“You can’t do anything with that sweater, Curt,” he said. “It binds your arms too much. It isn’t cold to-day. Leave your sweater here.”
“But I haven’t any vest on!”
“You don’t need a vest. That’s it. Hello! where’s your belt?”
“I wear suspenders,” Kendall replied.
“So I see. Take ’em off and I’ll find a belt for you. Here’s one of Teller’s.”
“Won’t he mind my using it?” asked Kendall doubtfully as he removed his suspenders.
“He will esteem it an honor,” answered Ned gravely. “There you are. Slip your coat on again. Isn’t that more comfortable? Now, about shoes.”
[148]
“These are all right; they’re quite easy.”
“They look it! Never mind, I guess they’ll have to do. I haven’t an extra pair. Now then, come along.”
Kendall had hoped that they would find the links deserted, since he didn’t at all fancy making a public display of his awkwardness and ignorance, but he was doomed to disappointment. At least a half-dozen couples were making the rounds, while four or five fellows were loitering about the first tee. One of them was the boy who had talked with Ned at the football game. He was George Kirk, a good-looking Second Class fellow. Kirk brandished a golf club and hailed Ned with joy.
“Want to play a round, Ned?” he shouted as they approached.
“Thanks, George, but I’m going to show Burtis here something about the game. You fellows ever met?”
They shook hands, Kirk very affably. He showed no surprise at Ned’s announcement. In fact, he felt none, for he had become quite used to Ned’s vagaries.
“Mind if I go around with you?” he asked of Kendall. Kendall hesitated and glanced at Ned. The latter shook his head:
“Can’t have you, old man. This is Burtis’s[149] first lesson and he doesn’t want a gallery. Where’s Morgan?”
“He’s over there with Jack Simpson. I thought Wainwright might show up, but he hasn’t come yet.”
“Pete’s gone to Greenburg to the dentist. You’ll find someone, though. Come on, Curt. Here’s a ball for you. And here’s a driver. It is an old one of mine, but it’s a dandy.” He made Ned’s tee for him, placed him in position and pointed out the first hole. “Now then, just swing your club back as though you didn’t care, keep your eye on the ball and hit it.”
“I can’t,” muttered Kendall nervously, darting a glance at the little audience who were watching proceedings.
“Yes, you can. Now let me tell you something. These fellows have all had to learn just as you’re learning. You won’t do any worse than they did the first time. Go ahead now. I don’t care where the ball goes, only hit it. Easy back. That’s right. Now down—”
Kendall’s driver swished through the air and the ball, disturbed by the passing club, rolled off the tee. Kendall smiled foolishly. The onlookers smiled too, but more with Kendall than at him. Ned picked up the ball and replaced it.
“All right. Try again. But don’t try to kill[150] it, Curt. Just give it a nice little rap. And keep your eyes on it all the time.”
Kendall, very flustered, raised his driver again, swung down, dug the head of it in the earth some four inches behind the ball.
“You weren’t looking at the ball,” said Ned severely. “Once more now, and keep your eyes on the ball.”
Perhaps it was only luck, but Kendall’s next attempt resulted in a very clean forty-yard drive, and the glow of satisfaction that came to him more than atoned for what had gone before.
“Good stuff!” said Ned, and the others murmured approval. Kendall tried to dissemble his delight and drew aside to make room for Ned.
“Watch the way I do it,” said Ned. Kendall watched, but it is doubtful if he learned much. Ned’s club went back for a full swing, swished down, there was a clean click and away sailed the white ball high and far to drop safely over the first bunker.
“Rotten!” said Ned.
“Not so bad; a little too high,” observed Kirk. “Good luck, Burtis.”
Kendall followed Ned to where his ball had fallen and Ned handed him a midiron.
“You’re going to play with three clubs until you get the hang of it. This is a midiron, Curt.[151] Now, as you haven’t any tee to help you get under the ball, you’ve got to hit back of it; try to clip a bit of the turf. And the swing is different. Let me show you.” Ned illustrated. “Don’t try to hit very hard; just try to put the ball up near the bunker.”
“Is that mound the bunker?” asked Kendall.
“It is. Now see the way I swing this. Get it? Keep that wrist stiff. No, you’re hunching up your right shoulder. Don’t do that. And don’t set your muscles all stiff like that. Relax! That’s the stuff! Now then, have a shot.”
Kendall missed the ball entirely twice and finally topped it so that it trickled along for about twelve feet. The next time he buried the whole head of his club six inches behind the ball and looked up apologetically at Ned.
“I’m an awful duffer,” he said.
“Well, you’re learning the talk, anyway,” laughed Ned. “We’re all awful duffers when we start. Go ahead now. But try and keep your eyes on the place you want to hit. That’s half the secret of golf, Curt; keep your eye on the ball. And it’s the hardest thing of all to learn. See if you can’t give that a nice little rap that will put it over the bunker.”
And Kendall did, and again the glow of satisfaction[152] spread through him. He laughed nervously.
“I thought I was going to miss it entirely that time,” he said. “But I did keep my eyes on the ball, Tooker.”
“You sure did. But don’t call me Tooker. It’s an awful name to have to listen to. Call me Ned.”
“You said the other night that your name was Ted,” laughed Kendall.
“Ted, Ned or Ed; it doesn’t matter. Only never Tooker. And now here’s a bit of information for your future guidance. Never climb over a bunker, Curt; it breaks it down. Further along you will observe a nice little passage left for you; see?”
Kendall saw and started for the break, supposing that Ned was following. As he went through he looked back. Ned was not there. Instead he was in the act of jumping from the top of the bunker.
“I thought you said I mustn’t do that,” said Kendall.
“You mustn’t,” replied Ned gravely. “Ever.”
“But—why—you did it!”
“And so will you when you’ve played longer. Now, then, you’re away.”
“I’m—what?” asked Kendall.
“Away; your ball’s farthest from the hole.[153] That means that you play first. Give it a good clean swipe this time.”
Kendall managed to send the ball some twenty yards and looked at Ned for approbation. But Ned shook his head.
“All wrong. You let your club slip in your hands and you brought your shoulder up. Watch this.”
Click! Away sailed Ned’s ball, straight and low for the distant green. It struck, bounded and rolled and finally trickled to within some six yards of the flag. Kendall sighed. He had a lot to learn, he feared, before he could ever equal that performance. But he struggled on and finally his ball lay almost beside Ned’s. Then he was given another and quite different implement which Ned explained was a putter. And now—luck again very probably—Kendall distinguished himself by holing out in some marvelous manner in one!
“Well, I’ll be jiggered!” breathed Ned softly. It took him two to make the hole. “Four,” he said. “That’s the best I’ve ever done this hole in. That iron shot of mine was a dandy.”
“What do you mean by ‘four’?” asked Kendall.
“Four strokes.”
“Oh, and what did I make?”
[154]
“I think you were sixteen,” replied Ned carelessly. “You did fairly well, Curt.”
Kendall thought a minute. Then, “Sixteen to your four,” he murmured. “Say, Took—I mean Ned—how many shots would I have taken if I’d done poorly?”
Ned laughed. “You might have taken thirty,” he answered. Then he clapped the disconsolate Kendall on the back. “Cheer up, you’re doing fine. It takes time and we’re all duffers at first.”
“I guess I’ll watch you for a while,” said Kendall sadly.
“I guess you’ll take this driver and come over here and knock the spots off this ball,” answered Ned. “And no mutiny, if you please, Mr. Bendall Kurtis.”
“But—but it must be very tiresome for you,” said Kendall.
“Don’t you worry about me. I’m as happy as a clam as long as I can swing a golf club. Don’t get discouraged, Curt. Remember that Bome wasn’t ruilt in a day.”
“Remember what?” asked Kendall, puzzled.
“Why, that Rome wasn’t duilt in a bay,” answered Ned. “Now then, here we go!”
They played five holes that afternoon, and after that Ned made Kendall practice swinging his club for ten minutes or so at the fifth tee. And then[155] he made him drive several times, always patiently correcting and explaining. When Kendall’s first lesson in golf was finally over he went back to Clarke with an unwonted aching in his arms and shoulders. There was only one more lesson that week, for Ned had to look after the work of the Golf Team. But on Wednesday, Kendall did rather better and was terribly proud and delighted. Ned had insisted on Kendall’s using his spare clubs and suggested that the novice could learn a good deal by playing a few holes alone. Kendall tried that on Thursday and did so poorly, seeming to have lost what little science he had attained, that he went home quite discouraged. On Friday, Ned sought him after school and announced that they were going to Greenburg to have their hair cut.
“But I can’t go,” said Kendall. “I’m on probation, you see.”
“I thought of that and so I saw Collins and got permission for you to leave school for two hours. Come on now.”
Ned’s hair didn’t really require trimming, but he went through with it, and he was glad he had afterwards, since by doing so he had brought about the shearing of Kendall’s abundant locks. Kendall looked at least twenty-five per cent. better when he left the barber shop and Ned, whose[156] courage had been failing him, took heart again. “If,” he told himself, “a mere hair-cut will work that improvement in him, what will a decent suit of clothes do?”
They strolled along the street, looking in at windows and enjoying themselves hugely, until they reached Wallace’s. There Ned stood treat to a wonderful concoction called a “maple-nut sundae.” If you don’t think it was good, try it yourself some time. It was vanilla ice cream with chopped walnuts and maple sugar lavishly sprinkled over the top of it. It was so good that Kendall begged to be allowed to stand treat in turn, and so they each had another glass of the delectable mixture. Then Ned observed carelessly:
“I wonder if you’d mind walking down to the New York Store with me, Curt?”
“Of course not. What sort of a place is it?”
“Don’t you know it? It’s the best clothing store here. I want to see what they’ve got there. I’ll have to be buying a winter suit some day.”
Once inside, the rest was far easier than Ned had dared hope. He had some ten or fifteen suits produced for their inspection and asked Kendall’s opinion and advice constantly. Then he “jollied” the clerk until that young gentleman would have pulled half the stock down for them. At last Ned remarked casually:
[157]
“This wouldn’t be a bad chance for you to get rigged out with some new togs, Curt. How do you like this?”
“I hadn’t thought of buying any new clothes,” said Kendall. But the idea, once presented, had attractions. He looked at the neat gray suit Ned was displaying and thought that he would like to see himself in it. Besides, he had never before really shopped for himself and the sudden realization of his independence was oddly exhilarating. He looked longingly at the clothes. Then he tentatively held a coat up to the light, Ned observing him out of the corners of his shrewd eyes.
“That one you’ve got there would look fine on you, Curt,” he said. “Why don’t you just slip it on?”
“Oh, no!” exclaimed Kendall.
“Go ahead! There’s a room right back of you. Where are the trousers?”
“Those would be a little large for the gentleman,” said the clerk. “Just a moment, please.” In a jiffy he was back again and Kendall, almost before he realized it, was behind a curtain in a little closet-like apartment with the gray suit on his arm. When he emerged Ned exhibited the utmost enthusiasm:
“My word, Curt, but that suit was made for[158] you! And fit! Why, it couldn’t be better, could it?” He appealed to the salesman.
“It would require almost no alteration,” replied the latter. “Perhaps the least bit off the sleeves. And the buttons might be set over a trifle.”
“It—it doesn’t look badly, does it?” murmured Kendall, turning and twisting in front of a long mirror.
“Bad! My dear misguided youth, it becomes you horribly! Don’t hesitate a minute; take it along!”
“Oh, but—but—I hadn’t thought of buying!” explained Kendall.
“Think now, then. You don’t want to lose that suit, Curt. If you put off getting it someone will take it.”
“There are probably more of them,” answered Kendall, torn between his desire for the suit and the promptings of economy.
“That’s the only one of your size, sir,” said the clerk. “If you really think of getting it, sir, I’d advise you to do it to-day.”
“We-ell—” began Kendall.
“You can make the alterations and deliver it to-morrow, can’t you?” Ned asked. The clerk agreed that he could.
Then a man whom the clerk referred to as a[159] bushelman appeared with a tape measure and a square of chalk and the die was cast.
“But I haven’t enough money with me,” whispered Kendall to Ned.
“That’s all right. They’ll charge it to you if you like, or you can pay them when they deliver it.”
“I’d rather do that,” said Kendall. “It’s twelve dollars, isn’t it?”
“Twelve-fifty. Want anything else to-day?”
“Oh, no!”
“Then we’d better be hitting the trail. We’ve only got twenty minutes to get back in.”
“It’s funny about that suit,” mused Kendall after they were across the bridge. “I hadn’t any sort of idea of buying anything when I went in with you. You were the one who was looking for clothes, Ned, and you didn’t buy a thing!”
“I was just looking. You certainly surprised me, Curt. I hadn’t any idea you’d be such a sport. It’s funny how things happen like that. Sometimes a fellow hasn’t any idea of doing a thing, and then, first thing he knows, he’s gone and done it! Queer, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” murmured Kendall. “But—it’s a mighty good-looking suit of clothes, isn’t it?”