CHAPTER XXVI

_Facing the World_

The cheers, the applause, the congratulations of friends who pushed and crowded to shake his hand meant nothing to Larry Kirkland. Fellows he had known and liked pounded him upon the back and shouted their congratulations and rejoicings over the victory. To hide his feelings he forced himself to smile and mutter thanks. To him the victory seemed all hollow and useless; and his years of struggling to achieve a place on the team and win his C appeared vain and futile, not worth the effort. He was facing stern realities now, and the achievements that had seemed to him all-important dwindled and appeared childish.

He was dressing hastily, taking little part in the boisterous celebration in the club house. The players, relieved suddenly from the strain, half-hysterical with joy over their victory, wrestled, pushed each other into the big swimming plunge, pounded each other with wet towels and hurled shoes and bats against the lockers in sheer delirium of gladness. They hugged each other, while each, trying to lift his voice above the others, yelled praise of the playing the others had done during the game. Larry, dressing rapidly at his locker, strove to escape unnoticed. Over on the opposite side of the row of lockers Harry Baldwin was dressing in sullen silence. He had not been allowed to have a part in the great game, and a sense of injustice rankled within him. Mentally he charged Larry Kirkland with treating him unfairly, although the truth was, Larry had forgotten him entirely, although he knew Helen Baldwin and her friends were waiting for Harry to dress. He must see Helen a moment before Harry joined her to tell her his plan. He threw his coat over his arm and hastened toward the door, hoping to escape unseen. The one thing he dreaded above all others was bidding good-bye to the fellows of the team. He feared if he attempted to say farewell he would break down. A lump was in his throat. He wondered whether they would miss him. He had resolved not to remain for commencement, not even to wait to receive the cherished C.

“Hey, you Larry!” roared Trumbull. “What are you trying to do? Going to ditch us for a skirt? Shame on you.”

The indignant outburst of the big fielder rallied the others and attracted their attention to Larry’s effort to flee. They seized upon him and dragged him back.

“Don’t fellows,” he pleaded. “I haven’t got time to celebrate right now—important business. I must hurry before she—before”——

“SHE,” howled Trumbull. “I knew it! Let’s throw him in the tank and make him unpresentable.”

“Not now, fellows,” begged Larry, struggling to get away. “Really, I’ve got to go.”

“All right,” vouchsafed his captors unwillingly. “If you will desert us, we’ll get even. Wait until the dinner to-night. We’ll make you give a speech and then hiss you.”

“So long, fellows! Hate to leave you,” Larry managed to say. There was a tug at his heart-strings, but he tried to smile, and backed out of the door dodging a shower of shoes and gloves that enabled him to hide agitation. Only Katsura saw something was wrong. He ran quickly after Larry, overtook him in the corridor, and laid his hand upon the captain’s arm.

“If it is any trouble in which I may help,” he said, “command me. I would like to help you.”

“Thank you, Katty,” Larry gulped. “I’ll never forget—never—good-bye.”

“Good-bye,” said Katsura, shaking his hand firmly. “Is it nothing I can help?”

“Nothing,” said Larry thickly, turning away, leaving Katsura gazing sadly after him.

He hurried out into the late afternoon sunshine and across the campus to where a bevy of girls fluttered around a waiting automobile. They waved the Cascade colors and set up a shrill cheer as he approached—a cheer that ended in a burst of laughter. Hat in hand, he walked directly to Helen Baldwin.

“Oh, Larry!” she said, “it was glorious, it was magnificent—why what is the matter?”

“Walk with me a little way,” he said. “I came to tell you.”

“It is bad news then,” she said petulantly as they drew apart from the others. “I knew Mr. Lawrence would not consent.”

“He refused,” said Larry. “I defied him. I told him we would not take a penny of his money.”

“How foolish of you,” she said lightly. “You should not have quarreled with him.”

“But we could not accept charity,” he protested. “You must stand it until I can come back and support you.”

“Come back?” she exclaimed. “Where are you going?”

“I do not know,” he said. “You must be brave, Helen. I am going away. I have broken with Major Lawrence. I’ll go away somewhere and”——

“That is foolish,” she said. “I was afraid when Major Lawrence came to me that you had quarreled with him. He didn’t seem a bit angry with me. He was very polite.”

“You saw Uncle Jim?” he asked in surprise. “What did he say? What did you tell him?”

“I told him it was all a joke”——

“A joke?” The boy’s face was ghastly from the shock.

“Of course, Larry,” she replied impatiently. “Be sensible. You did not want me to quarrel with him, did you?”

“But it wasn’t necessary to tell him that,” he protested.

“I did it to throw him off his guard,” she said lightly. “Then we could run away and get married. I know he’d forgive us, now that he knows me. He really seemed to like me, and patted me on the arm and said I was a sensible girl.”

“It sounds as if you deceived him,” he answered sulkily. “We cannot treat him that way—deceive him and come to him as beggars, asking him to support us.”

“Be sensible, Larry,” she pouted, drilling holes in the gravel walk with the end of her stick. “All’s fair in love and war.”

“I know it is hard on you,” he said. “But it is better that we make our own way. I can work and support you.”

“And give up everything?” she asked with open eyes. “Ridiculous!”

“You will have to wait a year—maybe two years,” the boy said softly.

“Helen!” Harry Baldwin called sharply from the group near the automobile. “We are waiting.”

“Coming in a moment,” she cried back gaily. “Don’t be foolish, Larry,” she added.

“You will not forget? You will wait for me?” he asked holding her hand.

“They are looking, Larry,” she said, drawing her hand away. “Be sensible.”

“You will wait?”

“Coming,” she cried as Harry called again, and then hurriedly. “Yes, yes—now be sensible and make up with Major Lawrence.”

She turned away. Larry walking determinedly across the campus, saw her in the gay group in the tonneau as the car whizzed around the circular drive. He stood gazing after the retreating car, but she did not turn to look back. Then he hastened to his rooms.

* * * * * *

That night there was a vacant place at the head of the table when the baseball squad gathered for the Jubilation dinner at which the C’s were awarded. A rapid search of the campus failed to reveal a trace of the missing captain. The squad sent to bring him to the dinner found Major Lawrence alternately storming up and down the dismantled room and dropping in helpless dejection into a chair.

During the dinner Larry Kirkland, bravely choking back the lump that persisted in arising in his throat, sat in a seat of an eastbound Overland train, looking out into the darkness of the Sierras and trying to plan his future.

THE END

* * * * *

Transcriber’s Notes:

A few obvious punctuation and typesetting errors have been corrected without note.

[End of _Jimmy Kirkland of the Cascade College Team_ by Hugh S. Fullerton]