Then Gallahan began to get up a little slower each time, but each time he came in as though he were going to kill Nick with his fists. I glanced around at the wide eyes and open mouths.
Suddenly, as though some signal had been passed, three of us grabbed Gallahan. Nick stood to one side, breathing hard, fingering a lump on his jaw. He grinned in a shamefaced fashion and said, “You can’t lick the guy!”
Gallahan sobbed as he tried to twist away from us and get back at Nick. Finally he relaxed. His chest heaving, he looked around and said in a low tone, almost a whisper, “Now give me a shot at Raegen!”
Raegen was ten feet away. He wore a startled expression. Suddenly Gallahan ripped loose from us, stumbled and fell. He wavered when he got up and blinked to focus his eyes. Then he began to move toward Raegen. Sid licked his lips, and began to back away.
Gallahan stopped, swayed, and fell heavily onto his face. We let out a long, pent-up sigh.
Mike’s amplified voice said, “Carry him in. Twice around the field, the rest of you.”
But they only carried Gallahan about fifteen feet. He sat up, rolled off the stretcher and, in a blundering run, caught up with the rest of us, took his two circuits of the field and came in with us.
He was standing in the shower when I heard Blair yell across to Gestrey, “Say, Al, where the hell is Yohannus?”
There was a roar of laughter and I knew that Sir Gallahan was part of the group more than he had ever been before. But I still didn’t have all the answers. I did notice that the boys were being very polite and formal with Sid Raegen.
I knew Raegen wouldn’t let that pass.
There was about an hour between showers and the evening meal. By the time I got to the room, Sir Gallahan was already there. He gave me a crooked grin. One eye was nearly closed and his face was as lumpy as a bag of apples.
“I had you wrong, kid,” I said.
“Thanks, Ed.”
At that moment Nick Toroki came in. He walked over to Gallahan and stuck out his hand. “You licked me, kid. If they hadn’t grabbed you, I wouldn’t have been able to lift a hand when you came in again.”
They shook hands and Gallahan said, “Don’t make me laugh. It hurts my face.”
Shelevat came in a few moments later and said, “Glad Yohannus isn’t on our schedule kid. Sounds like a rough league.”
We sat on the beds and talked about the team chances, and I could see that Sir Gallahan was practically bursting with pride at being considered one of the group.
When a break came in the talk, he said, “You know, I had the wrong angle. I guess I — maybe I was too anxious to get a good slot on the squad.”
“Hell, everybody’s anxious,” Nick said.
“I can’t figure why Mike let you two scrap like that,” I said. Nick gave me an odd look.
Just then Raegen came in. I took one look at his face and knew that there was trouble in the air.
He had a mean and gloating look about him.
“Hi, guys. Say, I’ve just been over in the main house looking up some information.”
Nobody answered him. He flushed a little and said, “Yeah, I was looking up schools and colleges in the almanac. Funny thing, there’s no such a place as Yohannus College. How about that, Gallahan?”
I looked at the kid. His face was crimson, and he was staring down at his clasped hands.
Shelevat looked puzzled. “What’s the pitch, kid?” he asked.
“Shut up!” Toroki snapped.
Sir Gallahan looked quickly at Toroki. “You know?” he asked quietly, turning to Raegen.
“Know what?” Raegen asked. He continued, “You know what I think, guys? I think Gallahan is a phoney. He’s too young to have come out of an industrial league. And he didn’t transfer from a college. There’s only one other place where they play ball like he plays. A prison team.”
When Gallahan looked up, his face was changed. It was a bitter face. And somehow he looked shrunken.
“Okay,” he said wearily. “There’s always a smart guy. I got my school credits on the inside. I got drunk when I was fifteen and woke up in the middle of a gas station hoist that didn’t come off and I drew five. Served four, and got first year college credits on the inside. I wanted to come here, and the guy backing me rigged up the story. So it didn’t work. I was to be Brighteyes from Yohannus. So the hell with it.”
He stood up. “The dean knows about it. Kaydee knows about it. Now you guys know about it. So I guess it won’t work. I might steal your pants while you take showers.” He pushed by Raegen, went to the door. He turned and said, “I’ve got a pro offer. Read about me in the papers.”
The door slammed. Raegen turned toward the door, but Toroki was quicker. Nick spun Raegen around and shoved him back against the wall.
“Have you shot off your mouth about this, Sid?”
Raegen grinned. “Not yet. Good thing I dug it out of him, hey? I don’t want any jailbirds on the squad.”
“What you want, Sid, and what we want, may be a couple of entirely different things.”
“What the hell do you mean?” Sid blustered.
“Just this!” Nick shoved a big fist in his face. “If you ever pop off, Sid, I’ll break you in half. And I’m not kidding about that.”
Nick turned and looked at me and at Shelevat. “That goes for you two guys too.”
“Hell,” Skimmer said. “I’ll help you work out on Sid.”
“And when you two guys are tired of beating on him,” I said, “I’ll work him over a little.”
Raegen licked his lips and looked at each one of us in turn. “You guys are nuts!” he said hoarsely.
“Crazy as bedbugs,” Nick said. “What’s your decision, Mr. Raegen?”
“I... I’ll keep still.”
Nick let him go. The three of us raced down and piled into Skimmer’s car and roared out the main gate and headed toward town.
Gallahan was trudging along just beyond the crest of the first hill. He heard the car, turned and thumbed a ride.
But when he saw who it was, he picked up his bag again and walked on. Shelevat drove ahead, and then he stopped and we got out.
Gallahan’s face was a stubborn mask. His mouth was set in a tight line. “What the hell do you want?”
Nick Toroki grinned. “A little exercise, kid. You want to leave. We don’t want you to leave. So here’s your chance to lick me.”
Sir Gallahan stood and looked at us. Slowly the hard, bitter look dissolved and once more it was the face I had seen when I had first checked in at my assigned room. He looked like an uncertain, but enthusiastic, kid.
“You guys are kidding,” he said, and his voice was uncertain.
Skimmer grinned. “Sure we are. We are smart boys and we take care of ourselves. We’ve got rugged teams on the schedule. Nick and I are in the offensive backfield. If you walk out on us, we lose a good chance to soften up the opposition. So come on, Gallahan, get in and we’ll go back.”
He had a wide grin on his face as we drove back through the big gates and up to the house.
They went inside and I stood by the car for a few moments. Mike Kaydee was strolling around the grounds. He came over. He grinned at me.
“Ed,” he said, “it looks like some of the boys might have managed to learn something.”
I looked him in the eye. “Learned something? I don’t know what you’re talking about. All I learned today was that Nick Toroki messed with a buzz saw.”
He sighed. “Nick’s a good boy. I had a hell of a job talking him into it.”
“The squad looks good,” I said.
“Could be, Ed. Could be.” His eyes were keen. “Maybe we’ll play the brand of ball they do at Yohannus.”
He walked off. I laughed to myself and went in to dinner.