da va get me?
Well, why don't va say somethin'?
Are va dumb?"
Arnold was stunned. He had al
ways thought of the varsity coach as
man to look up to and admire.
Freshman foot ball was but a neces-
sary apprenticeship to the varsity
team, which ne then had high hopes
of attaining later on. He knew he
could play foot ball. He knew he could
then pilot a team. But McBrair's
cruel, cutting words and despicable at
titude, however. turned him against
the whole thing Right then and
there he had decided that he would
never subject himself to the tyranny
OF such a coach, regardless OF any
thing and everything.
With this picture came all the old
scorn for this man who had robbed
him of all zest for the sport he once
loved. "McBrair," he burst out. no
longer able to restrain himself, IF I
were to say what thought of you, I'd
be arrested You're not a coach.
you're a driver. You're not a man,
you're bully"
McBrair swung round as though
to strike Arnold, who sat boldly still
at the wheel. He caught himself,
however. and without saying another
word, walked back to the players, who,
amazed at Arnold's audacity. were
looking at him in wonder and resent
ment.
After bit of nervous coughing, Nc
Brair regained his self-control and
started to below his instructions
again. Arnold started to back his car
onto the driveway leading out of the
field, but shut off the engine to watch
the practice instead. The students,
who had walked around the car to
listen to the argument between the
coach and Arnold walked back to the
sidelines, chatting, in groups. Some
of them glanced over their shoulders
at Arnold as they talked.
Uneasy over the situation, and con-
SciouS of the remarks that he knew
were being made about him, he was
torn between a desire to drive away
and an impulse to remain just to show
the coach and the students he didn't
care what they said or thought
about him. After watching the prac-
tice for about 10 minutes he drove
of to his room.
Arnold sat in his easy chair, reached
for text book and started to read
his sociology assignment for the fol-
lowing day. 1t was useless to try to
read, though McBrair's burly face
seemed to find it's way to every page,
and the incident of the horn projected
itself on the screen of his mind re-
peatedly.
Hello, Chuck" said Sam Barkley,
his roommate, as he threw open the
door. scaled a book to a divan on the
other side Of the room. and started to
undress. What's all this stun I hear
about you getting into a mess again?'
What mess?"
with Dan McBrair. Why, it's all
over the campus. At least Id Judge
it Is. I heard it in three different
places and in three different ver-
Sions."
L might have known it," Chuck
murmured. "A forest fire has MOTH
ing on campus rumors for spread
ing fast and distorting facts. Well,
go on with the sad news, Sam, what
did you hear?"
The first report I heard was down
at the barber shop just after 1 came
out of my 'eccy' class. Garrulous God
frey was giving Joe Nelson a shave.
and he certainly was right in form.
He didn't know I roomed with YOU.
so he talked on blithely as ever. He
said that fool Arnold had the nerve
to threaten to take a sock out of Coach
McBrair when they had a run-in
down at the practice field this after
noon. Naturally, I was curious to
get the 'low-doWn,' so pumped him
for more information. He went on
to say that he heard that you drove
up to the field in your roadster and
started to blow the horn as loudly as
you could just when he was about to
give the squad its assignments for
the afternoon. I told him the whole
story was q lie That you wouldn't
do such a thing, and he got real hum
BILE and said that he didn't think it
was true, but he was only repeating
what he heard. 1 was peeved, so I
jumped out of the chair with my hair
nalf cut, as you can see. and told him
point blank to keep his mouth shut
and stick to barbering.
SASAoh NO i, SuulcQ Cnuck q bit
sourly.
We'll. the next thing I heard was
at bridge game in Norcross Hall, I
played q few hands for Bill Harrison
while he finished up an English theme
that's due this evening. Ed Gormley
was talking bit freely. He said that
30 far as he knew, the only bird in
the college that had any CUTS was
Arnold. I asked him what made him
think that. He was amazed that 7
hadn't heard. He went on to tell me
That just as the foot ball practice was
about to start this afternoon you
walked up to Dan McBrair and told
him he was a. lousy, dull -witted. use
less coach who ought to have the good
sense to resign. What's .more, Har-
rison roared. I agree with him. was
SO amazed that I don't think I said
anything. As soon as the hand was
played / rushed up here to see what
really did happen. On the way Dick
Chase stopped men to tell me that
ne heard that you punched McBrair
In the face when he threatened to