Datasets:
Qilex
/
BabyLM_Small_Chunked

Dataset card Data Studio Files
xet
 Community
1
text
stringlengths
21
20.4k
Having cleared his throat, Prof. Richardson began speaking slowly and distinctly, as if weighing every word. He did not look at first in the direction of Stone, who sat there flushed and chilled by turns, keeping his eyes on an open book which lay before him. There was sternness as he expressed his sentiments regarding...
“That’s for you, old feller.” Prof. Richardson was still speaking, and now he was telling of the remarkable heroism of a lad who had rushed to the defense of a little girl beset by two huge and vicious dogs. The principal’s words were simple and straightforward; he made no effort at eloquence, and yet his language was ...
There was, however, at least one who did not join in the burst of applause. Bernard Hayden’s face was pale and cold, but in his bosom there was a raging fire of wrath and resentment. Ben was overcome. His head bent lower, and he blinked his eyelids rapidly to scatter the blurring mist which threatened to blind him. His...
At intermission the boys came flocking around him, and some of the girls smiled upon him in a friendly manner. They found, however, that he disliked to talk of his exciting encounter with Fletcher’s dogs. “The town fathers orter present you with a medal for killin’ old Tige’s big cur,” said Sile Crane. “It may not oc-_...
Even Spotty Davis hung around and sought to be familiar and friendly. Seizing Davis by the elbow, Sleuth Piper drew him aside and whispered mysteriously behind his hand: “Listen to the deduction into which I have been led by the present surprising turn of affairs,” pleaded Sleuth. “Take it from me that this man Stone w...
It was all very strange and unusual for Stone, and in spite of his pleasure in it his natural shyness continued to make him appear distant and somewhat sullen. When midday intermission arrived Ben hastened to leave the academy, rushing away before any of the boys could join him. That day his cold lunch tasted sweet ind...
“Come on over to the gym, old fellow,” urged Roger. “This time you’re going to practice. I know the place for you in the line.” “Come on, come on,” called several others; “we must get at it early to-night.” Hayden was not with them; he had not returned to the academy since leaving on the plea of illness. Again in the d...
“I wonder where Bern is?” said Berlin Barker. “I should think he would want to get out with us to-night.” “He was taken suddenly ill,” grinned Chipper Cooper. “Wonder if he has had a doctor?” Stone felt a chill at the mention of his enemy’s name. He was congratulating himself over Hayden’s absence when something like a...
------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER XIII. HAYDEN’S DEMAND. As he passed, the fellow cast a single malignant glance of hatred in Stone’s direction. Through the door which opened into the big, long main room of the gymnasium he strode, grimly inviting Eliot to follow him.
“Gee!” sibilated Sleuth Piper. “I scent trouble. Bern is mounted on his high horse.” “Some folks who ride high hosses git a fall,” drawled Sile Crane, making a wry face as he pushed his left foot into a cleated shoe. “Drat that corn! If it don’t stop botherin’ me purty soon, I’ll whittle the whole toe off.” After hesit...
“What is it, Bern?” asked Roger. “What are you talking about?” “About that son of a stripe wearer, Stone. Are you going to attempt to ram him down my throat?” “Not at all. If you fancy you have any just reason for not wishing to be friendly with Stone, that’s your business, and I’m not going to dip into the affair.” “F...
“I have no wish to insult you, old fellow. Doubtless you believe you have honest reasons for your dislike toward Stone. Nevertheless, it’s a fact that many persons hate others from no just cause.” “You’re insinuating that I’m unjust and dishonest in this matter. Doubtless Stone has told you a clever lie, and now simply...
“How?” “By going to Prof. Richardson and interceding in Stone’s behalf. You can’t deny that. You certainly did it.” “Will you wait until I attempt to deny anything?” requested Roger coldly. “I did go to the professor and tell him a few plain facts which I happened to know.” “Facts!” sneered Bern. “Lies which Stone had ...
“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Hayden. I spoke to the professor about the encounter between Rollins and Stone, and likewise told him of Stone’s heroic defense of Amy. Prof. Richardson believed Ben had attacked Hunk without reasonable provocation; he was not aware that the affair had been brought about by Ro...
“Do you believe that the errors of a parent should blight the life of his son?” “‘Like father, like son,’ is an old saying, Eliot. Water won’t run up hill. But Stone’s own record is enough to ban him from decent company. His own uncle admitted that he ought to be sent to the reform school, and he would have been if he ...
“Do you think that’s the proper spirit, Hayden? You know the team is decidedly weak in several spots. We’re particularly anxious to beat Wyndham this year, and in order to do so we’ve got to put our strongest team into the field. A fellow who is loyal to his school and his team puts aside personal prejudices and is rea...
“I can’t see how we can tell about that until he has been tried out.” Again the indignant lad made that passionate gesture with his clenched fist. “Try him out then!” he snarled. “Have your own way and see what comes of it, but you’ll be sorry for your obstinacy.” With which he stepped past Roger and walked swiftly bac...
------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER XIV. THE BONE OF CONTENTION. For a few moments the boys looked at one another in silence, their faces expressive of dismay. To a fellow, they understood what it meant, and presently some of them glanced toward Ben Stone. He likewise knew, ...
“Eliot,” he said in a low tone, “I think I’d better get out. I’m making a lot of trouble.” Before them all Roger placed a hand on Ben’s shoulder. “Stone,” he retorted, “the trouble is not of your making. I invited you to come out for practice, and I hope you won’t go back on me now.” As long as he put it that way, it w...
Finally Eliot made up the team, filling Hayden’s place in the backfield with a substitute and placing Stone at left guard. “You’re good and solid,” smiled Roger, “and when you wake up you ought to strengthen this wing of the line. Remember to start low and quick at the signal.” But although the signals, which were very...
“My deduction is—” began Piper; but no one listened to him. Practice over, Ben returned to the gymnasium to change his clothes, feeling far from pleased with himself. His discomfiture was increased when he heard Berlin Barker telling some of the boys that he considered it a great misfortune that Hayden should become hu...
“You don’t know him,” returned Berlin. “He’ll never change his mind.” Ben sat alone in his room, thinking it all over. He felt that Barker was right in believing that as long as he remained on the team Bern Hayden would not return to it. That Hayden was a good player and a valuable man he had no doubt. What did it matt...
“Barker stands by Hayden,” he muttered, “and I suppose there are others.” He did not sleep well that night; he was disturbed by dreams, in which he lived over again that desperate struggle with his malignant enemy—the struggle that had brought upon him the great trouble of his life. Saturday morning Ben sought Roger El...
Ben flushed; there was no halfway business about Roger, who had taken his stand and was ready to let every one know that he regarded Stone as a worthy friend. Ben had never set foot in an automobile, and the promise of a ride in Mr. Eliot’s fine car gave him a thrill. “Thank you,” he said; “I know I shall enjoy it.” He...
Roger was indeed a grim and determined fellow, and Ben was finally compelled to yield to his judgment. That afternoon, however, Barker, as well as Hayden, failed to come out for practice. This made it necessary to use two substitute half-backs, in neither of whom the boys had any confidence whatever. On the whole the p...
“That’s it,” said Ben; “I feel like an intruder. I feel that I’m doing positive harm to the team. Why didn’t Barker come out?” “Oh, he’s one of Bern’s friends, and I guess he’s going to stand by him. It will be pretty hard luck to lose ’em both. I dunno how Roger’s ever going to fill their places.” “I’m breaking up the...
“It will give me no more pleasure than it will Hayden to play on the same team,” declared Ben; “but I’d be willing to do anything for the good of the school. That’s why I thought I hadn’t better play. I’m not anxious to make trouble.” “Bern says you’ve always been a trouble maker. Oh, he’s got it in for you, all right....
When Roger appeared at school on Monday morning he informed the boys that he had heard from Winton, who would arrive early enough in the afternoon to begin the work of coaching that day. He even took particular pains to tell Hayden. “I’m not at all interested in your team, Eliot,” said Bern repellently. “My team,” crie...
That night in addition to Hayden and Barker there were two other deserters, Rollins and Sage. Eliot was compelled to explain the situation to the coach. Winton listened and asked a few questions. In the end he advised Roger to drop Ben Stone. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAP...
Through the mail that night Roger received a letter from Jack Merwin, captain and manager of the Clearport eleven, which he read ere leaving the post office. The letter was as follows: “MR. ROGER ELIOT, ”Capt. Oakdale Academy Football Team, “Dear Sir:— “Replying to yours of the 13th regarding the scheduling of one or m...
Hunk shrugged his thick shoulders. “Why, I had some work to do,” he faltered. “Did you, indeed? How long since you have become ambitious to work? You know, according to your reputation, you never lift a hand to do any labor if you can avoid it.” “Ho!” grunted Rollins. “That’s all right. Sometimes a feller has to do som...
“I didn’t think of it,” lied Hunk. “You know better than that, Rollins. At any rate, you should have thought of it. You were told that our new coach would be on hand, and you knew well enough that I wanted every man out at the field.” “Was I the only one who didn’t come?” asked the fellow, with a leer. The grim express...
“Well, what are you going to do about it if I don’t come out?” was Hunk’s insolent question. “I’ll tell you what I’m going to do, Rollins, and you’d better pay close attention. You’re not such a valuable man to the team that any one would think of chasing you up and coaxing you. Your place can be filled, and it will be...
“Say, you’re a regular autocrat, ain’t ye? You’re going to try to run things your way with an iron hand, ain’t ye? Mebbe you’ll find out——” “That’s enough. You’ve heard all I have to say. Think it over. If you don’t come out to-morrow night it won’t be any great loss to the team.” With which Eliot left Rollins there on...
The fellow paused, and then slowly recrossed the street toward the determined captain of the eleven. “That you, Roger?” he asked in pretended surprise. “I didn’t recognize you.” Eliot despised him for the prevarication and was tempted to give him the same advice about lying that he had given Rollins. Instead of that, h...
“Why—why, no,” stammered Fred. “How’d you get that idea?” “You weren’t at the field this afternoon, and I told you our coach would be there, for which reason I desired every man to be on hand. You are filling an important position on the team. Of course we have a substitute who can take your place if you are injured in...
“So that’s it,” said Roger. “I’m glad you didn’t make the same excuse as Hunk Rollins—didn’t claim you had work to do. Sage, the academy football team will not be broken up by the underhand work of any one, nor do I propose to knuckle to the man who is seeking by such contemptible methods to force my hand. Don’t preten...
“Good evening. Glad to see you, old fellow,” he said with pretended friendliness. “Berlin and I have just been having a little chat. Won’t you come up to my room?” “Yes,” said Roger. Once in Hayden’s room, the visitor did not beat about the bush in the least. He declined to sit down. Facing the dark-eyed youth, who reg...
By this time Hayden’s face was pallid with rage and his eyes glowing. He trembled a little, and his voice shook as he retorted: “You seem to fancy yourself a perfect czar, Roger. Have you got an idea that you alone can throw me off the team? Answer me that.” “If you leave the team it won’t be necessary to throw you off...
“It won’t do you any good to slur Ben Stone, and I don’t think you’d better call him names before me. Of course I wouldn’t put a hand on you here in your own home, but——” “Great Cæsar! you’re threatening me, Eliot.” “Stone will remain on the team, Hayden; you may as well make up your mind to that. If you haven’t manhoo...
------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER XVI. STONE’S DEFIANCE. It is almost impossible to describe the mental condition of Bernard Hayden immediately after Roger’s departure. Resentful wrath nearly choked him, and for a few moments he raged against Eliot like a lunatic. Even whe...
“How dare that fellow come here and talk to me in such a fashion!” he snarled, pacing the floor of his room; “how dare he! So he’s going to stand by Stone at any cost! Judging by what I’ve heard about him, he’s just mule enough to do it, too. I presume he’s right in believing he has pull enough with the fellows to carr...
Bern, seeing that movement, flushed until his face took on a purplish tinge. “It would have been a good thing,” he said in a harsh voice, “if in self-defense I had struck more effectively.” Every nerve in Stone’s body seemed to vibrate. Without looking at the lame boy, who had begun to creep toward him, he said: “Jimmy...
The little lad hesitated a few steps away. “Ben,” he whispered, “oh, Ben, I’m afraid!” “Go into the house, please,” urged Stone; and, with many fearful backward glances, Jimmy limped away. For yet some moments they continued to stare, those two who hated each other with all the intensity of their natures. If stabbing e...
It was Stone who asked the question. With a start, Hayden advanced a few steps, but he stopped while yet well beyond reach of the other lad’s powerful hands. As he noted that Bern was disinclined to come nearer, something like a hideous smile momentarily contorted Stone’s uncomely face. “As I was passing I saw you here...
It was this final taunt that brought Stone’s retort. “I can play as well as you, Hayden, and I’ll prove it, too. In Hilton you always had your own way, but you can’t in Oakdale. You helped break my mother’s heart; you disfigured me for life, and you drove me, an outcast, from Hilton. Here, assisted by your cold-blooded...
“Very well,” cried Bern, “then you’ll have to take the consequences, you—you son of a——” “Stop! My father is dead—murdered—an innocent man. It will not be safe for you ever again to utter a slur against him in my hearing.” The threat in the speaker’s face was far more effective than in his words, and Bern Hayden did no...
“Come on, Stoney, let’s toddle up to the acad. You’ll be late if you don’t come along now.” A strange calmness had come over Ben Stone. This had taken the place of the wrath that had burned in his veins, and now he felt that he was indeed master of himself. And whoever masters himself may likewise master fate. “You’n B...
That night Roger Eliot noted with satisfaction that Fred Sage was promptly on hand at the football field. Hunk Rollins likewise put in an appearance; and, to complete Eliot’s triumph, both Barker and Hayden arrived before practice began. There were others who took notice of these things, and Sleuth Piper, whispering my...
“Mebbe so,” said Piper. “Gimme a peanut, will you?” ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER XVII. AN ARMED TRUCE.
At practice that night Stone astonished everybody, even himself. All hesitation and doubt seemed to have left him, and at everything he attempted he was amazingly sure and so swift that not a few of the boys who had fancied him heavy and awkward gasped with astonishment and confessed to one another that they had “sized...
“I think I was mistaken about that chap Stone. I fancied he wasn’t much good, but I’ve changed my mind since watching him work to-night. He ought to make one of the most valuable men on the team.” “I’m glad you think so,” returned the captain; “for we certainly need him to stiffen the line.” “To-morrow night,” said Win...
His companion’s dark eyes flashed him a look. “If you fancy I’ve given in you don’t know me. I’ve never yet been downed, Barker.” “But you had to give up your plan for bringing Eliot to time.” “That’s all right. A good general who sees one of his movements blocked changes promptly to another style of campaign.” “Then y...
“I always believe in keeping a few cards up my sleeve.” Bern betrayed no disposition to show these cards even to his friend, and Barker refrained from asking questions he felt might not be answered, being confident that in good time Hayden would let him into the secret. To every one else, as the days slipped by and Ber...
Saturday came at last, and at ten-thirty in the forenoon the players were at the railway station to take the train for Clearport. Quite a crowd gathered to see them off and cheer them heartily, while about a dozen of the scholars, including several girls, all bearing banners, accompanied them. On the train Hayden and B...
“There’s only one,” returned the captain, “who is at all dangerous, and I have an idea he realizes he can’t afford to make any real trouble. Of course I don’t like the spirit he displays, but he’s such a valuable man that I presume we’ll have to put up with it.” The hour for the game drew near at last. It was a bright,...
“What’s your deduction about this game, Sleuth?” “Got any peanuts, Chub?” Then suddenly some one cried distinctly: “Look at Stone! ’Rah for old Stoney!”
They shed their sweaters. A ball was tossed out, and immediately they began passing, punting and falling upon it. And now Stone, painfully self-conscious, fumbled. When, a moment or two later, the pigskin came bounding his way over the ground, he flung himself at it only to have it squirm out of his grasp and spin off ...
Presently he found himself, with others, watching the two captains who had stepped aside to consult with the referee. For a moment his eyes roved over the scene. On one side of the field the seats were already well filled. A mass of blue banners indicated where the scholars of Clearport High were grouped. At the south ...
------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER XVIII. THE GAME. Plunk! Clearport’s full back, Ramsdal, kicked off, booting the ball into the teeth of the wind. Over the chalk marks sped the end men, Long and Stoker, closing in from either side as the huge yellow egg began to drop.
Bern Hayden was in position to receive the ball, and, without removing his eyes from it, he realized that one or both of those oncoming men would be at hand to tackle him if he attempted to run. Therefore he lifted his hand in the proper signal for a fair catch and took the pigskin cleanly. Turning it deftly in his han...
“Ready—line up fast!” called Eliot, perceiving that the enemy were swiftly getting into position for the first scrimmage. “Stop ’em! Hold ’em!” Ben Stone found himself crouching nose to nose with Barney Carney, called “the fighting Irishman of Clearport.” He had been told about this fellow, and he recognized him instin...
Muzzle uplifted, Capt. Merwin, who played quarter for his team, bayed a signal. Stone saw the ball snapped to Merwin, and the moment it left the ground he leaped tigerishly at Carney. The Irishman had leaped at the same instant, and they came together with a crash which must have astonished the Clearport guard, for he ...
“It’s a loively birrud ye are,” observed Carney; “but your wings can be clipped.” To which the grim-faced fellow opposite made no retort. The signal came again, and again Stone and Carney met. This time, locked together, they struggled, neither gaining the slightest advantage. The tide of battle, however, swept to the ...
Winton, watching from his position at the side of the field, permitted a crinkle of a smile to flit across his face, even though he realized that the splendid and surprising defense had been accomplished, almost unaided, by two players. At the very outset Clearport had succeeded in one thing, at least—had found the str...
In another moment they were straining, breast to breast. With all his strength he sought to thrust Carney to one side. Cooper bucked Morehead handsomely, and the gap was made. Through it went Barker, with Bern at his heels. Barker sacrificed himself to Oakes, and before Ramsdal got him Hayden came within four yards of ...
“Hold ’em,” implored Merwin, “we’ve got to hold ’em!” “Another chance, fellows,” said Eliot. “We can make it.” Again that signal which told the visitors that Hayden would try the enemy’s right wing. Sage varied the call, but the key number was distinctly heard, and with the snapping of the ball Ben Stone flung himself ...
The Oakdale crowd cheered as the ball was punted out. Hayden was given the privilege of trying to kick a goal, and, absolutely confident of himself, he booted the ball against one of the uprights. “Never mind,” grinned Chipper Cooper, as the Oakdalers spread out on the field with their backs toward the eastern goal. “I...
This time Roger kicked, and he lifted the pigskin squarely over the center of the crossbar. Even to Winton it had begun to seem as if Oakdale was too strong for the locals. He was glad indeed that Clearport had not yet located certain weak spots of which he had entertained serious apprehension, but he knew they had not...
This was carried through, Stone slamming into Carney in the regular manner. Hayden came at him from behind, while Eliot, having secured the ball, sought to race past Pete Long. Something smote Ben with a terrific shock, and a sudden pall of darkness fell upon him. He sank to the ground just as Eliot was tackled and dra...
BETWEEN THE HALVES. Stone recovered to find some one sopping his face with a cool, dripping sponge. They had carried him off the field, and he was lying on a blanket behind the tiered seats, over the upper tier of which bent a row of sympathetic faces. His teammates were around him, being kept back by one or two fellow...
“Scrimmage?” echoed Ben uncertainly, vaguely fancying he had been in a fight with his bitter enemy. “Did Bern Hayden——” “It wasn’t Hayden. We tried to fool the Clearporters into thinking he’d again go through with the ball, but he passed it to me. They downed me, though, just as the half ended.” “Oh,” said Stone, remem...
“Carney did not hit me,” declared Ben positively. Winton, like Eliot, had been working to bring Stone round. “Well,” he observed with satisfaction, “you seem to be all right now. I reckon you can get back into the game for the next half, can’t you?” “Sure thing,” was the prompt answer. “I’m not hurt any.” “That’s the s...
“Great ginger!” gasped Chub in astonishment over this call-down. “I thought we were all doing pretty well.” “Give him a peanut, somebody, to brace him up,” chuckled Chipper Cooper. In another moment Chipper was shivering beneath the withering eye of the coach. “You’ve got a whole lot to learn about football,” said Wint...
“Oh, jiminy crickets!” gasped Cooper. “I’ve got mine! Stop your grinning, Spotty.” “You all let up after that second touchdown,” continued Winton. “Did you think you had points enough? Have you a notion that there’s danger of overexerting yourselves? You should have had two more touchdowns, at least. Clearport was grow...
Cooper poked a thumb into Piper’s ribs. “He didn’t say anything to you personally, did he, Sleuth? Wonder how you got by? Morehead had you groggy in that last smash.” “Yes,” admitted Sleuth, “we butted our cocoanuts together, and my deduction is that he’s got _more head_ than I have.” “Oh, you villain!” exclaimed Chipp...
“I saw you,” said Winton, in a low, calm tone, “I saw you slug Stone on the jaw with your fist, Hayden; it’s useless to deny it.” “It’s very strange,” sneered Bern, “that you were the only one who saw it. Where were the referee’s eyes?” “Following the ball, doubtless. Carney swung Stone round sidewise as you lunged int...
“And while you deny it you’re aware that I know you did. Settle your personal grudges off the football field; that’s the thing to do. Don’t think for a moment that I’m taking sides in this quarrel between you and Stone; I know nothing of the merits of the matter, and it’s no affair of mine. Nevertheless, if I should se...
“I thought not.” “Clearport can’t win. We’ve got them beaten now.” “So that’s what you think. If you had seen as many football games as I have, and if you had watched this one from the side-lines, you would realize that there is not as much difference between these two teams as there seemed to be. If they ever discover...
Piper, having stretched himself on the ground near Ben, had likewise fallen to watching Hayden and his accuser. “My deduction is——” began Sleuth. Two short, sharp blasts from the referee’s whistle told that the intermission was over and the time for the second half to begin had arrived. --------------------------------...
CHAPTER XX. ONE WHO WAS TRUE. In less than two minutes after the resumption of play the spectators perceived that a great change had taken place in the home team, for the Clearporters had returned to the field firmly resolved to redeem themselves, and they went into the struggle with a snap and dash that temporarily sw...
Winton, who had lighted a cigar, chewed savagely at the weed and smote his knee with his clenched fist. “Just what I was afraid of!” he muttered. Over the goal-line went Oakes for a touchdown, cheered wildly by the delighted crowd beneath the blue banners. The ball was punted out and caught, and Oakes held it for Ramsd...
But the locals, retaining the ball after the kick-off, carried it fifteen yards in a swift dash before they were stopped. Having their courage restored and being spurred on by Merwin, they lined up and lunged into the scrimmage before the visitors were wholly prepared, and a gain of nine yards through center might have...
Eliot entreated Davis; he begged, and then he scolded. Spotty, feeling the weight of the battering hurled upon him, swiftly lost heart; and when in a sort of blind despair he finally tackled a runner head on, he was the one who remained stretched on the hard ground after the ball was down. “Come, Davis—come,” called El...
His head hanging, Davis staggered off the field and fell prostrate upon the ground, hiding his face on his curved arm. “I was getting the whole of it,” he mumbled chokingly. “They were bound to do me.” But no one paid any heed to his muttering or to the tears he shed. Stoker laughed at Walker, but the little chap soon ...
Apparently the tide had turned most decisively, and it was not strange that some of the easily discouraged Oakdalers felt that they were surely beaten. If the captain thought so, however, he succeeded marvelously well in hiding his feelings, trying his best all the time to brace his teammates up, encouraging the equall...
In the darkest moment, however, with the locals beating Oakdale back against the goal-line, Fred Merwin fumbled. The ball, snapped to him by Corbin, twisted out of his fingers and bounded off to one side. Even as he flung himself at it he saw a figure that had cut through Barney Carney flash before him. The ball was sc...
With the two teams preparing for the scrimmage, the Oakdale captain moved up and down behind the line, touching first one and then another of his comrades as he urged them to get into the play like fiends. “We’ve got to do it right now,” said Roger, “and we can.” Panting, Stone heard Sage calling the signal, and at the...
Winning the game—that was it! that was everything! Nothing else counted. The fellow who would let a personal grudge interfere was not worthy to wear an Oakdale uniform. Tuttle snapped the ball, and Stone went at Carney like a thousand of brick. Already the Irishman had been led to respect his opponent, and, even though...
------------------------------------------------------------------------ CHAPTER XXI. A SURPRISING MEETING. The game was over; after the third touchdown by Oakdale it had not lasted long enough for Clearport to recover and accomplish anything. The visitors had won, and they were being congratulated by their overjoyed a...
Roger Eliot, his face lighted by that rare smile of his, praised them all. “I see my father is here with his touring car,” he said. “I wish the car were large enough to take you all back to Oakdale, boys; but it isn’t, and so by the way of company I’ll take one of you. Come on, Stone, old chap.” Ben flushed, surprised ...
Hayden said nothing; he had not expected to be invited, yet he was angered because Roger had selected Stone. The boys had left their regular clothes in a room at the hotel, and to this they repaired to shed the dirty, sweat-stained garments of the game. Stone took no part in their light-hearted chatter; when they congr...
Roger’s father had called Ben by his Christian name, and Stone felt his heart swell. Seated in the tonneau of the automobile with Amy beside him, he was borne out of Clearport and away over the brown, winding road that led to Oakdale. Often he had longed to ride in an automobile and wondered if he would ever have the p...
A soft, tingling, cold twilight came on with the setting of the sun. At their bases the distant hills were veiled in a filmy haze of blue. The engine beneath the hood of the car purred softly as it bore them over the road with the power of fifty horses. As, with a mellow warning note of the horn, they swept around a ge...
The little yellow dog barked at him, but, paying no heed to the animal, Ben swooped down on the lad who held the line and scooped him up in his arms. “Who is it, Roger?” asked Urian Eliot in surprise. “Jerry,” said Roger—“he called him Jerry. Why, father, it must be Ben’s own brother.” “His brother? Why, I didn’t know—...
“He told me about his brother,” explained Roger. “They were separated after Ben’s parents died. Jerry is blind.” “Oh!” murmured Amy. “Isn’t that just dreadful! Blind and walking all alone with only a dog for company! We must take him in the car, papa.” “Certainly,” said Mr. Eliot, opening the door and stepping out. “Th...
Roger had left the automobile likewise, and he came back to them, waiting near at hand until they should recover from the distracting excitement of the moment. “Oh, Jerry!” choked Ben. “To find you here—I don’t understand it, Jerry.” “I’ll tell you all about it, Ben, as soon as I can. I’ve been searching for you everyw...
Jerry shrank against his older brother. “Who—who is it, Ben?” he whispered. “A friend—the best friend—besides you, Jerry—that I’ve ever known. We’ve been playing football, and we’re going back to Oakdale now—going back in a big, fine automobile. This is Roger Eliot, Jerry.” Roger stepped forward and took one of the lit...
Through the dusk Roger saw the smaller lad’s sightless eyes turned upon him. “But—but my little dog, Pilot?” said Jerry questioningly. “I must take him. I know he’s tired, the same as I am, and I wouldn’t leave him for——” “Certainly we’ll take him,” assured Roger. “Come on.” To the sightless wayfarer it was a marvel be...
While waiting, the chauffeur had lighted the gas lamps of the car, and, with the machine again under way, they blazed a golden path through the deepening autumn darkness. The sharp, cold air whipped Jerry’s cheeks, but the strong arm of the brother he loved was about him, and his heart beat with happiness so intense th...