Andy at Yale Part 19

"That's so. Been out on the field?"

"Yes. I wonder you don't go in for that."

"Too much like work. I might try for the crew or the nine. I'm afraid of spoiling my manly beauty by getting somebody's boot heel in the eye. By the way, you don't look particularly handsome. What has somebody been doing to you?"

"Nothing more than usual. It's all in the game."

"Then excuse me! Are you coming to Burke's? You can take sarsaparilla, you know. Thad and his bunch are coming."

"Sure, I don't mind trailing along. Got to get at a little of that infernal Greek, though."

"All right, I'll wait. The fellows will be along soon."

And as Andy did a little of necessary studying he could not help wondering where Dunk would end. A fine young fellow, with plenty of money, and few responsibilities. Yale--indeed any college--offered numberless temptations for such as he.

"Well, I can't help it," thought Andy. "He's got to look out for himself."

And again there seemed to come to him that whisper:

"Am I my brother's keeper?"

Surely Dunk was a college brother.

Andy had scarcely finished wrestling with his Homer when there came a series of loud and jolly hails:

"Oh, you Dunk!"

"Stick out your top, Blair!"

"Here come the boys!" exclaimed Dunk. "Now for some fun!"

The three friends trooped in.

"Some little practice to-day, eh, Blair?" remarked Bob Hunter.

"And some little tackle Gaffington gave you, too!" added Thad.

"Yes, but Andy got back at him good and proper, and put him out of the game," remarked Ted. "It was a beaut!"

"Did you and Mortimer have a run-in?" asked Dunk quickly.

"Oh, no more than is usual in practice," replied Andy, lightly. "He shook me up and I came back at him."

"If that's football, give me a good old-fas.h.i.+oned fight!" laughed Dunk.

"Well, if we're going to have some fun, come on."

As they were leaving the room they were confronted by two other students. Andy recognized one as Isaac Stein, more popularly known as Ikey, a soph.o.m.ore, and Hashmi Yatta, a j.a.panese student of more than usual brilliancy.

"Oh boys, such a business!" exclaimed Ikey. He was a Jew, and not ashamed of it, often making himself the b.u.t.t of the many expressions used against his race. On this account he was more than tolerated--he had many friends out of his own faith. "Such a business!" he went on, using his hands, without which he used to say he could not talk.

"Well, what is it now?" asked Dunk with good-humored patience. "Neckties or silk s.h.i.+rts?" for Ikey was working his way through college partly by acting as agent for various tradesmen, getting a commission on his sales. Dunk was one of his best customers.

"Such a business!" went on Ikey, mocking himself. "It is ornaments, gentlemans! Beautiful ornaments from the Flowery Kingdom. Such vawses--such vawses! Is it not, my friend Hashmi Yatta?" and he appealed to the j.a.panese.

"Of a surely they are beautiful," murmured the little yellow lad. "There is some very good cloisonne, some kisku, and one or two pieces in awaji-yaki. Also there is some satsuma, if you would like it."

"And the prices!" interrupted Ikey. "Such bargains! Come, you shall see.

It is a crime to take them!"

"What's it all about?" asked Dunk. "Have you fellows been looting a crockery store?"

"No, it is Hashmi here," said the Jew. "I don't know whether his imperial ancestors willed them to him, or sent them over as a gift, but they are wonderful. A whole packing case full, and he'll sell them dirt cheap."

"What do we want of 'em?" asked Andy.

"Want of 'em, you beggar? Why they'll be swell ornaments for your room!"

That was an appeal no freshman could resist.

"What do you say?" asked Dunk, weakly. "Shall we take a look, Andy?"

"I don't mind."

"You will never regret it!" vowed Ikey. "It is wonderful. Such bargains!

It is a shame. I wonder Hashmi can do it."

"They are too many for me to keep," murmured the j.a.p.

"And so he will sell some," interrupted Ikey, eagerly.

"And pay you a commission for working them off, I suppose," spoke Thad.

Ikey looked hurt.

"Believe me," he said, earnestly, "believe me, what little I get out of it is a shame, already. It is nothing. But I could not see the bargains missed. Come, we will have a look at them. You will never regret it!"

"You ought to be in business--not college," laughed Dunk, as he slipped into a mackinaw. "Come on, Andy, let's go and get stuck good and proper."

"Stuck! Oh, such a business!" gasped Ikey, with upraised hands. "They are bargains, I tell you!"

CHAPTER XIV

DUNK REFUSES