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178 Puffers. "We have as much right to play as they have." To this the others instantly agreed, but when it came to getting the boys together they found they could muster but nine players, so the scheme fell through.

It was too late to return to Oak Hall before supper time, so, by an arrangement made beforehand, the crowd was divided into several parties, each to take supper at a hotel or boarding house in Rockville. The students of the football team kept together, and with them went half a dozen of their intimate friends. All felt in high spirits, and the conversation was an animated one, filled with talks of punts, fumbles, charging, scrimmages, kick-offs, and the like, terms well known to the initiated, but like so much Greek to those who do not follow the game.

"After this Rockville won't crow so much," said Roger.

"They were pretty nice fellows, anyway," said Dave. "They got excited and that made them rough."

The party was to take supper at the largest hotel of which the town boasted. The hostelry was pretty well filled, but a special table had been set in the dining room for the football players and their chums.

"This is just all right," said Buster Beggs, as they sat down to the well-filled table. "My, but