“Sure, and they did. It wouldn’t have made any difference if they hadn’t, though—the home scorebook is the official book.”
“What did Jenkins say to that?” asked Taps.
“Why. believe it or not, he accused Greg of marking an extra foul against Bartlett when Greg checked the two books at half time. The Delford manager was too scared to say anything.
“That’s when Greg got sore. I can remember yet—Greg got up and said, ‘You can’t say that about me,’ and then,” Speed laughed at the memory, “Coach Jenkins shoved him, and Greg fell right over backward and lit on his back and there he was—feet sticking right up in the air back of the table.”
“What did the Rock do?” asked Taps.
“Plenty!” broke in Red. “I had a ringside seat for that one. Chip and Tim Murphy had to pull those two guys apart; they haven’t spoken since!”
“How about that!” marveled Taps. “How did it all end?”
“Oh, we finished the game—if you could call it that,” said Speed.
“What happened?”
“Well, after they lost Bartlett we got a big lead on ’em, and then they really started roughing it up.”
“That’s Delford every time,” someone said.
“The officials were calling fouls right and left,” continued Speed, “and pretty soon both teams were down to their last five men. Then, with about ten minutes to go, Delford lost their fifth man on personals and had only four players left. Rock offered to let the fifth man stay in the game, but Jenkins wouldn’t have any part of that. He was sore, and you could hear him ravin’ all over the place. Said he expected that kind of officiating at Valley Falls; that Delford couldn’t win if ten men played.”
“He’s a big crybaby,” Buzz grunted.
“He’s that all right,” nodded Red.
“Rock was too smart for Jenkins, though,” continued Speed. “He left only four of us in the game, too; four Valley Falls players against four Delford men! But that was nothing! About two minutes later Delford lost another man and that left them with only three players on the floor. Then Coach took me out, and that’s the way the game ended—Chip and Hal Bird and Tim Murphy against three of the Delford men—three against three.”
“Who won?” asked Taps.
“We did. The tip-off on the game was the fact that, for the first time I can remember, Rock didn’t give us a pep talk between halves. You see, Delford used the dressing room right next to ours, and Jenkins hollered and screamed at the Delford gang all through the intermission. Coach just sat down with the rest of us and listened—and then when Jenkins finished he said, ‘Well, boys, I can’t compete with that act. Let’s go!’”
“He didn’t give a pep talk at all?” asked Taps.
“Nope!”
“How bad’d you beat them?”
“Ten, fifteen points—something like that.”
“Jenkins sure hates the Rock,” said Chip. “Every time we play them he puts on a show.” He stood up and started out of the room.
“Where do you think you’re going?” asked Taps.
“Got to get down to the Sugar Bowl and clean up the joint. It’s pretty near eleven o’clock.”
“Reminds me,” said Red. “I’ve got two notebooks past due.”
Speed startled them all by crashing the piano keys. “Guess we all better do some studying,” he said.
An hour later, Chip’s chores at the Sugar Bowl having been completed with young Browning’s help, Taps closed the front door quietly and followed Chip through the dimly lit hall and up the stairs. Chip sat down at his study table and shuffled through some papers. “Here’s that English theme I was telling you about,” he said.
“All finished?”
“Just about. It’s terrible!”
Taps sat on the bed, reading the paper and unlacing his shoes. “Guess I might as well stay all night,” he muttered, “folks are all asleep.” He read in silence. After a few minutes he looked up and nodded his head enthusiastically.
“Say, this is good! Where’d you get all the dope?”
“From the book Coach Rockwell loaned me.”
“Well, you’ve sure got a lot of stuff here I never knew about basketball. It’s okay!” As he slipped under the covers, he added, “That oughta go in the Yellow Jacket!”
“I got a kick out of writing it,” said Chip.
Chip doused the lights and crawled into bed. A little later he heard his mother’s footsteps stop in the hall outside the door. She had come to see if he was all right. Even though she retired early, Mrs. Hilton could never rest until Chip was home safe in bed.
Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.
Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».
Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.
Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.
