MORRIS CALLS IN THE DOCTOR
Nearly the entire school accompanied the team to Lesterville. The
distance was short and the journey could be made inexpensively on the
trolley line. Besides, football enthusiasm was by now rampant. The
Benton victory had rekindled dampened patriotism and the yellow-sided
cars which sped across country in the wake of the Varsity’s special
were filled to the limit with excited and noisy partisans. Lesterville
was a manufacturing town and the Lesterville High School had an
unfortunate but not undeserved reputation for roughness in its athletic
contests. Dick, who had conducted the baseball team there in the
summer, recalled the unpleasantness that had occurred on that occasion
and hoped that to-day’s meeting would pass without similar incident. He
looked for a victory, in spite of the fact that they had agreed not to
have recourse to either the new formation or to any of the plays which
had been designed for Springdale’s special benefit. If they could win
with the old plays――and both Dick and Lanny believed they could――well
and good; otherwise there would be another defeat chalked up against
Clearfield’s record.
When Lesterville kicked off at the start of the game the Purple
presented Merrick at left end, Partridge at left tackle, Cable at left
guard, Haley at center, A. Beaton at right guard, Wayland at right
tackle, Felker at right end, Cottrell at quarter, White at left half,
Hansard at right half and N. Beaton at full. With the exception of the
right halfback position, the line-up was the best Clearfield could put
into the field, unless, having in mind Morris Brent’s kicking ability,
we give him the call over Nelson Beaton at fullback. Beaton, however,
hit the line harder than Morris and was more clever in a broken field,
and it was probable that in the Springdale game he would be used
throughout the first half as long as Lanny and Cottrell made good with
their punting or unless a field-goal became necessary.
Lesterville lined up a big, powerful-looking lot of players and it soon
became evident to the visiting contingent that Clearfield would not
find it an easy matter to gain through the line. Her first attempts
ended disastrously and Chester Cottrell punted on third down. A big,
rangy Lesterville back pulled the ball down and came charging back
with it, eluding tacklers until he had raced over four white marks.
Even then it required the combined services of Lanny and Hansard to
stop him. Lesterville started at once on a series of plays on tackle
that proved good for two and three-yard gains. The fullback, standing
two paces behind center, took the ball direct and slammed at Partridge
or Wayland and seemed always to find a hole on one side or the other.
Lesterville marched down into Clearfield territory before the latter
solved that attack, simple as it was. Then Cottrell closed his line and
dropped his ends back and Lesterville found the going harder. Finally,
transferring her attention to the center of the line, she was halted
on the twenty-eight yards and forced to kick. A short punt across the
field was captured by Cottrell, and that youth punted on first down
from his five-yard line, the ball going to midfield. Lesterville got
off a short forward pass that just failed of giving her her distance
and followed it with a fierce attack on the center. A penalty for
off-side set her back and, after another attempt at a forward pass,
which grounded, she punted to Clearfield’s twenty-three. There Hansard
caught and, with good interference, ran back nearly to midfield.
With N. Beaton and Lanny alternating, Clearfield secured first down
on plunges between guards, a fake-kick play fooling the opponent
badly. Lesterville was set back five yards for holding. Cottrell, on
a quarterback run, squirmed outside of tackle for four yards, Beaton
plunged at right guard for two more and Lanny made the distance on
a run outside left tackle. A second attempt at the same wing netted
two, a plunge at center was thrown back and Cottrell passed forward to
Merrick for seven. Beaton gained two through left guard. With the ball
near her thirty yards, Lesterville tightened and after two attempts
which gained but half the distance Clearfield punted across the line.
Merrick was off-side on the next scrimmage and Clearfield was set back.
Lesterville worked a double pass and gained six around Merrick’s end.
On the fourth down, with half a yard to go, the Lesterville quarter
fumbled and the ball went to the Purple. Lanny got away around left end
for seven, Beaton made two through right guard and Lanny shot around
right end for four. He was roughly tackled and Clearfield called for
time while he got his breath back. The pigskin was now on Lesterville’s
fourteen yards and the Clearfield partisans were demanding a touchdown.
A forward pass, Beaton to Felker, from kick formation, gained five
yards, Felker being tackled on the side line and thrown out. Time was
again called, the right end having had most of his breath knocked
out of him. From the nine-yard line Lanny dashed around left end for
a scant yard and placed the pigskin in front of goal. Morris Brent
replaced Beaton at fullback. A fake kick, Hansard carrying the ball,
gained two yards off left tackle, and on fourth down, with two to go,
Haley snapped to Morris who lifted the ball over the cross-bar from the
twenty-yard line. Clearfield 3; Lesterville 0. The quarter ended after
the kick-off, the ball down on Clearfield’s eighteen yards.
Dick took Morris Brent out and put Nelson Beaton back. Several of the
Clearfield players showed signs of wear, but there were no serious
injuries. The second period was all Lesterville’s, for Clearfield
lost the ball on a fumble by Hansard soon after the quarter started
and the adversary recovered it on the Purple’s fifteen-yard line.
Lesterville in the stand and around the field shouted delightedly as
the big fullback plunged straight through Haley for half the distance
to goal. A second attempt at the center, however, gained less than a
yard, and the Lesterville left half fell back as if to try a drop-kick.
Clearfield, though, was not to be fooled and the quick plunge by right
half at the left of the line was stopped for no gain. This time, on the
fourth down, the ball really went back to the kicker, but the pass was
low and the ball failed to go over the bar.
Clearfield failed to gain, with Lanny carrying the ball, around her
left end and Cottrell punted. The ball went high and was caught on
Clearfield’s thirty-four yards. From there, by means of a forward pass
which gained twelve yards straight across the middle of the line,
and attacks between guards, Lesterville worked back to the Purple’s
twelve yards. A penalty for holding set her back fifteen. A forward
pass failed and a double-pass behind the line netted four yards. Then
a skin-tackle play got through for four more and a massed attack at
center gave the enemy first down on Clearfield’s eleven yards. Again,
however, Clearfield dug her toes and repelled three attempts for a
total loss of five yards, and once more Lesterville attempted a goal
from the field, and once more a poor pass upset her calculations. This
time the ball bounded back from a charging Clearfield lineman and the
Lesterville quarter fell on it on the Purple’s twenty-three yards.
A fake-kick followed by a run around the left of her line brought
Lesterville to the fifteen. A forward pass was tried, but Clearfield
spoiled it. A plunge at Haley gained a yard and Lesterville sent her
left half into kicking position. The pass was again too low and the
line failed to hold and the left half hurled the ball across the field
to an end. Gordon Merrick put the end out, however, and the pigskin
grounded and went to Clearfield. The latter’s attempts to circle the
ends gained little, as did a plunge at the center, and Cottrell punted
to the enemy’s forty-five-yard line. The Lesterville quarter was downed
for no gain. Lesterville plugged the line again and the half ended with
the ball in her possession on the Purple’s thirty-two yards.
Haley, Cable and Hansard had been pretty roughly used, the latter
having sustained a strained ankle. Dick substituted Brimmer at center,
Robey at left guard and McCoy at right half. Tupper was recovering from
an injured knee sustained in practice and Dick was loath to risk him.
The third quarter began well for the visiting team, for a fumble on her
twenty-four yards lost Lesterville possession of the ball. Cottrell
sent Lanny at left guard and gained three yards and then hurled the
ball across to Merrick, who had got free. But the throw was too short
and lost a down. A delayed pass to McCoy opened a hole at center and
McCoy got through for four. Beaton went back as if to punt and Cottrell
dashed straight ahead for the remaining distance. Beaton, however, was
hurt, a Lesterville player having charged into him rather more roughly
than the occasion demanded, and had to retire. Lanny drew the umpire’s
attention to the offense, but that official claimed not to have
witnessed it. Morris Brent took Beaton’s place.
With the ball on the home team’s thirteen yards, Morris went back to
kicking position and Cottrell skirted the left end for two yards, being
downed near the side line. A criss-cross, with the ball going to McCoy,
lost three, and again Morris went back. But once more the play was a
fake; and Lanny got five yards past right tackle. On fourth down there
was still four to go and Morris stationed himself on the twenty-yard
line. Brimmer, however, passed miserably and the ball struck the
ground a yard in front of the fullback. Morris got it on the bound but
it was then too late to kick. Eluding one of the opposing ends who had
almost reached him, Morris dashed away toward the left of his line.
Lanny ran with him and put out one of the enemy. But Morris found no
chance to turn in and was finally brought down on the ten-yard line by
a terrific tackle that left him half-stunned. Time was called and Lanny
again appealed to the officials. But neither umpire nor referee would
allow that the tackle had been unfair. Morris, groaning with pain,
pointed to his leg and Dick’s heart sank. Quickly he was lifted up and
carried off the field and Abbey, a third-string substitute, was put in
his place.
Lesterville got her backs working finely and forced her opponent back
into her own territory before the tide turned. Then a penalty for
off-side and a signal that went wrong necessitated a punt and the ball
again changed hands. But there was no further threatening of either
goal and the quarter ended.
In the fourth period young Hull went in for Cottrell, Bryan took
Merrick’s place, Felker gave way to Toll and A. Beaton to Kent.
With eight substitutes in the line-up, things looked bright for
Lesterville. But Lesterville, too, had been forced to make some
changes, and the teams which battled through the final fifteen minutes
proved, after all, very evenly matched. The new linemen gave good
accounts of themselves and Perry Hull ran the eleven brilliantly. The
playing, which had slowed down in the third quarter, was speeded up
again and it was soon seen that Clearfield was getting the jump on her
opponent. Hull mixed his plays well and at the end of five minutes
Clearfield was once more knocking at the enemy’s portal. But, although,
she managed to get the pigskin to the eight yards, there was no one
to try a field-goal and Hull’s attempt at a forward pass over the
line failed. Lesterville worked back to midfield, was held there and
tried a forward pass which McCoy captured. Another slow but certain
advance toward the Lesterville goal reached the twenty-yard line.
There a fumble lost the Purple possession of the ball and Lesterville
punted on second down. Hull caught and wormed his way past the enemy
for fifteen yards. A forward pass gained twelve yards and first down.
McCoy battered his way through for eight and Lanny gained the rest. The
ball was back on the opponent’s eighteen yards again and Clearfield
cheered madly and shouted “Touchdown!” at the top of her lungs. But
the Purple was playing against time now and there was but a scant two
minutes left. Lanny struck the left of the line for a slight gain and
got so roughly treated that time was called while he was taken out,
remonstrating, and Tupper put in. Another attempt at the right of the
line by McCoy gained three and then Tupper was given a chance to show
what Morris’s teaching had done for him. But although Brimmer managed
to pass fairly well and the Purple line held like a wall, Tupper’s
drop-kick went two yards wide of the goal and Lesterville fell on it
for a touchback. Then, after one scrimmage, the whistle shrilled and
the game was over, Clearfield the victor by one goal from the field.
Clearfield at large was well enough satisfied with that result, in
spite of the fact that several of the players were suffering minor
injuries which would keep them out of practice for several days. For it
was realized that not only had Coach Lovering used many substitutes but
that he had succeeded in winning without divulging a single new play,
which, since rumor had it that Springdale scouts had been seen there
that afternoon, was considered a fine bit of fortune. But Dick himself
was far from satisfied with the way things had turned out, although he
kept that dissatisfaction to himself. He and Morris Brent were both
pretty uncommunicative on the trip back. They sat together, with George
Cotner on Morris’s other side, and, although Morris summoned a smile
when fellows asked how he felt, an attentive study of his countenance
might have revealed the fact that his cheerfulness was assumed and that
all the way back to Clearfield he was suffering pain. And although
when they changed cars at Town Square Morris managed to walk without
much wincing it was seen that Dick and George Cotner helped him in and
out of the cars. At the corner of E and Sawyer Streets they alighted,
now, since the other fellows were no longer present, attempting no
disguise of the effort it cost the injured boy to get from the car to
the sidewalk. Dick hurried around up E Street to his house and was soon
back with Eli. Into the runabout Morris was assisted, George Cotner
drew back and Eli jogged slowly and carefully out Sawyer Street toward
Brentwood. For a block or two the occupants of the car were silent.
Then it was Morris who spoke:
“Of all the rotten luck!” he declared bitterly.
Dick nodded. “It’s tough,” he agreed grimly. “I’m awfully sorry,
Morris.”
“The silly doctor told me it was just as good as the other one, too! A
fat lot he knows about it! What do you suppose I’ve done to it, Dick?”
Dick shook his head helplessly. “I don’t know, Morris. I couldn’t find
anything like a break. Maybe it’s just a wrench, after all.”
“Gee, I hope so!” muttered the other. “I don’t see how it happened,
anyway, do you? He tackled me all right, didn’t he?”
“He tackled below your knees,” answered Dick grimly. “I could see that,
even if the umpire couldn’t. I suppose when you went down you twisted
the leg somehow. Well, it’s done now. I’m sorry for you, Morris, and
I’m sorry for the team. It leaves us in a hole, all right. We’ve been
counting on you all Fall, you see, and we’ve built our game around you.
I don’t suppose Tupper――――”
“He’s not much good,” Morris growled. “He doesn’t seem to get any swing
at the ball. Hang it all, Dick, I’ve _got_ to play! That’s all there is
about it! If that fool doctor says I can’t I――I’ll tell him to forget
it!”
“I’m afraid your folks won’t forget it, though,” replied Dick dryly.
“There’s just one thing to do, Morris.”
“What’s that?” asked Morris, groaning as the car went over a jounce.
“Keep it quiet,” answered Dick. “None of the fellows know that
you’re badly hurt――if you are, of course――and it mustn’t get around.
Springdale must think we’ve still got you to kick field-goals. We can
fake along somehow, Morris. The doctor will let you come out in togs
and sit on the bench, anyway, I guess, and maybe you can trot about a
bit.”
“Don’t see what good that’ll do if I can’t play,” objected the other
dejectedly.
“It’ll do some good, Morris. We’ll have to change our plans for the
Springdale game, but we needn’t let Springdale know we’ve changed them.
See?”
“Oh!” muttered Morris thoughtfully.
“Now, when you get home you telephone for the doctor at once and get
his verdict. But swear him to secrecy, Morris, and swear everyone of
your folks to secrecy too. Then call me up and tell me what he says.
No, don’t say anything over the ’phone but ‘yes’ or ‘no.’ If you say
‘no’ I’ll know you can’t play. But don’t let a soul hear about it. If
you can hobble out on Monday I’ll come for you in the car. I want the
paper to report you at practice. I want Springdale to keep right on
thinking that we’re banking on you for field-goals, Morris. I’m not
going to lie about it, but I’m certainly not going to put anyone wise.
See what I mean?”
“Yes, I see what you mean, all right. But――but, hang it, Dick, it
doesn’t do me any good!”
“It’ll do you a lot of good if you see us win from Springdale instead
of lose to her two weeks from to-day,” replied Dick. “It’s the one way,
I guess, in which you can help us to win now, Morris. Remember that.”
“All right, Dick. Anyway, maybe it won’t be as bad as we think. Maybe
if I keep out of it a few days I’ll be all right.”
“We’ll see,” said the other. “Now I’ll give you an arm into the house.
Stay where you are till I get out.” Dick looked cautiously about and
was relieved to find the street deserted. “All right now. Put your arm
over my shoulders. That’s the ticket! Hurt much?”
“Not――not much,” answered Morris from between clenched teeth.
Three-quarters of an hour later Dick left the supper table to answer
the telephone.
“That you, Dick?” asked a voice at the other end of the wire.
“Yes,” answered Dick.
“This is Morris.”
“Yes.”
“He says――――”
“Never mind that! Careful, Morris! Is it ‘yes’ or ‘no’?”
There was a fateful pause. Then:
“‘No,’” growled the voice.