Всего за 5.99 руб. Купить полную версию
Well, he played it for all it was worth this afternoon, said Allan, smiling. You heard about it, didnt you?
No; what was it? I sat on the side line all afternoon, and waited to get a whack at State University. What did Burley do?
So Allan told him, and Hal laughed until the tears came.
Oh, hes a genius, he is! he said.
After a minute of chuckling, he went on:
Look here, Allan, I think youd rather like him if you got to know him. Hes hes rather a decent sort, after all. I didnt take to him at first, of course, but and I dont say now that hes the sort of chap youd want to ask home and introduce to your people; hes kind of free and easy, and you couldnt be sure he wouldnt drink the catsup out of the bottle or slap your governor on the back but hes well, theres something about him you cant help liking, he ended, with an apologetic tone.
Maybe I would, answered Allan, pleasantly. Hal looked surprised.
Hes given up the class secretaryship, you know, he announced.
Why?
I dont know for sure, but Poor says he told him it was because he didnt think hed be here much after the holidays.
Wheres he going? asked Allan.
Dont know. Funny idea, to come to college for half a year. Maybe
There were footsteps on the porch, the front portal opened with a crash, and an imperative knock sounded on the room door. Allan jumped to his feet. Could it be fire? he wondered, shooting a bewildered glance at Hal. He hurried to the door just as the hammering began again, more violently than before. Hal raised himself uneasily from the Morris chair, prepared for the worst. Allan called, Come in! and the door was flung open.
Entered Tommy Sweet!
You thundering idiot! bawled Hal. I thought it was at least the Dean! You can make more Hello, Burley! Glad to see you.
This is Mr. Burley, Allan, Tommy was saying. Brought him around cause I wanted you to know each other. Mr. Ware Mr. Burley.
Allan felt his hand enveloped in something large and warm and vise-like. He felt his fingers crushed together, thought he could hear the bones breaking and still managed to smile painfully, but politely, the while. Then Burley had dropped his hand and was saying:
Ive wanted to know you ever since I saw you win that running race the other day. Came around here and left a card on you, but I guess you didnt find it.
Allan murmured his appreciation, but remained silent as to the card.
I told Sweet here that youd win that race. Offered to bet him anything he liked. He wouldnt bet, though. Peter Burley took the chair proffered by Hal and carefully lowered himself into it.
They told me you carried me over to the tent, said Allan. Much obliged, Im sure.
Welcome, answered the other, heartily. You didnt weigh anything to mention.
Not as heavy as the freshman team, eh? asked Tommy. Burley looked apologetically around the circle.
I suppose every ones heard of that fool thing? he asked.
Just about every one, I guess, laughed Tommy.
That comes of trying to do something you dont know how to do. This fellow Smiths here came around to my shack the other day and said the class wanted me to play football because I weigh some. Well, ginger! I didnt know anything about the thing, and I told him so. But he would have it that I must play. And look what happens! I make a measly show of myself right out there on the range in front of the whole outfit!
No harm done, said Hal. You did what you tried to.
No, I didnt. There was a little cuss there in a Derby hat wouldnt let me. I was going to take that half-backed fellow down to the other end and throw him over the line. Thats what I was going to do. They didnt tell me I had to slap him on the chest and butt him with my head.
But, you see, explained Allan, he called Down just when you began to lug him off.
Thats what they said. I was supposed to let go of him when he said that, but I just thought he was throwing up the sponge and wanted me to let him down. If Id known he could have spoiled it by yelling Down, Id have held his mouth shut.
This summoned laughter, and Burley glanced around at the others in wide surprise. Allan felt surprise, too. Was Burley really quite so unsophisticated as he seemed, he wondered, or His glance met Burleys. The big fellows right eyelid dropped slowly in a portentous wink. Allan smiled. His question was answered. While the others entered into an explanation and discussion of the rules and ethics of football, Allan studied the Westerner.
Peter Burley looked to be, and was, twenty years of age. In form he was remarkably large; he was an inch over six feet tall, and weighed 203 pounds. Nowhere about him was there evidence of unnecessary fat, but he was deep of chest and wide of shoulder and hips. His hands and feet were large, and the latter were encased in enormously heavy shoes.
When it came to features, Burley was undeniably good-looking in a certain breezy, unconventional way. (Allan soon found that Burleys breeziness and absence of convention were not confined to his looks.) Burleys hair was brown, of no particular shade, and his eyes matched his hair. His nose was big and straight and his mouth well shaped. His cheeks were deeply tanned, but showed little color beneath. His usual expression was one of careless, whimsical good nature, but there was an earnest and kindly gleam in the brown eyes that lent character to the face. He talked with a drawl, and pronounced many words in a way quite novel to Allan. But and this Allan discovered later when occasion required, he was capable of delivering his remarks in a sharp, incisive way that made the words sound like rifle-shots. At the present moment he was talking with almost exaggerated deliberateness.
Sweet says you and he went to a preparatory school together, he said, turning to Allan. I wish my old man had sent me to one of those things. What was your school like?
Allan told him of Hillton, and Tommy and Hal chimed in from time to time and helped him along. It was a large subject and one they liked, and half an hour passed before they had finished. Burley listened with evident interest, and only interrupted occasionally to ask a question.
Howd you happen to come to Erskine? asked Tommy, when the subject had been exhausted. Burley took one big knee into his hands and considered the question for a moment in silence.
Well, Ill tell you, he said at last. You see, I had a go at the university over in Boulder; thats near Denver, he explained, parenthetically. But we didnt get on very well together, the faculty and me, and I was always turning up at the ranch. Well, the old man got tired of seeing me around so much; said hed paid for my keep at the university, and Id ought to stay there and get even with the game. But, ginger! the corral wasnt big enough. Every time Id try to be good, something would come along and happen, and first thing I knew, Id be roaming at large again. So the old man said he guessed what I needed was to get far enough away from home so I wouldnt back-trail so often; said there wasnt much doing when I went to college Monday morning and showed up for feed Thursday night. First he tried taking my railroad pass away; but when I couldnt scare up the money, I rode home on a freight. I got to know the train crews on the D. & R. G. pretty well long toward spring. When vacation came, we all agreed to call it off the faculty and the old man and me. So I went up to Rico and fooled around a mine there all summer. When