“Three strikes! Batter’s out!”
Oh, what yelling there was! How the handkerchiefs and banners fluttered! How the girls’ shrill voices mingled with the deep cheering of the boys! What a stamping of feet on the grandstand!
Then out from the tumult came booming that heart-stirring song of Randall: “We have come and we have conquered!”
Tom staggered as he pulled off his glove and walked toward the bench. His mouth was parched and dry.
“Oh, good old man!” yelled Kindlings, rushing up and embracing him. “Oh, fine! Oh, great! Oh, oh, oh! Wow!”
“Up with him, fellows!” called Sid Henderson. “On our shoulders!”
“No, no!” protested Tom.
But he might as well have talked to the wind. They lifted him up and marched with him around the field, singing again: “We have come and we have conquered!”
“Now, fellows, a good round of cheers for Fairview,” proposed Kindlings, and the team, gathering in a circle about Tom, who had managed to descend to the ground, raised their voices in a tribute to those over whom they had been victorious.
From where they were gathered, downcast but not disheartened at their defeat, the Fairview team sent back an answering cheer. Then came more songs from the contingent of Randall students, and many an “old grad” walked with a prouder step that day, for once more, after many seasons, the bird of victory had come back to hover over the college on the river and the championship banner would float from the flagstaff on the campus.