Emerson again captured the ball, and, fancying he had a good opening, started to run with it. But he had not observed Darrell, who had given Gilson the slip, and was close at hand. Not over five yards did Emerson make before Darrell had him, and the tackle was made in very pretty style, stretching the big half-back on the turf.
"Darrell!" shrieked the Fardale crowd. "Darrell! Darrell!"
"Good boy!" panted Steve Nunn, as he came rushing up. "That’s the kind of work!"
On the stand were two delighted girls, and certainly Doris seemed the most pleased. She clapped her hands and screamed in a perfect abandon of joy when Hal tackled Emerson.
"There, Zona—see, see! He did it—Hal did it!"
"Well, you’re too much for me!" murmured Zona. "First you don’t and then you do."
With the ball in their possession, the Fairport players began the assault on Fardale’s line. Fardale fought every inch of the ground, and Darrell showed his mettle by meeting the veteran Gilson in splendid style. His friends were delighted, as well they might be, considering the fact that he had practised so little with the team.
But Fairport hammered her way steadily along by small gains, making the distance in the required number of downs each time, until she had again passed center and was in Fardale’s territory.
Then, just as the struggle was becoming terrific, the whistle blew and time was called. The first half had ended, with the teams tied.
Darrell was complimented as the sweating fellows trotted off to the dressing-rooms for a rub-down; but what really gave him more satisfaction than anything else was to feel the hand of Frank Merriwell on his shoulder, and to hear Frank say: