Up into the air and away sailed the ball. Over the muddy field raced Buckhart and Shannock.
Sampson caught the ball. He made no attempt to return the kick, but leaped forward.
Buckhart seemed to have the fellow foul. He tackled, but somehow he failed to hold the fellow, his hands slipping off in a most surprising way.
Sampson dashed onward.
Gardner fancied he saw his opportunity. He closed in on the runner and made a beautiful leap for a tackle.
“He’s got him!” cried the cadets.
But, although Gardner’s hands fell fairly on the runner, he was unable to hold Sampson, who slipped away from him and still kept on.
Darrell was the third man to tackle the runner, and he brought him down, although Sampson nearly slipped from his grasp in the struggle. But New Era had carried the ball back to her forty-yard line.
“Whatever have those galoots got on?” growled Buckhart, as he hurried to get into the line-up. “Why, I tackled the fellow all right, but he went out of my hands like grease.”
Gardner said nothing. He felt chagrined over his failure to stop Sampson. There was plenty of confidence in the New Era players as they lined up for the scrimmage.