CHAPTER XIII--NED GETS INTO THE GAME
Four hectic days followed. To Laurie, since Ned was held for two hourseach afternoon at the football field, fell most of the duties of theCommittee on Arrangements, and he was a very busy youth. He badgeredshopkeepers into parting with goods to be sold at the booths, helped BobStarling trim up the old arbor in the garden of the Coventry place, madefrequent trips to the Or stead caterer's, engaged eight cakes from MissComfort and twelve dozen cream-puffs from the Widow Deane, spent twohours Wednesday helping Lew and Hal Pringle distribute postersthroughout the village, and attended to a hundred other mattersbetween-times. Of course, Ned aided when he could, and was helpful withadvice and unfailing in suggestions; but recitations and footballpractice didn't leave him much time, even though he conscientiouslyarose a full hour earlier every morning that week, and skimped studyingso much that he got in trouble with three instructors in one day!
Miss Tabitha had proved as helpful as Dan Whipple had predicted. She hadshaken her head at the idea of entertaining six hundred at the fete."You mustn't count on more than half that many," she said. "I dare sayall the boys will go, and they'll make ninety. Then, if you get twohundred of the townsfolk, you'll be doing very nicely. Don't decide howmuch salad or how many sandwiches you want until Saturday morning. Somuch will depend on the weather. Even if you hold the affair indoors,lots of folks won't come if it rains. You say you've ordered eight cakesfrom Martha Comfort and twelve dozen cream-puffs from Mrs. Deane?"
"Yes'm," said Ned. "We wanted Mrs. Deane to make more, but she didn'tthink she could."
"Well, that's a hundred and fourty-four cream-puffs, and--let mesee--one of Miss Comfort's cakes will cut into sixteen pieces, and eighttimes sixteen--"
"A hundred and twenty-eight, ma'am."
"Well, and a hundred and twenty-eight and a hundred and forty-four--"
"Two hundred and seventy-two."
"You're real quick at figures, aren't you? Seems as if, though, countingon three hundred, you'd be a little short. I'll have Aunt Persis makeone of her marble-cakes. That'll help out, I guess."
"Yes'm; thanks awfully," answered Ned.
"Who is going to serve the refreshments?"
"Why--why--" Ned's face fell. "I guess we hadn't thought of that!"
"Well, it makes a heap of difference, because you can make a quart ofice-cream serve ten people or twenty, just as you've a mind to. Iusually count on sixteen. Same way with a loaf of cake, and same waywith salad. It's awfully easy to waste salad when you're serving it.Now, if you'd like me to, Ned, I'll attend to serving everything foryou. You just have the things set down there and I'll look after them."
"Oh, Miss Hillman, if you would! Gee, that would be great! It--it'll bea lot of trouble, though, ma'am."
"Well, I guess it won't be the first trouble I've seen," replied MissTabitha, dryly; "nor it won't be the last!"
Thursday afternoon Laurie hurried over to the Coventry place as soon asa two-o'clock recitation was done. Bob was awaiting him at the gate, andconducted him around to the back of the big square house. Ned stared insurprise. The tangle of trees and vines and shrubbery had been trimmedto orderly neatness, the long, unkempt grass had been shorn to a yellow,but respectable, turf, and the old arbor showed new strips where Thomas,the Starlings' man, had been at work on the decrepit frame. Near at handlay piles of cedar and hemlock branches.
"Dad got a couple of the men to cut those down near the tunnel and haulthem up here." Bob explained. "Thomas is going to help us put them up.He made a peachy job of the garden, didn't he?"
"You bet!" responded Laurie, heartily. "I wouldn't have known the place!I say, Bob, this arbor's longer than I thought it was."
"Forty feet, about. Why?"
"I only ordered six tables and a dozen chairs from the caterer,"answered Laurie, dubiously. "Guess they aren't enough; but he's chargingtwenty-five cents apiece for them--"
"Twenty-five cents for a table? Isn't that dirt-cheap?"
"We're only renting them, you idiot!"
"Oh, I see. Well, six is enough, I guess; you don't want to crowd them.Now let's get busy with the green stuff. I'll yell down cellar forThomas. There's a ball of twine, and I've got two hammers and a lot oftacks on the side porch. You take your coat off and I'll--"
"We'll have to have a step-ladder, Bob!"
"There's a short ladder right beside you. Be right back."
Laurie sat down on a wheelbarrow, after removing his coat and foldingback the sleeves of his shirt, and looked around him. The garden wasfairly large--larger in appearance since the clutter of shrubbery alongthe sides had been cleared away. Along the School Park edge ran a tallhedge of lilac bushes. At the back was the high board fence, painteddark brown, that separated the garden from the Widow Deane's humbleproperty. On the other side was a rusty ornamental iron fence, mostlyhidden by vines. Broad walks, in spite of Thomas's efforts ratheroverrun with weeds, surrounded the central plot of ancient turf, andanother ran straight down the middle of the garden, connecting with thearbor. Wires were to be strung from the trees and across to the arbor,and Chinese lanterns hung thereon. Laurie, half closing his eyes, soughtto visualize the place as it would appear on Saturday. He did want theaffair to be a success, both financial and artistic, both on account ofthe school and--well, for the honor of the Turners! While he was musing,two things happened simultaneously: Bob and Thomas appeared from thehouse, and a familiar voice came to him from the opposite direction.
"Nod!" called the voice. "Nod, will you please come here a moment?"
Laurie's eyes sought the board fence. Over the top of it appeared thehead and shoulders of Polly. He left the wheelbarrow and hurried throughthe arbor and down the walk beyond. Polly's face indicated distress,whether mental or physical Laurie couldn't determine. But Polly's firstwords explained.
"I can't stay here l-long," she said. "I--I'm just hanging by my elbows.I cl-climbed up on a board, and it's fallen down!"
"I'll get you a ladder!" cried Laurie, gallantly.
"N-no, never mind. I'm going to drop in a s-second. I just want to askyou what Brown's color is. Nettie Blanchard is going to be Brown and--"
"Why, brown, of course!"
"Oh!" There was the sound of desperate scraping against the farther sideof the fence, and Polly's countenance became fairly convulsed with theeffort of holding herself in sight. "Oh! She said it was pur-pur--"
Polly disappeared. There was a thud from the next yard.
"Purple!" The word floated across to him, muffled but triumphant.
"Are you hurt, Polly?" he called anxiously.
"Not a bit," was the rueful response, "but I'm afraid the day-liliesare!" Then she laughed merrily. "Thanks, Nod! I didn't think Nettie wasright. She loves purple, you see!"
"Does she? Well, say, maybe she can be Williams. We weren't going tohave Williams, but its color is purple, I think, and if she is going tobe disappointed--"
"She will look very well indeed in brown," came from the other side injudicial tones; "and if we begin making changes, half the girls willwant to be something they aren't. Why, Pearl Fayles begged to be somegirls' college neither Mae nor I had ever heard of, just so she couldwear lavender and pale lemon!"
"Well, all right," laughed Laurie. "She'd better stick to Brown--andbrown! Good-by, Polly. I'll drop in after a while and find out howthings are getting on."
He turned to find Bob viewing him quizzically from the end of the arbor,swinging a hammer in each hand. "Of course it's all right, I dare say,"he announced, "but I _thought_ you came here to fix up the arbor.Instead of that I find you talking to girls over the fence!"
"There's only one girl," replied Laurie, with dignity, "and we weretalking business."
"Oh, of course! Sorry I interrupted."
"You needn't be, and you didn't. Quit grinning like a simpleton and giveme a hammer!"
"Right-o! Come on, Thomas! It's quite all right now!"
An hour later their task was done, and well done, and t
hey viewed itwith approval. To be honest, the major part of the work had beenperformed by the faithful Thomas, although it is not to be denied thatboth Laurie and Bob toiled conscientiously. Before they were throughapproving the result from various angles, Bob's father joined them. Mr.Starling was an older edition of Bob--a tall, straight, lean-visaged manof forty-two or -three, with the complexion of one who had lived anoutdoor life. He had a deep, pleasant voice and a quiet manner not fullyin accord with a pair of keen eyes and a firm mouth.
"I'd call that a good piece of work, boys," he said, as he joined them."And right up to specifications, too. Those paper lanterns come yet,Bob?"
"No, sir; I haven't seen them."
"Lanterns, Mr. Starling?" asked Laurie. "Do you mean Chinese lanterns?We've ordered a lot from the caterer, sir."
"Tell him you won't need them, then. I've got a hundred coming up fromthe city, Turner. They ought to be here, too. Thomas, call up theexpress company and ask about them."
"That's very kind, sir," said Laurie, "but you needn't have done it.You--you're doing _everything_!"
"Nonsense! Bob and I want to do our part, of course. Well, thiswilderness certainly looks different, doesn't it? That reminds me, Bob;the agent writes me that we may 'make such improvements to the propertyas we desire.' So, as I consider the absence of that arbor animprovement, I guess you can pull it down any time you like. I'm goingto have a cup of tea, Turner. Will you join me? I believe there will becakes, too."
Laurie found Ned in rather a low frame of mind when he got back toNumber 16 a half-hour before supper-time. Ned was hunched over a Latinbook and each hand held a firm grip on his hair. At Laurie's arrival hemerely grunted.
"Where does it pain you most?" asked Laurie, solicitously, subsidinginto a chair with a weary sigh. Ned's mood was far from flippant. Herewarded the other with a scowl, and bent his gaze on the book again."Want to hear the latest news from the front?" persisted Laurie.
"No, I don't!" his brother growled. "I've had all the news I can stand.Smug says that if I don't get this rotten stuff by nine to-night, andmake a perfect showing to-morrow, he will can me!"
"Mr. Cornish said that?" gasped Laurie. "What do you know about that?Why, I thought he was a gentleman!"
"He's a--a brute! I can't learn the old stuff! And I have a hunch thatMulford means to give me a try in the Loring game Saturday. And if Idon't get this, Cornish will fix it so I can't play. He as good as saidso."
"Didn't you tell him you'd been busy with the fete and everything?"
"Of course I did. Much he cared! Just made a rotten pun. Said I'd betterkeep my own fate in mind. Puns are fearfully low and vulgar!"
"Aren't they? How much of that have you got?"
"Six pages. I--I've sort of neglected it the last two days. Some fellowscan fake through, but I don't have any luck. He's always picking on me."
Laurie whistled expressively. "Six pages! Well, never say die, partner.We'll get down to supper early, and that'll give us two hours beforenine."
"Us?" questioned Ned, hopefully.
"Sure. I'll give you a hand. As the well-known proverb so wiselyremarks, two heads are the shortest way home."
Ned grinned, and stopped tormenting his hair. "Honest? That's mightydecent, Laurie. I'll do as much for you some day."
"Hope you won't have to. Wash your dirty face and let's beat it!"
At half-past nine a more cheerful and much relieved Ned returned fromthe hall master's study. "All right," he announced to an anxious Laurie."He was rather decent, too. Said he guessed that, in view of themanifold affairs engaging my attention just now,--you know the crazy wayhe talks,--he wouldn't demand too much from me. Reckon he means to letme down easy to-morrow, eh?"
"Maybe, partner, and maybe not. Take my advice and, in the words of theScouts, be prepared!"
Friday was a hectic day for Laurie and all others concerned with thefete. Difficulties that had remained in ambush all the week sprang outand confronted them at the last moment. Half a dozen things had beenforgotten, and every member of the committee sought to exoneratehimself. Tempers were short and the meeting in Dan Whipple's room atnine o'clock was far from harmonious. All went to bed that night firmlyconvinced that the affair was doomed to be a flat failure. And, to addto that conviction, the night sky was overcast and an unsympatheticeasterly wind was blowing. Ned, conscious of having imposed too manyduties on Laurie, was grouchy and silent; and Laurie, convinced that hehad been made a "goat" of, and that Ned was secretly blaming him formistakes and omissions that were no fault of his, retired in highdudgeon.
And yet, the morning dawned fair and warm, with an almost cloudless bluesky over the world, and life looked very different indeed. Ned arosewhistling, and Laurie somehow knew that everything would be all right.Fortunately, they had but two recitations on Saturday, and inconsequence there remained to them three whole hours before dinner todevote to the affairs of the entertainment. They were busy hours, youmay be sure. If Ned hurried downtown once, he hurried there half a dozentimes; while Laurie, seated beside the driver of a ricketyexpress-wagon, rounded up all kinds of things, from the platform at thefield-house to the cakes at Miss Comfort's. Dinner brought a respite;but as soon as it was over, Laurie was back on the job, while Ned joinedthe football-players.
Of course, what the Hillman's School football team should have done thatafternoon was to score a decisive victory over the visiting eleven. Whatit did do was to get thoroughly worsted. Loring was something of asurprise, with a heavier line and a faster bunch of backs than Hillman'shad expected. And Loring knew a lot of football, and proved the factearly in the game. At half-past two, by which time the second period washalf over, the result was a foregone conclusion. Loring had scored twotouch-downs and as many goals therefrom, and the Blue had never oncethreatened the adversary's last white line. Gains through the opponentwere infrequent and short, even Pope, who could generally be depended onto tear off a few yards when the worst came to the worst, failingdismally.
In mid-field, Mason and Slavin made some stirring advances around theLoring wings, and there were several successful forward passes to thehome team's credit; but, once past Loring's thirty-yard line, Hillman'sseemed powerless. The third quarter went scoreless, and in the fourth,realizing doubtless that defeat was certain, Coach Mulford used hissubstitutes lavishly. Ned made his first appearance on the big team inthat period, taking Mason's place for some eight of the fifteen minutes.He did neither better nor worse than the other second- and third-stringfellows, perhaps--although, when Pope was taken out and Deeringsubstituted at full-back, he did his share of the punting and performedvery creditably. But that fourth period gave Loring an opportunity toadd to her score, and she seized it. Even with several substitutes inher own line-up, she was still far better than Hillman's, and a goalfrom the field and, in the last few moments of the game, a thirdtouch-down, resulted.
The Blue fought desperately and gamely with her back to the wall, in aneffort to stave off that last score; but eventually Holmes, who hadtaken Kewpie's place at center, weakened, and the Loring back piledthrough. The final score was 23 to 0, and what two hours before had beenlooked on as a victory or, at the worst, a tie, had become a cataclysm!Humiliated, if not disgraced, the home-team players trailed to thefield-house with hanging heads, averting their eyes from the sight ofLoring's triumphal march around the gridiron.