Page:Dave Porter and his Rivals.djvu/216



celebration that night was a grand affair, and Doctor Clay allowed the students to remain out until midnight. Many bonfires were lighted, and the boys danced around, sang songs, and played many practical jokes on each other and on Horsehair and Pop Swingly. Shadow was in his element, and was permitted to tell a dozen or more of his yarns, much to his own satisfaction if not of his listeners.

The only boys who felt blue were Nat Poole and the lads who had played against Lemington and then been put off the eleven. Nat had received a sharp lecture from the doctor and then been sent to his room, to remain there until the following morning. He wanted to pack up and go home, fearing the jeers of his fellow-students when they learned of his meanness, but he did not dare to make this move, for his father had written him a sharp letter, telling him to finish out the term at Oak Hall or otherwise to go to work,—and Nat did not want to go to work.