CHAPTER XXV
TIM GOES OVER
COACH ROBEY put his best foot forward when the first period started bypresenting the strongest line-up he had. Fortunately, Brimfield hadreached the Claflin game with every first-string man in top shape,something that doesn't often happen with a team. There was CaptainEdwards at left end, Thayer at left tackle, Gilbert at left guard,Thursby at centre, Hall at right guard, Crewe at right tackle, Holt atright end, Carmine at quarter, St. Clair at left half, Otis at righthalf and Rollins at full.
Opposed to them was a team fully their equal in age, weight andexperience. The Claflin forwards were a bit taller and rangier, andtheir centre, unlike Thursby, was below rather than above average size.Behind their line, the four players were, with the exception of Grady,full-back, small and light. But they were known to be fast and heady andClaflin didn't make the mistake of underestimating their ability. Theleft half, Cox, was a broken-field runner of renown as well asClaflin's best goal-kicker. Perhaps it would have been difficult thatfall to have picked two teams to oppose each other that were more evenlymatched than those representing the Maroon-and-Grey and the Blue.
For the first few minutes of play each eleven seemed to be feeling outits opponent. Two exchanges of punts gained ground for neither side.Brimfield got her backfield working then on her twenty yards and St.Clair and Tim tried each side of the blue line and in two downs gained ascant six yards. Rollins punted out at Claflin's forty-seven. The Bluegot past Hall for two and slid off Holt for three more. The next rushfailed and Claflin punted to Carmine on the fifteen. The Blue's endswere down on Carmine and he was stopped for a five-yard gain. Rollinstried a forward pass to Edwards, but threw short and the ball grounded.Tim Otis ran the left end for four and, on a delayed pass, Rollinsheaved himself through centre for the distance, and Brimfield cheeredloudly when the linesmen pulled up stakes and trailed the chain tenyards nearer the centre of the field.
A second forward pass was caught by Holt, but he was brought down for ascant three-yard gain. Once more Rollins attempted the centre of theblue line, but this time he was stopped short. On third down Rollinspunted and Claflin caught on her forty and ran the ball back to themiddle of the field. Claflin then found Crewe for four yards andcompleted her distance on a straight plunge between Gilbert and Thayer.It was the Blue's turn to cheer then and she performed valiantly.Claflin tried Edwards's end, but made nothing of it, poked Cox pastCrewe for a couple of yards, made three around Holt and then punted. St.Clair misjudged the distance and the ball went over his head and therewas a scamper to the goal line. Carmine finally fell on the ball for atouchback and the excitement in the stands subsided. Brimfield smashedOtis at the Blue's centre and reached the twenty-five-yard line. St.Clair made three on a skin-tackle play at the right and Rollins got thedistance on a plunge after a fake-kick. Brimfield again made first downon the forty-two yards and her supporters howled gleefully. A momentlater they had new cause for rejoicing when Rollins pegged the ballacross the field to Edwards and the Maroon-and-Grey's captain scamperedand dodged along the side of the field for thirteen yards before he wastackled. Time was called for a Claflin back and Brimfield drew off fora consultation, the result of which was seen in the next play.
Carmine called Gilbert to the right side of centre, the backs spreadthemselves in wide formation ten yards behind the line and SteveEdwards, as the first signal began, ran back, straightened out as theball was snapped, raced along behind his forwards and swept around hisright end. Claflin's right end and half-back plunged outside of Thayer,were met by St. Clair and Rollins, and Carmine, having taken the ball ona long pass from Thursby, raced past them and then swung quickly in andfound an almost clear field ahead.
Two white lines passed under his twinkling feet and then, near thetwenty, he was challenged by a Claflin back. Carmine eluded him, crosseda third line, found himself confronted by the Blue's quarter, attemptedto slip by on the outside, was tackled and borne struggling across theside line and deposited forcibly on the ground.
When the ball was stepped in by the referee it was set down some fourinches inside the fifteen-yard line. In the stands and along the side ofthe field Brimfield was cheering triumphantly, imploringly, and wavingher banners. The linesmen scampered in obedience to the referee's wavingarm.
"First down!" shouted the official. "All right, Brimfield? Ready,Claflin?" The whistle piped again.
Rollins was stopped squarely on a try at right guard and Otis made ascant three past the left tackle. Under the shadow of her goal-posts,Claflin was digging her cleats in the turf and fighting hard. Rollinswent back. "Get through, Claflin! Block this kick!" cried the Blue'squarter-back. "_Get through! Get through!_" Back went the ball fromThursby, a trifle high but straight enough, Rollins poised it, swung hisleg, and then, tucking the pigskin under his arm, sprang away to theleft. Shouts of alarm, cries of warning, the hurried rush of feet andrasping of canvas! Bodies crashed together and went down. Rollins, atthe ten yards now, side-stepped and got past a blue-legged defender,turned in and went banging straight into the melee. Arms clutched athim. He was stopped momentarily. Then he wrested free, plunged on foranother yard and went to earth.
"Second down!" cried the referee when he had bored through the pile ofsquirming bodies and found the ball. He glanced along the five-yardline, set the pigskin to earth again, and "About two feet to go!" headded. Brimfield was shouting incessantly now, standing and waving."_Touchdown! Touchdown! Touchdown!_" Across the field Claflin sent backa dogged chant: "_Hold 'em, Claflin! Hold 'em, Claflin! Hold 'em,Claflin!_"
But surely Claflin couldn't do that! It seemed too much to ask orexpect. Otis made it first down off left tackle, placing the ball on thethree yards. Before the next play could be started the period ended andthe teams flocked to the water pails and then tramped down to the otherend of the field. The cheering never paused, even if the playing did.Childers, red-faced and perspiring, kept the Brimfield section busyevery instant. "Once more, now! A long cheer with nine 'Brimfields'!That's good! Keep it up! We're going to score, fellows! Let's have itagain! All into it!"
Only three yards to go and four downs to do it! Claflin lined updesperately, her forwards digging their toes barely inside their lastline, her backfield men skirmishing anxiously about behind it. "Push 'emback, Claflin! You can do it! Don't give 'em an inch! Stop 'em righthere, fellows! Low, low, get _low_, you fellows! Charge into 'em andsmother this play!" The Claflin quarter, pale of face, thumped crouchingbacks and watched the foe intently.
"Put it over now!" shrilled Carmine. "Here we go! Get down there, Hall!Signals!"
Rollins leaped forward, took the ball from Carmine and smashed straightahead. There was a moment of doubt. His plunging body stopped, went on,stopped, was borne back.
"Second down! Two and a half to go!"
Again the signals, the line shifted, Claflin changed to meet the shift.St. Clair slewed across and slammed past the Claflin left tackle. Butthe secondary defence had him in the next instant and he was thrust,fighting, back and still back. But he had gained. "A yard and a half!"proclaimed the referee.
"You've got to do it, Brimfield!" shouted Edwards intensely. "Don't letthem get the jump on you like that! Get into it, Crewe! Watch that man,Gilbert! Come on now! Put it over!"
"Signals!" shrieked Carmine. "Make it go this time! Over with it!"
Back went Rollins, hands outstretched. "Fake!" shouted Claflin. "Watchthe ball! Watch the ball!"
Rollins's arms fell, empty, as St. Clair grabbed the pigskin and sweptwide to the right. "_In! In!_" cried Carmine. St. Clair turned and shottoward the broken line. His interference did its part, but the Claflinleft end had fooled Holt and it was that blue-legged youth who got St.Clair and thumped him to the sod. An anxious, breathless momentfollowed. Brimfield called for time and St. Clair, on his back, kickedand squirmed while they pumped the air back into his lungs. The referee,kneeling over the ball, squinted along the line. Then:
"Fourth down and about two to go!" he announce
d.
St. Clair had lost a half-yard! Claflin cheered weakly. Steve Edwardsand Carmine consulted.
"We'd better kick it over," said Carmine. "They're getting the jump onus every time, Steve." Carmine's voice was husky and he had to gasp hiswords out. Steve, panting like an engine, shook his head.
"We need the touchdown," he said. "We'll put it over. Try 11. Tim canmake it."
St. Clair walked back to his place. The whistle sounded again. "Come on,Brimfield!" gasped Carmine. "This is your last chance! If you don't doit this time you'll never do it! Play like you meant it! Stop yourfooling and show 'em football! Every man into this and _make it go_!Hall over! Signals!" Hall pushed his way to the left of the line.Claflin shuffled to meet the change. "Signals! 83--38--11--106!"
"_Signals!_" cried St. Clair. Carmine turned on him, snarling. "Use yourbean! Change signals! Hall over! 61--16--11--37! 61--16--11----"
Back shot the ball to the quarter. Off sped St. Clair around his end,followed by Rollins. Carmine crouched, back to the line, while hecounted five. Then Tim Otis shot forward, took the delayed pass, jammedthe ball against his stomach and went in past Thursby on the right.
Tim struck the line as if shot out of a gun. There was no hole there,but Tim made one. If the secondary defence, overanxious, had not beenfooled by that fake attack at their end Tim would never have gained afoot. But as it was Claflin was caught napping in the centre of herline. Tim banged against a brawny guard, Carmine, following him through,added impetus, the Claflin line buckled inward! Shouts and grunts,stifled groans of despair from the yielding blue line! Then Brimfieldclosed in behind Tim and he was borne off his feet and on and over tofall at last in a chaos of struggling bodies well across the goal line!
The ball went over to the right of the goal and Carmine decided on apunt-out. Unfortunately, Thayer juggled the catch and so Brimfield losther try-at-goal. But six points looked pretty big just then andcontinued to look big all the rest of the half and during the succeedingintermission. Brimfield's supporters were confident and happy. They sangand cheered and laughed, and the sun, sinking behind the wooded ridge,cast long golden beams on the flaunting maroon banners.
And then the teams came trotting back once more and cheers thunderedforth from opposing stands. Howard had taken St. Clair's place, it wasseen, and Claflin had replaced her right guard. But otherwise the teamswere unchanged. Brimfield kicked off and Claflin brought her supportersto their feet by running the ball back all the way to theforty-five-yard line. That was Cox, the fleet-footed and elusive, andthe Blue's left half got a mighty cheer from his friends and generousapplause from the enemy. After that Claflin tried a forward pass andgained another down, and then, from near the middle of the field,marched down to Brimfield's thirty-three before she was stopped. TheMaroon-and-Grey got the ball on downs by an inch or two only.
Brimfield tried the Claflin ends out pretty thoroughly and with Otis andHoward carrying, took back most of Claflin's gain. But a forward passfinally went to a Claflin end instead of Holt and the tables weresuddenly turned. It was the Blue's ball on Brimfield's forty-six then,and Claflin opened her bag of tricks. Just how Cox got through thecentre of the Brimfield line no one ever explained satisfactorily, butget through he did, and after he was through he romped past Otis andRollins and raced straight for the goal. Carmine and Howard closed in onhim and it was Carmine who brought him down at last on the twelve yards.
How Claflin shouted and triumphed then! The Blue came surging down thefield to line up against the astounded enemy, determination writtenlarge on every countenance. A plunge at Gilbert gained a yard and wasfollowed by a three-yard gain off Holt. Then Claflin fumbled andrecovered for a two-yard loss and, with eight to go on fourth down,decided that a goal from field was the best try. And, although Brimfieldtried hard to get through to the nimble-footed Cox, and did smear theBlue's line pretty fairly, the ball went well and true across the bar,and the 0 on the score-board was changed to a 3!
CHAPTER XXVI
LEFT GUARD GILBERT
THAT finished the scoring in the third period. All that Claflin could dowas to bring back Brimfield's punts and try desperately to find holes inthe maroon-and-grey line that weren't there. Both teams were showing theeffects of hard playing, and when the third quarter ended substituteswere hurried in from both benches. For Brimfield, McPhee relievedCarmine, Lee went in for Holt and Sturges for Crewe. Claflin put in anew right end, a fresh full-back and returned her original right guardto the line-up.
McPhee brought instructions from Coach Robey. Brimfield was to hold whatshe had and play the kicking game. If she got within the Blue'sthirty-yard line she was to let Rollins try a drop-kick.
Rollins punted regularly on second down and just as regularly Claflinrushed until the fourth and then punted back. After five minutes ofplay, during which the ball went back and forth from one thirty-yardline to the other, it dawned on Claflin that she was making noprogress. A new full-back trotted in and displayed his ability bysending the ball over McPhee's head on his first attempt. Fortunately,though, the punt, while long, was much too low, and McPhee had plenty oftime to go after the pigskin, gather it in and run back a dozen yardsbefore the Claflin ends reached him. But after that McPhee playedfurther back and Rollins put still more power into his drives.
With almost ten minutes of the final period gone, Claflin, growndesperate, tried what forward passing would do. The first time, she lostthe ball to Thayer, and Clint got ten yards before he was thrown, butthe second attempt went better and Cox, who made the catch, ran acrossthree white lines and only stopped when Edwards dragged him down frombehind. Claflin got another first down by two plunges at the right ofthe opponent's line and a wide end-run. Then a penalty set her backfifteen yards and she had to punt after two ineffectual attempts atrushing. Otis got through for five yards and then Rollins punted again.
The head linesman announced five minutes to play. On the stands thespectators were beginning to depart. Claflin was back on her thirty-fiveyards, banging desperately at the maroon-and-grey line, desperately anda bit hopelessly. A forward pass was knocked down by Captain Edwards, anassault at the left of the Brimfield line was smeared badly, Cox triedthe other end and was laid low for a loss. Claflin punted.
Howard, on a double pass, swept around the enemy's left for fifteenyards and then squirmed past tackle for six more. Rollins kicked toClaflin's ten and Edwards nailed the Blue's quarter before he couldmove. Brimfield cheered encouragingly. But Claflin, after getting fouraround Sturges, punted out of danger to Brimfield's forty-seven.
"Three minutes!" announced the timekeeper.
Otis got two at centre and Rollins again fell back to kick. The ballcame to him low and he juggled it. Claflin poured through the right ofthe line, the ball bounded back from some upthrown arm and went dancingalong the field. Blue players and maroon dashed after it. Hall almosthad it, but was toppled aside by a Claflin man. Carmine dived for it andmissed. Then Tim Otis and a Claflin forward dropped upon itsimultaneously and struggled for its possession. Tim always maintainedthat he got more of it than his opponent, and got it first, but thereferee awarded it to Claflin and dismayedly Brimfield gatheredtogether and lined up only twenty yards from her goal!
The runner smashed into sight, wild-faced for an instantbefore he put his head down and charged in]
"Two minutes, fellows!" shouted the Claflin quarter-back exultantly."We've got time to do it! Come on now, come on! We can win it right now!All together, Claflin! We've got them on the run! They're all-in!They're ready to quit!"
The Claflin full-back faked a kick and circled around Lee's end for asix-yard gain. Then the Blue's right half plugged the line and got threemore past Hall. It was one to go on third down. Another attack on Hallwas pushed back, but Claflin made it first down by sending Cox squirmingaround Thayer. The ball was on the eleven yards now. It was Brimfield'sturn to know the fear of defeat. Edwards implored and bullied. Claflinbanged at Gilbert for a yard. A quarter-back run caught Steve Edwardsnappin
g and put the pigskin on the seven yards. Brimfield's adherents,massed along the side line, shouted defiantly. Across the darkening,trampled field, the Claflin cohorts were imploring a touchdown.
"Third down! Six to go!" shouted the referee, hurrying out of the way.
"On side, Claflin right end and tackle!" warned the umpire.
The signals came again and the Claflin full-back smashed into the leftof the opposing team. But it was like striking a stone wall that time.Perhaps the ball nestled a few inches nearer the goal, but no more thanthat. It was Don who bore the brunt of that attack and after thepiled-up bodies had been pulled aside he and the Claflin full-backremained on the ground. On came the trainers with splashing buckets. Doncame to with the first swash of the big, smelly sponge on his face.Danny Moore was grinning down at him.
"Are ye hurt?" he asked.
Don considered that a moment. Then he shook his head. "I'm--allright,--Danny," he murmured. "Just--help me--up."
"Don't be in a hurry. Take all the time the law allows ye." Danny'sfingers travelled inquiringly over the boy's body. "Where do you feelit?" he asked.
Don kept his eyes stoically on the trainer's. If he flinched a littlewhen Danny's strong fingers pressed his right shoulder it was so littlethat the trainer failed to see it. Nearby, the Claflin full-back wasalready on his feet. Tim came over and knelt by the trainer's side.
"Anything wrong, Don?" he asked in a tired, anxious voice.
"Not a thing," replied Don cheerfully. "Give me a hand, will you? I'msort of wabbly, I guess."
On the side line Pryme, head-guard in hand, was trotting up and down.Coach Robey was looking across intently. Don shook himself, stretchedhis arms--no one ever knew what that cost him!--and trotted around a fewsteps. Then, out of the corner of his eyes, he saw the coach saysomething to Pryme, saw the disappointed look on the substitute's faceand was half sorry for him. The whistle blew again and Don was crouchingonce more beside Thursby--why, no, it wasn't Thursby any longer! It wasPeters, stout, complacent Peters, wearing a strangely fierce and uglylook on his round countenance!
"Now hold 'em, Brimfield!" chanted McPhee. "Hold 'em hard! Don't letthem have an inch!"
Far easier said than done, though! A quick throw across the end of theline, a wild scramble and jumble of arms, a faint "_Down!_" and, at theright end of the Brimfield line, a mound of bodies with the ballsomewhere down beneath and to all appearances across the goal line!Anxious moments then! One by one the fallen warriors were pulled totheir feet while into the pile dove the referee. The timekeeper hoverednearby, watch in hand. Then the referee's voice:
"Claflin's ball! First down! A foot to go!"
"Line-up! Line-up!" shrieked the Claflin quarter. "We've got time yet!Put it over!"
"Fight, Brimfield!" shouted Steve Edwards. "There's only forty seconds!Hold them off! Don't let them get it! Tom! Peters! Don! Get into itnow!"
"Signals! Signals!"
Then a moment of silence save for the gasping breath of the players. TheClaflin quarter shouted his signals, the ball sped back, the linesheaved. Straight at the left guard position plunged the back. "_Stophim!_" growled Peters. The secondary defence leaped to the rescue. Backwent the man with the ball. "_Down!_" he cried in smothered tones. Thereferee pushed in and heeled the mark.
"Second down! A foot and a half to go!"
Don knew now that if he had fooled Danny Moore he had not fooled theClaflin quarter-back. That quarter knew or guessed that he had been hurtand was playing for him. Don gritted his teeth and ground his cleatsinto the sod. Well, they'd see!
The signals again, broken into by Steve Edwards's shrill voice in wildappeal. Steve was wellnigh beside himself now. Peters was growling likea bear in a cage. Then again the plunge, hard and quick, the wholeClaflin backfield behind it! Don felt an intolerable pain as he pushedand struggled. Despair seized him for an instant, for he was being borneback. Then someone hurtled into him from behind, driving the breath fromhis lungs, and he was staggering forward.
Peters was yanking him to his feet, a wild-eyed Peters mouthing strangeexultant words. "They can't do it! No, never! Not if they were to tryall night! We put 'em back again, Gilbert! We'll do it again! Come on,you blue-legged babies! Try it again! You'll never do it!"
Don, dazed, swaying giddily, groped back to his place. Thayer wasmuttering, too, now. Don wondered if they were all crazy. He was quitecertain that he was, for otherwise things wouldn't revolve around him insuch funny long sweeps. Then his mind was suddenly clear again. TheClaflin quarter was hurling his signals out hurriedly, despairingly,fighting against time. Don didn't listen to those signals for he knewwhere the attack would come. And he was right, for once more the blueright guard and tackle sprang at him to bear him back. And then therunner smashed into sight, wild-faced for an instant before he put hishead down and charged in. But Don didn't yield. Peters, roaring loudly,was fighting across him, and, front and rear, reinforcements hurledthemselves into the melee. Don closed his eyes, every muscle in his bodystraining forward. A roar of voices came to him only dimly. Ages passed.
* * * * *
He wondered if Danny Moore had nothing better to do than eternally swabhis face with that beastly old sponge! Why didn't he pick on some otherfellow? Don felt quite aggrieved and tried to say so, but couldn't seemto make any sound. Then he realised that he had forgotten to open hislips. When he did he got a lot of cold water in his mouth and that madehim quite peevish. He tried to raise his right hand, changed his mindabout it and raised his left instead. With that he pushed weakly at theoffending sponge.
"Take it away," he muttered. "I'm--drowned."
"Can you walk or will we carry you?" asked Danny in businesslike tones.
"Walk," said Don indignantly. "Let me up." Recollection returned. "Didthey make it?" he gasped.
"They did not. Lie still a bit."
"Yes, but----" Don's voice grew faint and he closed his eyes again. Thesponge gave a final pat and disappeared. "What--what down was that?"asked Don anxiously.
"Third."
"Then--then they've got another! Help me up, Danny, will you? We've gotto stop them, you know. I don't believe they--can do it, do you? We putthem back twice, you know."
"Sure you did," said the trainer soothingly. "Here you are, Tim. Takehis feet. And you get your arm under his middle, Martin. So! Careful ofthe shoulder, boys. He's got a fine broken blade in there!"
"Wait!" Don kicked Tim's hands away from his ankles as, raised to asitting posture by Danny and Martin, his puzzled glance swept the field."Where's--where's everyone?" he gasped.
"If you mean the team," laughed Tim, "they're beating it for the gym."
"Oh!" said Don. "But--but what happened? They didn't"--his voicesank--"they didn't do it, did they, Tim?"
"Of course they didn't, old man! We pushed them back three times andwe'd have done it again if the whistle hadn't saved them!"
"Then we won!" exclaimed Don.
"Surest thing you know, dearie! If you don't believe it listen to thatband of wild Indians over in front of the gym! Now are you ready to belugged along?"
"Yes, thanks," sighed Don.
THE END
* * * * *
Transcriber's Notes:
Obvious punctuation errors repaired.
Page 22, "usully" changed to "usually" (Daley was usually)
Page 24, "acknowlegement" changed to "acknowledgment" (theacknowledgment that)
Page 65, "Muskateers" changed to "Musketeers" (four "Three Musketeers")
Page 89, "castenets" changed to "castanets" (chattering like castanets)
Page 115, "rom" changed to "from" (darting from the galloping)
Page 129, "disgruntedly" changed to "disgruntledly" (had beendisgruntledly)
Page 136, "that's" changed to "that" (that Joe's parents had)
Page 145, "startingly" changed to "startlingly" (sounded startlinglyloud)
Page 167, "disgruntedly" cha
nged to "disgruntledly" (Waltondisgruntledly found)
Page 172, "positon" changed to "position" (of his position with)
Page 223, "Demanded" changed to "demanded" on illustration caption.(demanded Don angrily)
Left Guard Gilbert Page 25