The players lined up and went through some rapid passes and kicking. Andy and the other substitutes took their places on the bench, enveloped in blankets and their blue sweaters.
Then a roar and a smudge of crimson, that flashed out from the other side of the field, told of the approach of the Harvard team.
“Harvard! Harvard! Harvard!”
It was an acclaim of welcome.
Andy watched Yale’s opponents go through their snappy practice.
“They’re big and beefy,” he murmured, “but we can do ’em. We’ve got to! Yale has got to win!”
The captains consulted, the coin was flipped, and Harvard was to kick off. The teams gathered in a knot at either end of the field for a last consultation. Then the new ball was put in the center of the field.
Andy found difficulty in getting his breath, and he noticed that the other players beside him had the same trouble.
The whistle shrilled out, and the Harvard back, running, sent the yellow pigskin sailing well down the field. A wild yell greeted his performance. One of the Yale players caught it and his interference formed before him. But he had not run it back ten yards before he was tackled. Now would come the first line-up, and it would be seen how Yale could buck the crimson.
“Signal!” Andy could hear their quarterback yell, and then the rest was swallowed up in a hum of excitement in the songs and cheers with which the students sought to urge on the defenders of the blue.