A familiar figure dashed forward, a hockey stick struck, and the ball swept out to safety. Linda heaved a long sigh of relief.
"Winona is just A1," she murmured. "Hello! Good gracious! what's that idiot doing?"
For Ellinor Cooper, whose arm was the strongest in the school, wielding her hockey stick with all her force, had hit Winona across the shin.
Instantly there was a commotion. Winona, white with the agony of the blow, leaned hard against Bessie Kirk, and clenched her fists to avoid crying out.
"Are you hurt?"
"What's happened?"
"You've had a nasty knock!"
There was quite a crowd round Winona, and a chorus of sympathy.
"Put in a substitute!" urged Bessie. "You're not fit to go on!"
"No, no! I'm better now," panted their captain, with a wan little smile. "I'll manage, thanks! Yes, really! Please don't worry yourselves about me!"