6 ACORN In the meantime Baum was at home, debating with himself whether to go to the game or not. "If I go to the game," he argued, "and our team wins, I will be shunned by the crowd for not being in the winning team; if our team loses I will also be shunned for not playing. They'll think it's my fault that I didn't play and help win?" "Well," he said to himself, "Hermione wants to go and, so I suppose I'll have to take her." Baum got into his jersey, put on his coat and went over to the girls' dormitory after Hermione Boisdell. Now Hermione was a very demure little lady of eighteen, just two years the junior of "Skeeter" and was in his eyes a very beautiful and attractive girl and he would not miss a chance to be in her presence. Rumor says that Hermione liked him well enough to prefer him to any of the other college boys, and that is something. When Skeeter approached the dormitory Hermione came out of the door to greet him; her hair was bedecked with the colors of the school and she held a large pennant in her hand. "Well, Skeeter," she exclaimed, "so you're here, are you; "I'm all ready, so we'd better go. But say, what are you looking so dumpish about tonight; have you been to a funeral?" "Oh, I know," then in a more conciliatory tone, she said, "Never mind, if you are not going to play, I'm sure Anguish will find out his mistake too late to mend matters, but just the same we'll go and have a good time anyway." "All right, Hermi (Hermi was her pet name), we'll go and be as gay and yell as loud as the best of them?" said Baum, "and now come on, 'Nine rahs' and a tiger for Medland." Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Rah! Medland Medland Medland! they shouted and with the yell ringing in their ears, they marched, hopped and skipped across the campus to the "gym." Arriving at the building, they entered and were soon lost in the mass of yelling and squirming college students. The noise was deafening and with her hands clapped over her ears, Hermi screamed into Skeeter's ear and said, "Let's go up by our basket, we can see our team better there." Skeeter nodded in the affirmative and he pushed and elbowed the way up to Medland's basket. Then above the din, the referee's whistle was heard and as if by magic the noise stopped. The teams were in their respective places; the referee blew a shrill blast on his whistle and threw the ball high above the heads of the two centers. Both men simultaneously jumped for the ball, but Cedar's man got it first and knocked it to his forward, where it was blocked by Medland's guard. The guard threw it back to his center, who passed it to Koerner, but Koerner fumbled it. He tried to save ACORN 7 it, but it was out of his reach before he knew it. It was Cedar's ball and the first basket theirs. Amid yells of their supporters they lined up for the second throw. This play was fast and furious, resulting in a basket for Medland and two foul baskets for Cedar. The remainder of the first half was hard, but slow, leaving Cedar ahead with the score 12 to 7. The Cedar men were in an uproar, they fairly shook the building with their yells for their school and team. Koerner had fumbled the ball nearly every time and wobbled around after it as a drunken man would. Anguish was white with anger and when he got in the dressing room, he said, "You can't play this next half, Koerner, you've queered the whole game now, you played fierce; yes, rotten; I'll put in one of the other subs before I'll let you play again t don't see what's the matter with your head; you certainly must be crazy to come to a game like this, in the condition you are," then he added, "now get out of here and don't show up around this room again." The deposed forward went to his locker, put on his street clothes and left the building without a word. Willis, the left-forward, spoke up and said, "Why not get Skeeter, Cap? I saw him out there by our basket with his Hermie. He looked like he'd be willing to play all right. I saw him once when the ball was up to the other end; he seemed to be playing the game all by himself the way he acted." "I wonder if he would play," Anguish said gloomily. "I don't suppose he will after what I've said to him." I'll go and apologize to him; he's too independent to be approached any other way, and then perhaps he'll play if I ask him." So Anguish left in search of Baum. In the "gym" the Medland followers were angrily discussing the game and particularly "Dutch" Koerner. One of them said, "He must have been drunk tonight because I saw him coming out of Bill's Inn this afternoon, and he didn't answer me when I spoke to him, but turned away and sneaked around the corner like he didn't want to meet anyone." The squad leader then spoke up and said, "I don't see why they didn't put Skeeter in; he never does take 'whisk' or cigs; why, he won't even play pool down town. I'll bet he would have won the game if he had played; he's the one we want. Thus the talk went on. Up by the home goal, Baum was saying to Hermione, "Why, Hermie, I wonder what's the matter with Dutch, he acted as if he were sick. Oh gee! I do wish that I could play and help beat those Cedar fellows; see they are crowing now over their score."