The Half-Back

craps,

art! he may

ninny? I want him

s going to try and

for a rake. Thinks thi

-looking youth of seventeen. His name was Bartlett Cloud, shortened by his acquaintances to "Bart" for the sake of that brevity beloved of the s

ed the latter youth jeeringly. "I'll

rrival at

although standing but a scant distanc

finely fitting golf costume, and swinging a brassie, appro

was golf, from the crowd over here." He s

think of anything except golf, Out! Do you ever wake up in the middle of

a heap more sense in being daft over a decent game like golf

ave you opposite me in a good stiff game for about five

ew times and walk over me, but who wants to play

astening to avert the threatening quarrel. "Just look around you. I've never seen more fell

be a football man. Look at that fellow over yonder, the one with the baggy trousers and straw hat. The idea of that fellow coming down here j

hat," suggested

t, eying the youth in question. "I fear he doesn't

, "is that he probably doesn't know a touch-down f

ness!" answered West, "but from the length

doesn't know anything about the game. It takes som

hayseed will be a better player than you at the

a punt," growled Cloud. "A fool like him

earn golf," conti

a mule that plays gol

empt to compete with

" cried Clausen. "If you don't shut u

th of shoulder that made West's popular nickname of "Out" West seem so appropriate. Clausen'

. West, left to himself, sighed lazily and fell to digging holes in the turf with his brassie. Tiring of this amusement in a trice, he arose and sauntered over to the side-line and watched the operations. Some sixty boys, varying in age from fifteen to nineteen, some clothed in full football rig, some wearing the o

black coat and vest of cheap goods were in the cut of two seasons gone, and his discolored straw hat looked sadly out of place among so many warm caps. But as he watched the scene with intent and earnes

unconsciously wished to know it better, and found himself drawing nearer to the straw hat and

but I'll bet a dozen Silvertowns that he could learn; and that's more than mo

s boys, adored from a distance by the youngsters. Blair was serving his second term as football captain, having been elected to succeed himself the previous fall. At this moment, attir

out of the way and pass the ball awhile. Get their names fir

embled the experienced players about him and, dividing them into two groups, put them to work at passing and falling. The youth with the

do you

of amusement as he looked

played

on the Felton Grammar

on Grammar Sc

near A

at's yo

l Ma

you k

tty

turned to the nearest squad. "Toss me the ball a m

t all flattering to the subject of them; but if the latter heard them he made no sign, but accepted the ball from Blair without fumbling it, much to the surprise o

latter, as he settled the

" questioned Blair. The y

ght leg in a wide arc, dropped the ball, and sent it sailing down the field toward the distant goal. A murmur of applause

a kicker." Several of the older fellows smiled knowingly. It was

under the straw hat, displaying no

say," he continued, as the candidate started off, and he was struck anew with the oddity of the str

im. What did he say his name was? February? March? That was it. It's kind of a chilly name. I'll make it a point to scrape acquaintance with him. He's a born golf

half-shot off toward the river, following leisurely after it and pondering o

-lines and another to have an awkward, wobbly, elusive spheroid tossed to the ground a few feet from you and be required to straightway throw yourself upon it in such manner that when it stops rolling it will be

ce was over, instead of joining in the little stream that eddied back to the academy grounds, he struck off to where a long straggling row of cedars and firs marked the course of the river. Once there he found himself standing on a bluff with the broad, placid stream stretching away to the north and south at his feet. The bank was some twenty feet high a

ing in awe upon the erudition of that excellent Greek gentleman, Mr. Xenophon, whose acquaintance, by means of the Anabasis, he was just making; or perhaps he was thinking of

an hour amid the tall grass and bushes, fighting his way patiently out of awkward lies, and finally driving off by the river bank, where a stretch of close, hard sod offered

ve you in the sand pit, a too vigorous one was just as likely to land you in the river. West knew Stony Bunker well by reason of for

you or I would have chosen for that stroke--or perhaps West himself was to blame. That as it may be, the fact rema

field West, possess allowances far in excess of their needs. But the first glance down the bank reassured him, for there was the runaway ball snugly enscon

his hand, and the boy started down the steep slope with a rapidity that rather unnerved him and brought an involuntary cry of alarm to his lips. It was the cry that was th

suddenness that drove the breath from his body. Weak and panting, he struggled up to the top of the juttin

red the boy in