“Hurrah for Nell!” squealed Bobby, waving a second bandage over her head, and the pin coming out, the strip of muslin soon became a tangle of ribbon-like cloth.
“Can she do it, Mrs. Case?” asked the doubtful Laura.
“She shall do it!” returned the instructor. “It won’t hurt the ankle—bound up like that. Now, on with her stocking—and her shoe. Does it hurt, Nellie?”
“It’s all right,” declared the doctor’s daughter.
“Does the shoe hurt it?”
“It’s all right, I tell you,” insisted Nellie, standing up.
Then the gong rang. The girls started for the door. Nellie was not the last one to reach her position. At first the audience was amazed to see her in place after she had hobbled off the field between two of her mates. Then, understanding, they cheered her—the boys deafeningly.
“You’re all right, Nellie Agnew!” yelled Chet from where the boys of Central High were massed.
And how those girls of Central High played! Perhaps it was the inspiration of Nellie’s courage. Perhaps it was the inspiration of the cheering spectators. But never before had Laura and her team-mates played better basketball than in that second half with the Lumberport team.
Nor did the latter team “go to pieces.” Every point was fought for.