The Army was proud of such men as Durville, Prescott,
Holmes, but admitted silently that Darrin and Dalzell appeared
to belong to a slightly better class of ball.
"It's our fault, too," muttered the Army coach, Lieutenant Lawrence,
to a couple of brother officers. "Darrin and Dalzell have been
training with the Navy nine for two years, while Prescott and
Holmes came in late this season. Even if they wouldn't play last
year, these two men of ours should have reported for the very
first day's work last February."
"Prescott couldn't do it," remarked Lieutenant Denton, who had just
joined the group.
"Why not, Denton?" asked Lieutenant Lawrence.
"He was in Coventry."
"Pshaw!"
"Didn't you know that?" asked Denton.
"Not a word of it, though Durville once hinted to me that there
was some sort of reason why Prescott couldn't come in."
"There was---the Coventry," Denton replied. "But that trouble
blew over when the first classmen found themselves wrong in something
of which Jordan had accused Prescott."
"Humph!" growled Lieutenant Lawrence, in keen displeasure. "Then,
if we lose to-day, the first class can blame itself!"
"You think our battery pair better than the Navy's, then?" asked
Lieutenant Denton.
"Our men would have been better, by a shade, anyway, had they
been as long in training. But as it is-----"
"As it is," supplied another officer in the group, "we are wiped
off the slate by the Navy, this year, and no one can know it better
than we do ourselves.
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