There was a sudden signal, a single word spoken, and the ball was snapped and passed to Sampson.
The runner went straight into Fardale’s center, which was the strongest point of the home team’s line.
Those fellows in the shiny suits hit the line hard, and Sampson came through on the jump. It seemed that a dozen hands grabbed him, but he twisted and squirmed and slipped away and kept on for ten yards before being stopped. Merriwell was in the scrimmage, and he made a startling discovery.
“Boys!” he palpitated, as they prepared to line up again, “their suits are greased!”
It was a fact!
The leather suits, each suit made in one piece, were greased! That explained how it was that the tacklers had been unable to hold the man who carried the ball even when they clutched him with their hands.
That explained how Sampson had been able to slip through the center of Fardale’s line when many hands were placed upon him to restrain him.
If anything, the dampness added to the slippery condition of the leather suits, and the New Era players were like a lot of greased pigs.
Merriwell was thunderstruck. Never had he heard of such a trick, and when the truth dawned upon him he felt completely nonplused.
New Era gave Fardale little time for thought. She had the cadets “going,” and she meant to keep up the work. Again a word was spoken as a signal, and again the ball went to Sampson. There was a rush toward center, but Sampson circled to come around the right end.