“But—why, look here, Burtis! Aren’t you eligible for the team?”
“I suppose so, sir.”
“Then—then I’m blest if I understand it,” muttered Mr. Dana. “Payson must be crazy!” He looked around him. Then, he took a firm hold on Kendall’s sleeve and pulled him to his feet. “You come with me,” he commanded. Kendall, wondering, followed. Mr. Dana reached down and scooped up a football with one hand and ducked under the rope. Kendall went after. Curious glances followed them to the corner of the stand, but in the next moment they were forgotten, for the Yardley team came trotting out onto the field and the Yardley cheer leaders scuttled to their places and seized their big blue megaphones.
“Now, fellows! Regular cheer for the Team! And everyone get into it. Ready! One! Two! Thr—”
Then off bounced the discarded megaphones, arms waved and the stand rocked with the burst of sound that followed. Blue flags fluttered and tossed against the rising bank of shouting youths and down below the big drum boom-boomed an accompaniment. Oh, Yardley wasn’t defeated yet, nor disheartened! The game was still to be won! So everybody into it! Make ’em hear you! Louder! Cheer, you fellows up there! Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom!
“Give ’em the Can-Can, fellows!” shouted a leader.
“Who can, can, can? We can, can, can! Anybody can, can beat old Broadwood! Who can, can, can? We can, can, can! Anybody can, can beat old Broadwood!”
But Broadwood’s supporters were not idle. The deep, booming cheers of the Green thundered across from the opposite stand and it was not until the whistle had blown and the ball was in the air that comparative quiet fell.