Ben Stone at Oakdale

by Morgan Scott

  CHAPTER XIX.

  BETWEEN THE HALVES.

  Stone recovered to find some one sopping his face with a cool, drippingsponge. They had carried him off the field, and he was lying on ablanket behind the tiered seats, over the upper tier of which bent arow of sympathetic faces. His teammates were around him, being keptback by one or two fellows who insisted that he should have air.

  “What—what’s matter?” he mumbled thickly, as he tried to sit up.

  “Easy, old fellow,” said the voice of Roger Eliot, who had beenapplying the sponge. “You were knocked stiff in that last scrimmage.”

  “Scrimmage?” echoed Ben uncertainly, vaguely fancying he had been in afight with his bitter enemy. “Did Bern Hayden——”

  “It wasn’t Hayden. We tried to fool the Clearporters into thinking he’dagain go through with the ball, but he passed it to me. They downed me,though, just as the half ended.”

  “Oh,” said Stone, remembering at last, “we were playing football.”

  “That fightin’ Irishman must have soaked ye,” observed Sile Crane. “Youhad him crazy all right, the way you bucked him around.”

  “Carney did not hit me,” declared Ben positively.

  Winton, like Eliot, had been working to bring Stone round. “Well,” heobserved with satisfaction, “you seem to be all right now. I reckon youcan get back into the game for the next half, can’t you?”

  “Sure thing,” was the prompt answer. “I’m not hurt any.”

  “That’s the stuff,” applauded the coach, rising to his feet. “That’sthe spirit that wins. Some of you fellows need a little more of it.Rollins, you’re bigger and heavier than that man Hutt, but he’s walkedthrough you four or five times. Brace up and stop him. Davis, you’vegot to show more nerve. Don’t be afraid of cracking yourself when youtry to tackle; you’re not crockery. Look alive, Tuttle, and get intothe plays quicker. Sometimes you take root in your tracks.”

  “Great ginger!” gasped Chub in astonishment over this call-down. “Ithought we were all doing pretty well.”

  “Give him a peanut, somebody, to brace him up,” chuckled Chipper Cooper.

  In another moment Chipper was shivering beneath the withering eye ofthe coach.

  “You’ve got a whole lot to learn about football,” said Winton. “Moveyour feet when you go down the field under a kick. Davis can run aroundyou twice and be ahead of you at the place where the ball falls.”

  “Oh, jiminy crickets!” gasped Cooper. “I’ve got mine! Stop yourgrinning, Spotty.”

  “You all let up after that second touchdown,” continued Winton. “Didyou think you had points enough? Have you a notion that there’s dangerof overexerting yourselves? You should have had two more touchdowns, atleast. Clearport was growing better toward the last of it, and youfellows acted as if you had caught the hookworm. This kind of afootball game is never won till it’s finished, don’t forget that. Ifyou quit a little bit in the next half you’re liable to get it put allover you. Those fellows are good; they’re better than you are, but theydon’t know it. Let them wake up to the fact, and you’ll be lucky ifthey don’t play you off your feet. You’ve got to keep them so busy theywon’t find time to realize how good they are. Hayden, I’d like aprivate word with you.”

  With a look of surprise on his face, Bern followed the coach, whostepped aside from the others. In a moment Winton was talking to him inlow tones.

  “By gum!” said Sile Crane. “He sorter handed it right out to the wholeof us, didn’t he? I kinder thought he was goin’ to praise us for ourfine work.”

  Cooper poked a thumb into Piper’s ribs. “He didn’t say anything to youpersonally, did he, Sleuth? Wonder how you got by? Morehead had yougroggy in that last smash.”

  “Yes,” admitted Sleuth, “we butted our cocoanuts together, and mydeduction is that he’s got _more head_ than I have.”

  “Oh, you villain!” exclaimed Chipper. “You trespasser on my sacredpreserves! I should have thought to say that myself. Look at Bern; he’sgetting excited. Wonder what Winton’s drilling him for?”

  Hayden was indeed showing traces of excitement, for his face wasflushed, his hands clenched, and he shook his head with an air of angrydenial.

  “I saw you,” said Winton, in a low, calm tone, “I saw you slug Stone onthe jaw with your fist, Hayden; it’s useless to deny it.”

  “It’s very strange,” sneered Bern, “that you were the only one who sawit. Where were the referee’s eyes?”

  “Following the ball, doubtless. Carney swung Stone round sidewise asyou lunged into the scrimmage, for doubtless he thought you had theball, and he was trying to block you. It gave you a chance to hit Stonesquarely on the side of the jaw, and you smashed him. Perhaps I was theonly person who observed it; I hope I was. You’ve played a brilliantgame, Hayden, and you can’t afford to let your temper and your hatredof Stone mar your record. Only for the fine style in which he blockedoff the opposing guard, you never could have made such good gains. Hedoesn’t know you hit him, for he didn’t see you; and he won’t knowunless I——”

  “I deny that I did it,” muttered Bern sullenly.

  “And while you deny it you’re aware that I know you did. Settle yourpersonal grudges off the football field; that’s the thing to do. Don’tthink for a moment that I’m taking sides in this quarrel between youand Stone; I know nothing of the merits of the matter, and it’s noaffair of mine. Nevertheless, if I should see you do another wretchedtrick of that sort I’d stop the game to pull you off the field.”

  “You’re only the coach; the captain of the team would have something tosay about that.”

  Winton’s eyes flashed. “I’m the coach, and as long as I continue inthat capacity I’ll exert my authority to pull any man out of the game.You have a nasty temper and a revengeful disposition, my boy, and itwill be for your advantage to learn to curb yourself. Would you like tosee Clearport win this game?”

  “Certainly not.”

  “I thought not.”

  “Clearport can’t win. We’ve got them beaten now.”

  “So that’s what you think. If you had seen as many football games as Ihave, and if you had watched this one from the side-lines, you wouldrealize that there is not as much difference between these two teams asthere seemed to be. If they ever discover our weak spots and get busyon them, they’ll make us go some yet. The line is none too strong, andthe loss of Stone would weaken it frightfully. Furthermore, what do youimagine the fellows would think of you if they even suspected that youhad tried to knock Stone out—and you might have succeeded if the halfhadn’t ended just as you slugged him. I’m not going to say anythingmore; I think I’ve said enough. But don’t forget that I have my eyes onyou.”

  Not a word of this conversation had reached Stone’s ears, yet, sittingon the blanket and looking toward Winton and Hayden, Ben somehowobtained a slight inkling of the truth. This suspicion was strengthenedas Winton finished speaking and turned away; for, in spite of himself,Bern could not help glancing toward Stone, and his eyes wavered beneaththe boy’s steady, questioning gaze.

  Piper, having stretched himself on the ground near Ben, had likewisefallen to watching Hayden and his accuser.

  “My deduction is——” began Sleuth.

  Two short, sharp blasts from the referee’s whistle told that theintermission was over and the time for the second half to begin hadarrived.

  ------------------------------------------------------------------------