[Illustration B: 'Fellows,...I--I thank you from the bottom of my heart']
"Fellows," he startled them by appearing in the doorway, "I--I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I couldn't help hearing, you know--I _do_ appreciate your generous thoughts, but--I can't and won't accept my B unless I win it according to the rule of the Athletic Association."
A silence, and then Butch Brewster, gripping his comrade's hand understandingly, held out to him the two letters.
"Forgive me, old man," he breathed, "for reading them aloud, but I wanted the fellows to know, to appreciate you! And say, Hicks, what does your Dad mean by saying that you are the _'Class Kid'_ of Yale, '96, and that those sons of old Eli want you to win your letter? And what does he mean by saying that you may get in a _big game_--may _win_ it--that you have the goods in football, but lack the confidence to announce it to Coach Corridan? Also that old Bannister needs just the peculiar brand you possess?"
T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., his sunny, Cheshire cat grin illuminating his cherubic countenance, beamed on the eleven and Coach Corridan a moment.
"Oh, that's a _mystery_," he said, cheerfully. "If I _do_ gain the courage and confidence, I'll explain, but unless I do--it remains a--_mystery_!"
"ALL MEMBERS OF THE FIRST ELEVEN ARE URGENTLY REQUESTED TO BE PRESENT IN THE ROOM OF T. HAVILAND HICKS, JR.--AT EIGHT P. M. TONIGHT; YOU WILL BE DETAINED ONLY A FEW MINUTES, BUT LET EVERY PLAYER COME, AS A MATTER OF EXTREME IMPORTANCE WILL BE PRESENTED. PATRICK HENRY COERIDAN, HEAD-COACH."
"Now, what do you suppose is up Coach Corridan's sleeve?" demanded T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., cheerfully. "Has Ballard learned our signals, or some Bannister student sold them to a rival team, as per the usual football story? Though the notice doth not herald it, I am to be present, for my room is to be used, and the Coach gave me a special invitation to cut the Gordian knot with my keen intellect."
The sunny Hicks, with Butch, Beef, Tug, and Monty, had just come from "Delmonico's Annex," the college dining-hall, after supper; they had paused before the Bulletin Board at the Gymnasium entrance, where all college notices were posted, and the Coach's urgent request had caught their gaze. The announcement had caused quite a stir on the campus. The Bannister youths stood in excited groups talking of it, and in the dormitories it superseded all thought of study; however, there seemed little chance that any but the "'Varsity" and T. Haviland Hicks, Jr., who was always consulted in football problems, would know what took place in this meeting.