“Little white-haired snake!” exclaimed Cowan.  “Drops me from training just because I make a fumble!  Why, you’ve fumbled, Paul, and so’s Fletcher here; lots of times.  But he doesn’t lay you off!  Oh, dear, no; you’re swells whose names will look well in the line-up for the Robinson game!  But here I’ve played on the team for two years, and now off I go just because I dropped a ball.  It’s rank injustice!

“I suppose he thinks I’ve got to play football here.  If he does he’s away off, that’s all.  I could have gone to Robinson this fall and had everything I wanted.  They guaranteed me a position at guard or tackle, and I wouldn’t have needed to bother with studies as I do here, either.”  The last remark called a smile to Neil’s face, and Cowan unfortunately glanced his way and saw it.

“I dare say if I was willing to toady to Mills and Devoe, and tell everybody they’re the finest football leaders that ever came down the pike, it would be different,” he sneered angrily.  “Maybe then Mills would give me private instruction in goal-kicking and let me black his boots for him.”

Neil closed his book and leaned back in his chair, a little disk of red in each cheek.

“Now, look here, Tom Cowan, let’s have this out,” he said quietly.  “You’re hitting at me, of course—­”

“Oh, keep out, chum,” protested Paul.  “Cowan hasn’t mentioned you once.”

“He doesn’t need to,” answered Neil.  “I understand without it.  But let me tell you, Cowan, that I do not toady to either Mills or Devoe.  I do treat them, however, as I would any one who was in authority over me.  I don’t think merely because I’ve played the game before that I know all the football there is to know.”

“Meaning that I do?” growled Cowan.

“I mean that you’ve got a swelled head, Cowan, and that when Mills said you hadn’t been doing your best he only told the truth, and what every fellow knows.”

“Shut up, Neil!” cried Paul angrily.  “It isn’t necessary for you to pitch into Cowan just because he’s down on his luck.”

“I don’t mind him,” said Cowan, eying Neil with hatred.  “He’s sore about what I said.  I dare say I shouldn’t have said it.  If he’s Mills’s darling—­”

Neil pushed back his chair, and rose to his feet with blazing eyes.

“Kindly get out of here,” he said.  “I’ve had enough of your insults.  This is my room; please leave it!” Cowan stared a moment in surprise, hesitated, threw a glance of inquiry at Paul’s troubled and averted face, and slid from the table.

“Of course you can put me out of your room,” he sneered.  “For that matter, I’m glad to leave it.  I did think, though, that part of the shop was Paul’s, but I dare say he has to humor you.”

“The room’s as much mine as his,” said Paul, “and I want you to stay in it.”  He looked defiantly over at his friend.  Neil had not bargained for a quarrel with Paul, but was too incensed to back down.