"Don't look so glum, everybody!" cried Kitty, looking around. "We're not beaten yet, you know."
The youngest members of the team brightened up at this, for there certainly was something cheering in the sight of Kitty, looking so vigorous and dependable. Kitty glanced curiously round at their captain. That worthy stood in her favourite attitude—viz. leaning gracefully on her stick, a well-worn weapon with a heavy crook, guard and rubber-bound handle. She, too, was quite a striking figure in her perfectly fitting tunic ending well above her knees, as unperturbed as ever. "Time we were on the field," she said. "Just remember this, please. Whatever happens, you forwards are to keep forward."
"Here, Duane," remonstrated France. "You're not going to play with that watch on, are you?"
"Watch?" said Duane, vaguely. "Oh—er—no, of course not. I quite forgot it. Here, mind it for me, one of you kids."
"You've got shoes on too," struck in Margaret, reprovingly. "I thought Miss Bryce said nobody was to play matches in shoes unless she had pads on."
"Can't help it if she did. I never could play in boots—can't run. Don't worry, Margaret. I'll look out for my shins if you'll look after yours."
They all scrambled out of the pavilion and the two teams lined up on the field. The school eleven certainly looked a stiff lot to tackle, for Easthampton boasted of one of the best ladies' elevens in the county. The centre-forwards bullied off and for the first twenty minutes both sides continued to strain every nerve to keep up the pressure. The wise prognosticated that the pace could not last; the weaker side would not be able to keep it going.
On the wings France and Peggy, as fast as their opponents, were always dangerous and several times carried the ball right to the goal circle, but could not break through the school defence. Carslake's, too, was defending gallantly against a dashing forward line. Duane in the centre held Paddy and her two inners in check, and more than one of the onlookers remarked, "Cato's playing a good game to-day."
The Carslake captain had quite a distinctive style. She never appeared flurried, and, for hockey, was even unhurried. She played with neat adroitness, using both stick and feet with remarkable dexterity, invariably successful in robbing the attacker of the ball just at the right moment and hitting away without pause, as hard and accurate as a machine. The danger came from the wings, for the Carslake half-backs were comparatively weak and too slow to hold the school forwards. Kitty and Bertha found their work cut out for them in that quarter, while, by a tacit understanding, Duane held the centre.
But the pace was bound to tell. The end of the first twenty minutes found the lighter side being slowly overwhelmed and pressed back. The forwards made their attacking dashes at longer and still longer intervals, while the halves were back with Kitty and Bertha, resisting desperately. Twice Edith saved, but the school were not to be denied. A furious attack swept the ball over the goal line, then the left wing broke through, and when half-time sounded the school were leading by two goals to nil.