“Oh, it isn’t? Well, the best men in Yale think so. Listen to that yelling, if you don’t believe it! Look at those blue ribbons, if you don’t believe it! Merriwell is the king of Yale, and you know it, you miserable puppies!”
“If he wathn’t tho big I’d thump him!” Veazie gasped, when Beckwith had pushed on. “Why, the audathious villain!”
Merriwell’s team finished its practise. Silence reigned; even Dashleigh’s mandolin club ceasing its efforts when the hour arrived for the match-game on which so much was staked.
The referee came upon the floor, or “surface,” with the ball, and the teams grouped in front of the goal-cages. This was the line-up of the teams:
| Yale. | Position. | New London. |
|---|---|---|
| Merriwell | Rush | Crowder. |
| Starbright | Rush | Gates. |
| Ready | Center | Mehan. |
| Hodge | Half-back | Weathers. |
| Browning | Goal | Bascom. |
The referee placed the rubber-covered polo-ball on the spot in the middle of the floor. The members of the teams, who had been standing in front of their respective goal-cages, straightened up and leaned strainingly forward, ready to dash for the ball when the whistle sounded.
The referee stepped to one side of the surface when he had placed the ball, and put his whistle to his lips. Crowder, who was captain and rush—he of the narrow eyes and truculent face—was in motion before the sharp blast cut the air, but the referee did not send him back, and the whistle blew almost immediately. Then Frank went down the floor like a shot, and from under Crowder’s outstretched stick uncovered the spot and sent the ball bang against the planking at the back of the New London cage.
Bill Higgins opened up again with the roar of a buffalo, and the Yale men yelled.
Weathers, the New London half-back, got the ball and sent it flying toward the middle of the surface, where Ready blocked its passage with his feet and shot it again toward the New London goal. Bascom was in front of it, however, and kicked it away with a savage snarl, as if he were kicking at an enemy’s head. He was big and fat, with an enormous face and an unwholesome form.
Then Weathers struck the ball; but it was stopped by Hodge, and there was a furious mix-up near the center of the floor, from out of the midst of which the ball was shot by Starbright.