THE WRESTLER.
There was an immense crowd in the Seventh Regiment Armory that evening.
Nearly everybody present was a friend of one or another of the colleges
represented in the contests, and excitement ran high.
The seating had been arranged so that Yale students and their friends
occupied a solid tier of seats upon the side of the hall near the
center.
Directly across the hall, in a similar tier, were the students and
friends of Harvard.
On the same side with Yale was the Cornell crowd, and directly opposite
them the Princeton crowd.
The rest of the spectators sat as near their favorite college as they
could, with the result that long before any of the games began, the
building fairly roared with college cries mingled together, each crowd
trying to outdo the others.
It seemed as if there would be no lungs or voices left to cheer the
athletes, but if any one had such a fear it must have been because he
was not acquainted with students' voices.
An excited Yale or Harvard man can give the college cry somehow when he
would be unable to conduct a conversation above a whisper.
The very middle of the hall was left vacant. All the contests were to
take place there, and, therefore, in full view of all the spectators.
The athletes had their dressing-rooms at the ends and sides of the
building, and there were so many of them that each college had a number
of rooms for itself.
The Yale managers took their men up to the armory about half an hour
before the call for the first event.
Dressing-rooms had been picked out in advance, and the men belonging to
the tug-of-war were put into one room by themselves.
The Yale crowd in the audience cheered frantically when they recognized
their companions marching across the floor to their dressing-rooms.
Shortly after that the Princeton men came in, and then there was a wild
howling from the other side of the room.
So it went on, and so it continued all through the evening, for there
was hardly a moment when there was not something going on to arouse the
enthusiasm of one college or another, and if by any accident there was a
hitch in the proceedings, there was plenty of excited students in each
faction to stand in front of the tiers of seats and lead their comrades
in cheering on general principles.
As there were many events, and many entries in each one, the programme
was put through rapidly, and as often as possible, two or more events
were being contested at the same time.
The object sought for by each college was to gain as many victories, or
in other words, first places, as possible, but in some events, like
wrestling and fencing, where only two men could contest at a time, it
was necessary to have two or three and sometimes four bouts in the same
event.
This was not the case in such a sport as leaping, for there all the men
could compete at the same time, and one set of trials decided the
matter.
In wrestling it was necessary to draw lots to decide which colleges
should compete first.
Then lots were to be cast to decide which college the winner of the
first bout should wrestle with, and so on.
Each wrestling bout consisted of three rounds, with a short rest between
each two.
As three rounds at wrestling is likely to tire any but the very
strongest man, the next bout was set down a full half hour later on the
programme in order to give the winner time to rest.
It was the same with the tugs of war. One tug was put upon the programme
early in order that the winners of it might have time to recover their
breath and be in condition to meet the next comers.
It would be an impossible task to describe all the many events that
succeeded each other rapidly that evening. Every one had its interest
and importance, although in the audience at large, as it had been at
Yale, the tug of war was watched for with the greatest anxiety and
excitement.
There may be space, however, to indicate the outcome of one or two minor
events in which Frank and his companions were especially interested.
The first thing on the programme consisted of the contests in high
jumping and the first bout in wrestling. The jumpers went through their
work at one end of the floor, while the wrestlers struggled at the
other.
The drawing of lots resulted in putting Mellor of Yale against Grant of
Cornell for the first try.
The Yale managers almost groaned aloud at this piece of ill luck. If
there was anybody among the wrestlers representing the other colleges
that they feared, it was this same Grant.
He was fully as large and muscular as Mellor, and had easily downed
everybody who had met him in his own college.
With Mellor in good condition the Yale men would have believed that the
chances were at least even for his victory; as it was, those who
understood the case were certain that the Yale freshman would be turned
down quickly.
Of course the managers said nothing openly after the lots were drawn,
but they exchanged views in private just before Mellor went out to begin
his work.
"Tough luck," remarked Frank, between set teeth.
"I wish we had sent him back to New Haven," grumbled Hill.
"It's a confounded shame," exclaimed Rowland, "that Mellor couldn't have
had a chance to meet Sherman of Harvard first. He could probably throw
Sherman even if he were still half full, and that would give him some
kind of a standing, but now he'll go out there and get turned down so
dead easy that everybody will laugh at Yale, and the rest of our fellows
will get rattled."
"I don't think the rest of us will get rattled," said Frank, "and
perhaps Mellor won't be such an easy victim as you think."
"Let us hope that he gets at least one fall," muttered Hill.
There was no time for further talk about the matter, and they went out
to the main hall to see the event.
At the upper end of the floor Higgins was taking his first leap, but the
managers paid little attention to him. They hoped he would win, but they
were confident that whatever happened he would make a good showing, and
they could not take their eyes from their champion wrestler.
Mellor was still looking as solemn as if he were at a funeral. His face
was rather pale, and he sat in a chair at one side perfectly motionless
until the call came to enter the ring.
Grant of Cornell, on the other hand, was laughing and chatting with his
managers, and his face was pink with health.
At the call he bounded from the chair and pranced into the ring nimbly,
and as the Yale managers looked him over they felt worse than ever.
Mellor got up slowly and walked, as if he dreaded the ordeal, out to
meet his adversary.
"That's right, Mellor," whispered Frank, as the wrestler passed, "take
it easy and don't get excited."
Mellor gave Frank a grateful look. It was the only encouraging word he
had received from his managers since his foolish scrape.
He shook hands with Grant, and then stepped quickly back to his
position. It was a catch-as-catch-can match, and for an instant the two
big fellows stood warily watching each other before they advanced.
Meantime Yale and Cornell were setting up a chorus of howls to encourage
their respective champions.
The two got together with a sudden jump that surprised everybody.
It was expected that Grant would take the offensive, but it seemed that
Mellor decided upon the same policy, for the floor fairly shook when
they met and began a mighty struggle.
Frank's eyes glowed, and his heart seemed to rise to his throat as he
watched the muscles stand out on Mellor's arms and back.
"There's big stuff in that fellow," he said, half aloud.
"If he only had staying power," retorted Hill, in disgust, "but he's
wasted all that in his jag."
The words were hardly out of Hill's mouth before there was a heavy thud,
as the two wrestlers went down; then such a roar went up as the building
had not yet heard, for Yale's man was on top. Mellor rose quickly and
ran to his dressing-room, followed by his managers, who overwhelmed him
with compliments.
He said nothing, but stood up to be rubbed and taken care of.
"You took him completely by surprise that time, Mellor," said Frank.
"Now the next time he'll be on his guard for that, and you'll have to
pursue different tactics."
Mellor nodded.
He did not appear to be suffering from loss of breath or any sort of
exhaustion, so the managers left him with his trainer to see how the
jumping was getting on.
They arrived upon the floor just as another terrific chorus of Yale
cries went up.
Higgins had cleared the bar after every other contestant had failed.
It was a grand start for Yale. One first place had been gained, and with
Mellor's success it looked as if another was certain.
The floor was quickly cleared of the posts that had been set up for the
jumpers, and the Harvard and Cornell tug of war teams came on for the
first pull.
In this, as in the wrestling, the order of the trials had been decided
by lot.
Leaving the tug of war for the moment, we will glance at Mellor's
further work as a wrestler.
While Harvard and Cornell were getting into position for their tug, he
went out again to the floor for his second set-to with Grant.
As Frank had predicted, Grant was wary this time; he waited for Mellor
to take the offensive, and the latter was slow in doing so. They got
together at last, and for a few seconds each struggled vainly to
overcome the other.
Then they stood still, and those who were giving their especial
attention to them felt the greatest excitement because the men were
evidently tremendously in earnest, and very evenly matched.
After a good deal of dancing about the ring, and many a vain attempt to
bring on a fall, Grant got in a sudden trip that brought Mellor to his
knees.
Then, exerting all his weight and force, Grant crowded the Yale man down
until his side was on the floor.
No fall could be counted until Mellor's shoulders were both squarely on
the floor, and, therefore, Grant was crowding with all his might to
prevent his antagonist from turning on his face.
When a wrestler lies over on his stomach with his arms outstretched, it
is almost impossible to turn him.
It looked as if Mellor were trying to get into this position, for then
Grant would be compelled to stand off and give him a chance to spring
up.
Grant, of course, was trying to do just the reverse, for having Mellor
so nearly down, he did not care to give him a chance to get on his feet
again.
Just how it was done it was hard to see, but suddenly Mellor seemed to
rise as if he were on a trap that rose by the force of a concealed
spring.
With a wonderfully quick movement he broke his hold and got a new one,
and before anybody realized what his attempt meant, he had turned his
antagonist over and brought Grant's shoulders squarely down upon the
floor.
Then the building shook with howls. Yale had won the first bout in
wrestling, and at the same instant Harvard had beaten the Cornell tug of
war team.
The Yale managers were happy. It seemed now as if Mellor were certain of
carrying off the cup for wrestling.
According to the fall of lots he was to tackle Sherman of Harvard next.
Sherman was a comparatively slender, but very wiry fellow. He was
considerably under Mellor's weight, and as the latter had shown unusual
skill it was thought that the Harvard man would prove an easy victim.
So he did in the first round. Mellor downed him almost as easily as he
had turned down Grant, but as it proved that was the end of the Yale
freshman's staying power.
He had put all his force into the two set-tos with Grant and the first
with Sherman; when it came to the second set-to with the latter there
was a long, exciting struggle, which ended in Mellor's going under.
He showed his exhaustion plainly after that, and his limbs quivered when
he went out for the third set-to.
He struggled well, and really made a good showing, but the Harvard man
downed him at last, and with that defeat Yale's chances for coming out
ahead in the general tournament were badly damaged.
Nevertheless Frank and the other managers felt that Mellor had made so
good a showing that nobody would suspect that he had disobeyed
regulations and unfitted himself for making the contest.