"Didn't spike you!" retorted Slugger Brown, scowling viciously.
The whistle blew and Gif came running towards the pair. "What's the matter?" he demanded.
"Brown tackled me unfairly and then spiked me," answered Jack.
"It's false!" roared the accused one. "I threw him down according to the rules and I didn't spike him at all!"
The pain in Jack's leg was so intense that he could hardly stand. Fred and some others came rushing to his assistance, and between them he managed to hobble to a bench at the side of the football field. A crowd began to collect, and all wanted to know what had gone wrong.
"Let us take a look at your leg, Rover," said Mr. Crews. "That will show whether you were spiked or not." The limb was exposed, and then a cry of dismay went up.
"Why, look there—it's all bloody! Slugger Brown must have spiked him for keeps!"
"That's a shame—if he did it on purpose. He has no right to have spikes in his shoes."
"I didn't do it on purpose! It was an accident!" cried the accused player. "I didn't know I had spiked him or that I had spikes. Maybe he cut himself on a stone or something like that."
"No; he has been spiked," announced the gymnasium instructor, after examining the wound. "Come, Rover; we'll go to the gymnasium and I'll attend to that and bind it up for you."