"No, sir. We never think we can. We always know that we can!

That's the Gridley way---the Gridley spirit. We always win our battles before we go into them, Mr. Macey. We make up our minds that we can't and won't be beaten. It isn't just brag, though.

We base all our positiveness on the way that we stick to our training and coaching, and on our discipline. Mr. Macey, this is the third year that I've been playing on different Gridley High School teams. I remember a tie game, but no defeats."

"I guess Fordham will find it a hard enough proposition to down you young men," remarked Mr. Macey.

"They're going to discover, sir, that they simply can't do it.

Gridley never goes onto any field to get beaten."

"Und dot isn't brag, neider," broke in a man who had halted to listen. "Ven dese young men pack deir togs to go away, dey pack der winning score in der bag, too. Ach! Don't I know dot? Don't I make mineself young vonce more by following dese young athletes about?"

Herr Schimmelpodt looked utterly shocked that anyone should think it possible for another High School eleven to take a game from Gridley.

d.i.c.k soon encountered Dave and told him the news he had gleaned from Mr. Macey.

"Been sending their second coach over to watch our play, have they?" laughed Darrin softly. "That seems to show how much they fear us in Fordham."

"I believe we are going to have a stiff game," muttered Prescott.

"Hallam Heights and Fordham are the only two teams that think enough of the game to hire two coaches."

"Well, we have Hallam's scalp dangling down at the gym.," laughed Dave Darrin.

"And we'll have Fordham's in the same way," predicted d.i.c.k confidently.

It barely occurred to the young captain of the team to wonder what it would mean for him if the game to Fordham should be lost.

d.i.c.k would be the first captain in years who had lost a football game for Gridley. It would be a mean record to take out of High School life. But d.i.c.k gave no thought to such a possibility.

"Of course we're going to wallop Fordham," he thought. "I wish only one thing. I'd like to see the Fordhams play through a stiff game just once."

It was too late, however, to give any real thought to this, for Fordham's next and last game of the season was to be the one with Gridley.

"Are you girls going to the game?" asked d.i.c.k, when he and his chum met Laura Bentley and Belle Meade before the post office.

"Haven't you heard what the girls are doing, d.i.c.k?" questioned Laura, looking at him in some surprise.

"I have heard that a lot of the girls are going to the game."

"Just forty-two of us, to be exact," Laura continued. "We girls and our chaperons are to have one car in the first section. You see, we've arranged to go right along with the team. We have our seats all together at Fordham, too."

"My, what a lot of noise forty-two girls can make in a moment of enthusiasm!" murmured Dave.

"We can, if you give us any excuse," advanced Belle.

"Oh, we'll give you excuse enough. See to it that you keep the noise up to the grade of our playing."

"Mr. Confident!" teased Belle.

"Why, you know, as well as we do, that we'll come home with Fordham's scalp!" retorted, Darrin.

"You've heard some of the talk about Fordham's confidence in winning, haven't you?" asked Laura, a bit anxiously.

"Yes," nodded d.i.c.k. "But that doesn't mean anything. You know the Gridley record, the Gridley spirit and confidence."

"Still," objected Belle, "one side has to lose, and the Fordham boys have all the stuff ready to light bonfires on Thanksgiving night."

"Have you any particular friends over in Fordham?" asked Dave Darrin, with a sudden swift, significant look.

"No, I haven't," retorted Belle hastily. "And I hope, with all my heart, that Gridley gains the only points that are allowed.

Yet, sometimes, so much confidence all the while seems just a bit alarming."

"I won't say another word, then, until after the game," promised Darrin meekly.

"And then-----?"

"Oh, I'll turn half girl, and say 'I told you so,'" mimicked Dave good-humoredly.

It would have been hard to find anyone in Gridley who would have said openly that he expected the home boys to be beaten; but there were many who knew that they were more than a bit anxious. Before the game, anyway, Fordham's brag was just as good as Gridley brag.

"Won't you be glad, anyway, when the Thanksgiving game is over?"

asked Laura.

"Yes, and no," smiled Prescott seriously. "When I come back from Fordham I shall know that I have captained my last game on a High School team. That tells me that I am getting along in life---that I am growing old, and shall soon have to think of much more serious things. But, honestly, I hate awfully to think of all these grand old High School days coming to an end. I mustn't think too much about it until after the game. It makes me just a bit blue."

"Won't you be captain of the basket ball team this winter?" asked Laura quickly.

"No; I can't take everything. Hudson will probably head the basket ball team."

"Why, I heard that you were going in hard for basket ball."

"So I am. Mr. Morton is so busy, with the new evening training cla.s.ses, that he has asked me to be second coach to the basket ball crowd. I'll undoubtedly do that."

"Oh, then you'll still be leading the athletic vanguard at the High School," murmured Laura, and, somehow, there was a note of contentment in her voice.

"I shall be, until I'm through with the High School," Prescott answered. "But think---just think---how soon that will come around for all of us!"

CHAPTER XIV

Fordham Plays a Slugging Game

For half an hour before the first section of the special pulled out, the Gridley Band played its liveliest tunes. A part of the time the band played accompaniment to the school airs, which the crowd took up with lively spirit.

There is a peculiar enthusiasm which attaches to the Thanksgiving Day game. This is due partly to the extra holiday spirit of the affair. Then, too, there is the high tension that precedes the last game of the season.

With a team that has won every game to that point, yet often with great difficulty, the tension of spirits is even higher.