"I only said good
afternoon, and---"
"I asked Drayne if he had been out to the field for practice,"
continued Laura. "He grunted, and said he'd been out to see how
badly things were going."
"Then, of course, Laura flared up and asked what he meant by such
talk," broke in the irrepressible Jessie. "Then---ouch!"
For Belle had slyly pinched the talkative one's arm.
"Mr. Drayne had a great string to offer us," resumed Laura. "He
said football affairs had never been in as bad shape before, and
he predicted that the team would go to pieces in all the strong
games this year."
"We have a rule of unswerving loyalty in the history of our eleven,"
said Prescott, smiling, though a grim light lurked in his eyes.
"I guess Phin was merely practicing some of that loyalty."
"None of us care what Drayne thinks, anyway," broke in Dave Darrin
contemptuously. "He wants to play as a regular, and he's slated
only as a possible sub. So I suppose he simply can't see how
the eleven is to win without him. But, making allowances for
human nature, I don't believe we need to roast him for his grouch."
"I didn't think his talk was worth paying any attention to," added
Laura. "I wouldn't have said anything about it, if it hadn't
leaked out."
Jessie took this rebuke to herself, and flushed, as she rattled
on:
"I guess it was no more than mere 'sorehead' talk on Phin Drayne's
part, anyway. Mr. Drayne said he had saved a good deal of his
pocket money, lately, and that he was going to win more money
by betting on Gridley's more classy opponents this season.
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