24
joel, hugging his recovered tennis racket, rushed off to the court. tom beresford, staring out of his window, paused while pulling on his sweater to see him go, a sorry little feeling at his heart, after all, at joe's good spirits.
“he'll play like the mischief, and a great deal better for the row and the fright over that old racket. well, i had to tell. 'twould have been too mean for anything to have kept still.”
so he smothered a sigh, and got into his togs, seized his implements of battle, and dashed off too. streams of boys were rushing down to the court, and the yard was black with them. in the best places were the visitors. royalty couldn't have held stronger claims to distinction in the eyes of dr. marks' boys; and many were the anxious glances sent over at the four st. andrew's boys. if the playing shouldn't come up to the usual high mark!
“pepper will score high,” one after another25 said as he dropped to the ground next to his chums, in the circle around the court.
“of course.” nobody seemed to doubt joel's powers along that line. “he always does.” and cries of “pepper—pepper,” were taken up, and resounded over the yard.
joel heard it as he dashed along, and he held his head high, well pleased. but david followed his every movement with anxiety. “i'm afraid he was hurt,” he said to himself; “and if he should lose the game, he'd never get over it. oh dear me! if mamsie could only be here!”
but mamsie was far away from her boys, whom she had put at dr. marks' school for the very purpose of achieving self-reliance and obedience to the training of the little brown house. so davie, smothering his longing, got into a front row with several boys of his set, and bent all his attention to the game just beginning.
sharp at two o'clock the four went on to the court—joel and fred ricketson against tom beresford and lawrence greene, otherwise “larry.” and amid howls of support from the “rooters,” the game began.
at first joel's luck seemed to desert him, and he played wild, causing much consternation in26 the ranks violently rooting for him. david's head sank, and he leaned his elbows on his knees, to bury his hot cheeks in his hands.
“wake up,” cried paul sykes, his very particular friend, hoarsely, giving him a dig in the ribs. “don't collapse, dave.”
“oh!” groaned david, his head sinking lower yet, “i can't look; i simply can't. it will kill joel.”
“stiffen up!” cried paul. “joe's all right; he'll come to. ha!”
a shout, stunning at first, that finally bore down all before it in the shape of opposing enthusiasm, swept over the whole yard. screams of applause, perfectly deafening, rent the air. and look! even the visitors from st. andrew's are leaping to their feet, and yelling, “good—good.” something quite out of the common, even in a close tennis match, was taking place. david shuddered, and crouched down on the ground as far as he could. paul gave him an awful whack on the back.
“you're losing it all,” he cried as he stood on his tiptoes. “hi! hi! tippety rippety! hi! hi!”
it was joel's especial yell; and there he was,27 as david scrambled up to see him, head thrown back, and black eyes shining in the way they always did when he worked for mamsie and polly, and that dealt despair to all opponents. he had just made a brilliant stroke, returning one of larry's swiftest balls in such a manner that it just skimmed over the net and passed the boys before they could recover themselves, and fairly taking off from their feet the st. andrew's men who had been misled by joel's previous slow playing in the first set, which tom and larry had won.
“who is he? gee whiz! but that's good form!” declared vincent parry, the st. andrew's champion, excitedly.
“pepper—don't you know pepper?” cried a dozen throats, trying to seem unconscious that it was parry, the champion, who was asking the question.
“oh, is that pepper?” said the st. andrew's boy. while “pepper—pepper. hi! hi! tippety rippety! hi! hi!” rolled out, till there wasn't any other sound to be heard. and a regular tussle of boys were getting in the wildest excitement when it was announced that pepper and ricketson had won the second set, the referees28 trying to quiet them so that the game could proceed.
in the third set, joel seemed to have it all his own way, and fairly swept ricketson along with him. the excitement was now so intense that the boys forgot to yell, afraid they would miss some strokes.
david clenched his hands tightly. the net and flying balls spun all together inextricably before his eyes as he strained them to see joe's brilliant returns. this was the deciding set, as the cup was to go to the winners of two sets out of three.
joel's last serve was what finished it; the ball flashing by tom with such impetus, that even the st. andrew's champion said he couldn't ever have returned it.
everybody drew a long breath, and then the crowd rushed and converged to joel; surrounded him, fighting for first place, the fortunate ones tossing him up to their shoulders to race him in triumph around the yard.
“take ricket!” screamed joel, red in the face. “take him!” he roared. “he beat too, as much as i.” so a second group seized fred; and up he went to be trotted after, the crowd29 swarming alongside, yelling, tumbling over each other,—gone perfectly wild; joe waving the cup, thrust into his hand, which would be kept by the winners for a year.
it was the middle of the night. davie, flushed with the happiest thoughts, had peacefully settled to dreams in which mamsie and grandpapa, and polly and jasper, and all the dear home people, were tangled up. and phronsie seemed to be waving a big silver cup, and piping out with a glad little laugh, “oh, i am so glad!” and now and then the scene of operations flew off to the little brown house, that it appeared impossible to keep quite out of dreamland. some one gripped him by the arm.
“oh, what is it, joe?” david flew up to a sitting posture in the middle of his bed.
“it isn't joe. get up as quick as you can.”
david, with a dreadful feeling at his heart, tumbled out of bed. “isn't joe!” he found time to say, with a glance in the darkness over toward joel's bed.
“hurry up, don't stop to talk.” the voice was tom beresford's. “get on your clothes.”30
meantime he was scuffing around. “where in time are your shoes?” but david already had those articles, and was pulling them on with hasty fingers. “oh, tell me,” he couldn't help crying; but “hurry up!” was all he got for his pains. and at last, after what seemed an age to tom, david was piloted out into the hall, with many adjurations to “go softly,” down the long flight of stairs. here he came to a dead stop. “i can't go another single step, tom,” he said firmly, “unless you tell me what you want me for. and where is joel?” he gasped.
“oh, bother! in another minute you'd have been outside, and then it would be safe to tell you,” said tom. “well, if you will have it, dave, joe's finishing up that business with jenk, and you're the only one that can stop it. now don't keel over.”
david clung to the door, which tom had managed to open softly, and for a minute it looked as if beresford would have his hands full without in the least benefiting joel. but suddenly he straightened up. “oh, tell me where he is,” he cried, in a manner and voice exactly like polly when she had anything that must be done set before her. and clear ahead of his guide when31 tom whispered, “down in the pine grove,” sped davie on the very wings of the wind.
“gracious! joel is nothing to dave as a sprinter,” said tom to himself, as his long legs got him over the ground in the rear.
the two boys hugged the shadow of the tall trees and dashed across the lawn to the shrubbery beyond. then it was but a breathing space, and a few good leaps to the depths of the pine grove. in the midst of this were two figures, busily engaged in the cheerful occupation of fisticuffing each other till the stronger might win.
“joel!” called david hoarsely, his breath nearly spent as he dashed up.
joel, at this, wavered, and turned. seeing which, his antagonist dealt him a thwack that made his head spin, and nearly lost him his footing.
“that was mean, jenk!” exclaimed beresford, dashing up in time to see it. “you took advantage when joe was off guard,” he cried hotly.
“no such thing,” roared jenk, losing his head at what now seemed an easy victory, “and i'll settle with you when i get through with joe, for being such a mean sneak as to turn tell-tale, tom.”32
“all right,” said tom coolly. “go it, joe, and pay him up. you've several scores to settle now.”
“joel,” gasped davie. “oh mamsie!” he could get no further.
joel's hands, out once more in good fighting trim, wavered again, and sank helplessly down to his side.
“oh dear!” tom groaned in amazement.
“hoh—hoh! you see how easy i could whip him,” laughed jenkins, raining down blows all over joel's figure, who didn't offer to stir.
“see here you!” tom fairly roared it out, perfectly regardless of possible detection. “you beastly coward!” and he jumped in between joel and his antagonist. “you may settle with me now if you like.”
“stop, tom.” joel seized him from behind. tom, in a fury, turned to see his face working dreadfully, while the brown hands gripped him tightly. “i forgot—mamsie wouldn't—like—you mustn't, tom. if you do, i'll scream for john,” he declared suddenly.
john, the watchman, being the last person whom any of dr. marks' boys desired to see when engaged in a midnight prank, beresford33 backed away slowly from jenkins, who was delighted once more at the interruption, and fastened his gaze on joel. “well, i never did, pepper!” he brought himself to say.
“tom,” said david brokenly, and getting over to him to seize his hand, “don't you know our mamsie would feel dreadfully to see joel doing any such thing? oh, she would, tom,” as beresford continued to stare without a word.
“not to such a miserable beggar.” tom at last found his tongue, and pointed to jenk.
“oh, yes, she would. it's just as bad in joel,” said davie, shaking his head. joel turned suddenly, took two or three steps, then flung himself down flat on his face on the pine needles.
“well, get up,” said tom crossly, running over to him. “john will maybe get over here, we've made so much noise. hurry up, joe, we must all get back.”
joel, thus adjured, especially as david got down on the ground, to put his arms around the shaking shoulders, got up slowly. then they turned around to look for jenkins. he was nowhere to be seen.
“little coward!” exclaimed tom between his34 teeth. “well, we'll have to skin it as best we may back. here comes john!”
they could see his lantern moving around among the trees; and dashing off, taking the precaution to hug the shadow of the trees again, they soon made the big door to the dormitory. tom reached it first, and turned the knob. “it's locked,” he said. “the mean, beastly coward has locked us out.”
