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 "You mean that—that you're going?" asked Lanny in surprise.

"Yes, didn't you notice that the 'Committee' wanted everyone to come?" asked Dick, with a twinkle in his eye. "Yes, I shall go, and, if they'll let me, I'll have a few words to say."

"I wouldn't trouble to talk to them," expostulated Lanny. "Just let them spout and get it off their chests, Dick. It'll do them good."

"All they want," said Chester Cottrell, who had joined them, "is a chance to make some speeches and roast some one. Then they'll forget all about it, Dick."

"Maybe, but they're dissatisfied with the way I'm running things, Chester, and I don't want their antagonism toward me to spread to the team. There's nothing worse than for a school to go back on the team. Every player feels it and it takes the heart out of him. I don't say that they will do that, but they might, and if I can put things before them so they'll see, at least, that it isn't the team's fault that we're getting licked so often, I think I'd better. They're at liberty to roast me as much as they please. I guess any football coach expects a certain amount of that sort of thing, and he can't afford to