Yet, as I've been through with it once, one more time can't hurt me---much." Thomp made an eloquent pause.

Then, reaching his right hand aloft, his eyes turned toward the sky, he recited, in a deep bass voice: "I have pledged my honor, as a gridiron specialist, that Gridley H.S.shall lug away all the points of the game from Cobber Second.

If we fail, then may everyone who espies me mutter: 'There goes a dub!' May the word 'dub' haunt me in my waking hours, and pursue me, mounted on the nightmares of slumber! May my best friends ever afterward refer to me only as a 'dub.' For if I fail the school, then am I truly a 'dub,' and there is no help for me.

If I fail, then may I never, so long as life lasts, be permitted to lose sight of the patent fact that I _am_ a 'dub'! So help me _Bob_!" A roar of laughter and approval went up from all who heard.

Coach Morton tried hard to preserve his gravity, but his sides shook, and his face reddened from the effort.