"It's that Phin-----" began Jessie.

"Do be quiet, Jess," urged Belle.

"Why," explained Laura Bentley, "Phin Drayne just passed us, and
stopped to chat when Jessie spoke to him-----"

"I didn't," objected Miss Vance indignantly. "I only said good
afternoon, and---"

"I asked Drayne if he had been out to the field for practice,"
continued Laura. "He grunted, and said he'd been out to see how
badly things were going."

"Then, of course, Laura flared up and asked what he meant by such
talk," broke in the irrepressible Jessie. "Then---ouch!"

For Belle had slyly pinched the talkative one's arm.

"Mr. Drayne had a great string to offer us," resumed Laura. "He
said football affairs had never been in as bad shape before, and
he predicted that the team would go to pieces in all the strong
games this year."

"We have a rule of unswerving loyalty in the history of our eleven,"
said Prescott, smiling, though a grim light lurked in his eyes.
"I guess Phin was merely practicing some of that loyalty."

"None of us care what Drayne thinks, anyway," broke in Dave Darrin
contemptuously. "He wants to play as a regular, and he's slated