Whizz—plunk! The game was on again, and Merriwell had again driven the ball into the New London cage. Morgan’s face looked black. He had forgotten to smile. He saw that Merriwell’s men were playing now, and that the New London sluggers, though they were fierce fighters, were really no match for the Yale five.
The goals were changed, and the battle raged anew. Crowder was furious. At the sound of the whistle he tried to take the ball off the spot ahead of Merriwell, a thing he had not yet been able to do. But Frank took the ball, as before, and shot it past him, bang against the netting of the cage. It bounded out, was caught up by Weathers’ stick, and danced to the middle of the floor. Then Mehan sent it along, and there was another tussle near the Yale goal.
In the struggle that ensued, Mehan struck savagely at Dick Starbright’s head. Dick saw the blow coming and dodged, and the stick, swinging over and banging against the floor, was broken short off.
The ball had been in the air at the time, and Mehan, profusely apologizing, declared that the blow had not been aimed at Dick, but at the ball; and, after another stick had been given to him, the game was renewed.
“See here!” Dick hissed, when he was skating by the fellow, “if that happens again, I’ll know it’s no accident, and I’ll thump you as soon as the game is over. See?”
Mehan whitened, but made no answer.
The New London men, appearing now to realize that if they were not to be defeated badly they must make a fierce fight, began another effort to cage the ball on the Yale side. But Merriwell’s men pushed the ball away from the neighborhood of their goal out into the center of the floor. It came back, however, and Bruce time and again stopped it, in a way to win admiration from the spectators.
“They can’t get it past him!” Bill Higgins bellowed, hopping up and down in his excitement and waving his big sombrero, while his great spurs tinkled and jingled.
Two more skates were broken, and stops were made. Then Bruce, trying to stop a ball, pitched forward headlong on the floor, and Crowder, who was striking at the ball, deflected his stick and struck Bruce heavily over the head.
“It was an accident,” was the verdict of the referee.