“Huh!” scoffed Evan. “You’d never be sorry for a chap until you had him down and was kneeling on his collar-bone.”
“Wrong. I’d be sorry, but I wouldn’t let it interfere with my duty. And I’m not going to now. My duty is to show Hop that he was never intended for a Napoleon or a Julius Cæsar. It will be a helpful lesson for him and may save him mistakes when he gets to college. And now I’m going to bed, for to-morrow is going to be a very, very busy day. Thank you, Professor, for your few well chosen remarks. What have you got to say now, Evan? With psychology rooting for us I guess we’ve got the game cinched this minute, eh?”
“Um, maybe; but I’d swap the psychology for another sixty pounds in the line!”
[CHAPTER XXIII]
THE INDEPENDENTS DISSOLVE
The Saturday before Thanksgiving dawned bleak and gray and cold and by three o’clock, for which hour the game between the School Team and the Independents was set, there was a biting north wind blowing across the field and the heavy clouds were scurrying overhead. It was football weather, and only the spectators found fault with it. On the side-lines it was chilly waiting, and fellows wore their heaviest clothing and stamped up and down to keep warm.
There was a hearty cheer for the Independents as that team trotted down from the gymnasium and squirmed through the line of impatient students, and a less enthusiastic one for the School Team when it followed a minute or two later. The teams warmed up for ten minutes and then Mr. Osgood, who had accepted the office of referee, summoned the captains to the center of the field. Rob won the toss and took the east goal and a minute later the play began.
For the first few minutes the School Team had the better of it, the Independents’ plunges at the line being stopped without great difficulty. Three downs failed to net the distance and the ball went to the School Team on the opponent’s forty yards. An attempt at the center brought no gain and Law punted. Deering caught the ball on his fifteen yards and made ten across the field before he was downed, Evan interfering brilliantly for the runner. The Independents tried the School line again and again lost on downs, this time by a bare half-yard. The School Team made first down with three plunges through the wings and things looked bad for the defenders of the east goal. But on their fifteen yards the Independents held stubbornly and recovered the ball, and on third down Deering punted to mid-field. The ends were under the pigskin all the way and Miller, School quarter, was downed for no gain. After that, for the rest of the twenty minute half, the ball see-sawed back and forth between one thirty yard-line and the other. There might have been a field-goal tried on each side had the wind been less strong. Under the circumstances neither team thought it wise to make the attempt.
Gus Devens played opposite Frank Hopkins and the audience watched the battle with keen relish. Perhaps Hopkins had a shade the better of the argument, for Gus was new at guard position. At center Jelly and Merrill were pretty evenly matched, although Jelly’s passing was more certain. The School Team’s line was pounds heavier to a man than their opponents, but, as Rob had predicted, the latter evened accounts by being much faster. On the whole, in that first period, the teams showed up about on a par, and it was evident that, barring flukes, neither team was likely to score on its opponent by straight foot-ball. There were a few fumbles on each side, but none proved disastrous. The half ended with the ball on the Independents’ thirty-seven yards in School’s possession.