What mattered it if he was downed the moment he touched earth again? What mattered anything? He had stopped Rivermouth’s attempt to make a goal from the field. But for him the effort might have succeeded, for it had been wholly unexpected. He was deserving of all credit.
This fact caused Zeb Fletcher to chew his tongue, and swear inwardly. Zeb was not the only one.
Dick’s bitterest enemy in the school had come along to witness this game, again hoping something might happen to show Merriwell up as weak and incapable.
Jabez Lynch actually groaned aloud, but his groan was drowned by the burst of cheering from the Fardale crowd.
Probably Hurting, the Rivermouth full-back, was the angriest fellow on that field.
"Did you ever see anything like that?" he snarled to Dolby, as the two teams lined up, with the ball in Fardale’s possession.
"Hardly ever," admitted Dolby. "Who is the fellow?"
"Ask me!"
"Don’t you know?"
"No."