Page:Stanwood Pier--Harding of St Timothys.djvu/96

74 He enumerated the names with slow disdain. "Five fellows who are on the two first elevens—five fellows who are candidates for the school team! And right in the middle of the football season to sneak off and break training, and run the risk of being fired from the school, when you know how you're needed to help build up the school team! I want to congratulate you five. I want especially to congratulate you, Windsor, as captain of the Corinthian eleven, and you, Harding, as president of the athletic association."

"We did n't really break training," said Frank Windsor. "And they'd never have fired such a crowd of us."

"No, they'd never have fired a crowd of the best fellows in the school, as I think Harding once described you to me," said Rupert. "Perhaps not. But they would have suspended you—or put you on probation, anyway. You'd not have been allowed to play on any school team. You must have known that, all of you, and yet you deliberately ran the risk—ran the risk of crippling the school team and spoiling