“It’s the principle of it, I think,” responded Nan. “In some ways I’d like our side—I mean House to win, but it wouldn’t be quite fair to the Day boys, would it?”
“Wouldn’t it?” Nan’s ethics was too deep for Bert, and he was glad that Ben shot a neat goal at that moment so that he could abandon the subject. “Fine, Ben!” he shouted. “That’s the stuff!” He clapped Lanny on the back and was in turn pummelled by the enthusiastic Kid, who yelled, “Hooray for the House! Kill them, Ben!” at the top of his lungs. Nan maintained a discreet silence, her only evidence of emotion being the raising and lowering of herself on her toes. As it was a very cold afternoon, however, she may have done it only to keep her feet warm.
After that the tide of battle turned deplorably and Day made three goals, one right after another. Perkins was almost useless at cover-point and Lovell was eluded without much difficulty. Gardner made several good stops, but the Day Team hammered at him savagely and thrice the puck got by him into the net. House scored again two or three minutes later when Ben, capturing the disk in front of his own goal, skated with it the length of the ice and passed to Pierce in front of the enemy’s net. Pierce fooled Turner, point, and banged the puck between Morgan’s feet. The half ended a minute or so after, the score 3 to 2 in favor of the Day Team. It was still anybody’s game, and Nan said she hoped it would end in a tie so that both sides would be satisfied. Lanny hooted at that.
“Satisfied nothing! Gee, that would be as bad as being beaten! Besides, it wouldn’t do any good; we’d have to play the game over again.”
“If it’s a tie,” said Kid, “they’ll play another period. They did last winter, Stanley says.”
As it turned out, however, a third period was not necessary. Day started the next half with a rush that for a moment almost swept House off their feet. Two tallies were scored before House could settle down and break up the attack. Waters had an unfortunate mix-up with White, of the opposing side, and retired with a gashed lip. Crandall took his place, much to Lanny’s disgust, and from thence on to the end the game was extremely one-sided. The only time when Fortune smiled on the House Team was when, after Morgan had stopped a shot from Pierce’s stick, the puck was pushed into the net by Turner quite by accident. The disk didn’t get far in before Morgan swept it out again, but Mr. Folsom blew his whistle and declared it a goal, and the House supporters howled their glee. Even Nan emitted a shrill cry of delight and blushed rosily when Bert turned to laugh at her.
“I don’t care!” she said. “They’re so far behind that I’m glad they scored.”
Kid jeered scathingly. “Oh, sloppy work! Scored against yourselves! You’re a nice lot of hockey players, you are!” Kid danced up and down in the snow and hurled insults until Lanny threatened to roll him in the snow. But that lucky goal was the final tally for House, and when the game came to an end Day’s victory was a decisive one, the score 7 to 3. Ben was disgusted and chagrined and when Kid, thinking to console him, enumerated a few of the things they would do to the day pupils in the next game Ben spanked him with the flat of his hockey stick and told him to shut up and not get fresh. Kid, surprised and hurt, consoled himself by shying a snowball at the retreating forms of the Day Team players and, as he boasted later with much elation, scoring against the back of White’s head.
The contest was discussed before the big fire in the hall before supper, and Ben announced that beginning Monday there would be morning as well as afternoon practice for the House Team. “We have almost an hour between school and dinner,” he said, “and we might as well put in the time practicing. Those fellows don’t get more than half the practice that we do, and they played all around us to-day. So we’ve got to take a brace, fellows. Lanny, I’m going to try you Monday. You think you can play. Go ahead and show me.”
Lanny, tongue-tied by much joy, grinned. Kid, who was trying to roast some chestnuts he had been treasuring since autumn, gurgled with delight. “They won’t do a thing to Lanny, will they? He’s so small they’ll just pick him up and—” He paused and fixed Lanny with a rapturous gaze. “Say, Lanny, wouldn’t it be funny if they mistook you for the puck?” he cried.