From his chagrin at this failure Sumner was aroused by a loud chuckle of mirth close behind him. He glanced over his shoulder, and his eyes met the exultant gaze of President John.
“Wasted his chance,” remarked the dignitary, with an oily grin of recognition. “I’m afraid he won’t get another.” Sumner nodded and moved down the line.
And now the Trowbridge men, taking courage from their escape, began to put new life into their play. Ricker shot through centre and squirmed forward ten yards. His second attempt was blocked by Ford and Channing after a short gain. Then a trick was sprung; the guards, tackles, and ends moved out suddenly six paces, leaving the centre all alone before the ball, with a great space on either side of him. The movement was supposed first to confuse the enemy, then to draw them out of position so as to leave a big hole near the centre, or to furnish a close interference for a run at end. But the Westcott rushers, having had experience with this very play as practiced by Sumner’s eleven, took it coolly as a matter of course, went through evenly along the line, and downed the dangerous Ricker before he got well under way. On the third down Trowbridge tried a forward pass on a crisscross formation, but Horr blocked off the end, and the ball, striking the ground, fell once more to Westcott’s. McDowell wasted a down in a fruitless effort to push Bradford through centre, and Horr fumbled. Trowbridge made seven yards and kicked, Talbot punted back, and for ten minutes the play oscillated between the thirty-yard lines.
At last—it seemed to Sumner that the half must be nearly at an end—a rash attempt on the part of Trowbridge to gain four yards after a third down gave Westcott’s the ball fifty yards from their opponents’ goal. Mac, who had by this time “sized up” the Trowbridge defence, now ceased experimenting, and applied his whole mental power to the task of matching the strong points of his team against the weaknesses of the foe. On the defence, Trowbridge played the centre in the line, with but a single line half-back. The Westcott quarter brought his end over, and drove his backs outside tackle and outside end, now on the short side, now on the long, gaining satisfactory distances at each stroke. Presently a second Trowbridge back came up to support the line, leaving the back-field clear. Mac recognized this opportunity for a forward pass, and seized it. Pete’s long spiral throw fell into Eaton’s hands on the enemy’s twenty-yard line. It was a close shave, for Cowles was upon him as he leaped for the ball, but Eaton held it, though he was thrown hard. A crash through centre, a skin-tackle play, a split play on a delayed pass, and Westcott’s brought up at the third down on the Trowbridge thirteen-yard line with three yards to gain, the enemy’s linesmen on their knees, and their whole back-field pushed up to support them.
But two minutes remained. If the ball were lost now, the opportunity to score would go. Harrison shouted a signal from his end. McDowell nodded, and fell back to a kicking position, giving his signals clearly as he went.
“Look out for an on-side kick!” yelled the Trowbridge captain. “Get through on them now!”
While he spoke, the ball went back. The line in the centre swerved, but held; the Trowbridge ends, followed by the tackles, swooped down upon the waiting quarter, but the Westcott backs blocked them off from the danger zone. Mac got his drop away safely, and, holding his breath, watched the ball floating upward beyond the reach of human hands. It crossed the bar three feet inside the post.
The play during the rest of the half was comprehended in two kicks. Trowbridge sent the ball on the kick-off deep into Westcott territory; and Talbot on the first down punted it far back.
Sumner, dancing with joy round Mike and the water pail, found himself again in the presence of the lord of the league.
“What about that chance that wasn’t coming?” he asked, with a sudden accession of friendliness.