AT LINCOLN HALL
For a few seconds after the game ceased members of the two elevens sat
or lay in the positions that they had occupied when the whistle had
announced the expiration of time. They felt somewhat dazed,--on the one
side overwhelmed with the wonderful thought that victory was theirs; on
the other stunned with the bewildering thought that the impossible had
happened, bringing defeat and disappointment.
Teeny-bits felt as if he wanted to rest where he had fallen in the last
scrimmage with his body against the brown earth and let the happiness of
victory sink in slowly, but suddenly he was aware that a howling mob had
descended from the stands, that the members of the Ridgley team were
surrounded by frenzied schoolmates who were insisting on lifting them up
on their shoulders and carrying them off the field. He saw Neil Durant
struggling in the grasp of half a dozen yelling Ridgleyites and the next
moment felt himself lifted bodily and carried forward jerkily. He tried
to resist but did not have the strength; and so he let them raise him up
and transport him where they wished. It was a queer sight that met his
eyes as he looked round him and saw his team-mates' heads and shoulders
bobbing up and down above the milling crowd.
Never had Ridgley enjoyed a triumph more. Old-timers and young fellows
alike were joining in the snake dance. Old Jerry, the janitor, was there
prancing about in a comical, stiff-legged way; Mr. Stevens and half the
faculty were there and every member of the school, while mothers,
sisters and friends looked down from the stands and wished that they too
might join the whirling mob.
The members of the team finally escaped from those who wished to honor
them and made their way to the locker building where they sat and talked
for a few minutes, regained their breath, rubbed their bruises and
looked each other over. Outside they could hear the howling of the
paraders and the booming of the bass drum as a line was being formed to
march from the field to the school.
Meanwhile the Jefferson team, occupying another part of the locker
building, was making ready to leave. In the shower-bath room the members
of the two teams came together and exchanged such words as befit losers
and winners when the fight has been fair and square and fast from
beginning to end. While Neil Durant was dressing, Norris came over and
held out his hand.
"Neil," said the captain of the Jefferson team, "I didn't believe that
you could get away with it and I want to tell you that I think you have
a great team. I never played against an eleven that could begin to equal
it."
It was not easy for the Jefferson captain to say those words and it was
not easy for Neil to reply.
"Oh," said the Ridgley captain, "I guess the breaks came our way. I feel
as if I had been playing against a bunch of Bengal tigers. If we ever
played again you'd probably trim the life out of us."
"I'd like to meet that little chap who played left-half for you," said
Norris. "I never quite saw his equal."
Neil Durant called Teeny-bits, and the half-back shook hands with the
captain of the Jefferson eleven.
"When you came on the field," said Norris, "I said to myself, 'I guess
we can stop that fellow all right,' but before we got through I dreaded
to see the quarter pass you the ball."
Teeny-bits did not know what to say, but he laughed and looked the big
fellow in the eyes and remarked that he had had a "lot of luck" and that
every time he tried to tackle Norris he felt as if he were trying to
hold up a steam engine.
"Well," said Norris, "it's all over and I wish I were going to see more
of you fellows. Why don't you come down to see me, Neil, and renew old
times, and bring Holbrook along?"
After he was gone Teeny-bits turned to Neil and said, "I call that one
fine fellow. He ought to have come to Ridgley."
According to its immemorial custom the Ridgley team, whether or not it
was victorious in the struggle with its ancient rival, met in Lincoln
Hall for a banquet a few hours after the close of the game. On this
night while the rest of the school was busily engaged in heaping up
piles of wood, rubbish, barrels and every imaginable kind of inflammable
material, the members of the team gathered to discuss the victory and to
hear the speeches that Coach Murray, as toastmaster, called for with the
voice of authority. Any member of the eleven whom Mr. Murray singled out
knew that it was his duty to get up on his feet and attempt to make a
speech, although it probably was a much more difficult thing for him to
do than to break through the Jefferson line.
Neil Durant had his say and thanked the members of the eleven for their
loyalty and courage in a way that made them feel more than ever that he
was the best captain in all the history of Ridgley football. Ned
Stillson tried to keep out of sight by slumping down in his seat and
getting behind big Tom Curwood, but Coach Murray singled him out and
ordered him to stand up and make a speech. Every one laughed at Ned, and
big Tom Curwood thought that the right half-back's attempt at oratory
was so funny that he laughed louder than any one else until he heard
Coach Murray's fatal words: "All right, Tom, you're next!" whereupon his
features "froze" in a look of embarrassment. The roar that went up when
Tom's face became suffused with red nearly caused the big center to claw
his way out of the room and escape to the outer air. He cleared his
throat two or three times and then, much to the surprise of every one,
went through the ordeal as if he had prepared his speech hours in
advance.
"I want to tell you fellows," said big Tom, "that I was scared pink,
blue and green when that game started--those Jefferson linesmen and
those husky back-field runners of theirs looked so fierce. I really
wasn't afraid of them but I _was_ afraid of the thought that we were
going to get licked. What really woke me up and made me feel that those
fellows couldn't do a thing to us was to see the way Neil Durant and
young Teeny-bits got going. I want to tell you that when I saw the
captain go larruping into that bunch and when I heard the thump that
Norris made when Teeny-bits brought him down I said to myself that I
ought to be in a nursery for infants if I couldn't do a little rampaging
on my own account. I know I didn't do a thing except let 'em walk over
me, but I wasn't scared after that first minute and I knew that we
couldn't lose if Neil and Teeny-bits didn't get laid out."
To Teeny-bits it was a surprise to hear his name linked in this way with
that of his captain. In his own opinion he had, aside from the one
fortunate play in which he had crossed the Jefferson goal line,
contributed very little to the Ridgley victory, but as the evening went
on and one player after another joined his name with that of Neil
Durant, he saw that these big fellows with whom he had been so closely
associated during the past few weeks felt, for some miraculous reason,
that he had helped them to maintain their spirit and to carry the fight
to Jefferson.
When it came Teeny-bits' turn, Coach Murray said: "We'll now hear from
the chap who nearly gave us nervous prostration by forgetting that
Ridgley was going to play a little game of football to-day."
As Teeny-bits stood up he thought of telling the members of the team why
he had been late to the game, but he instantly decided that it was
better to make his explanation alone to Neil Durant or the coach. He
merely said:
"I had a pretty good reason for not getting to the field before I
did,--I am going to tell Mr. Murray and Neil about it later. I haven't
much to say regarding the game except that I knew we could win because
we had the spirit to do it and because Neil was showing us the way all
the time. To play on the eleven which beat a team that fought as hard
and as clean as the Jefferson crowd is an honor that makes me dizzy. I
began to dream about it a few weeks ago; now that it's come true I can
hardly believe it."
Teeny-bits sat down and a few moments later the balloting began to elect
a new captain for the Ridgley team. It was Neil Durant's last year and
the big leader of the red eleven, before starting the procedure that
would result in the choosing of his successor, said to his team-mates:
"It is our custom, as you all know, to choose a football captain at the
dinner following the Jefferson game. It has always been done without
nominations--simply by balloting. I'll pass around these slips of paper
and I want you to write on them the name of the man who in your opinion,
regardless of friendship, will make the leader who will best carry on
Ridgley football tradition."
All of the members of the team knew that this was coming, of course, and
they took it solemnly and in silence. There were no suggestions passed
from one to another; each received a paper from the captain, wrote down
a name and returned the folded slip to Neil, who made a second round of
the big table. The captain turned the ballots over to the coach who
quickly unfolded and counted them. When he was through, of the fifteen
ballots--one for each member of the team who had played in the big
game--fourteen were piled in front of his right hand and one remained in
front of his left hand. He whispered a word to Neil Durant who
immediately got to his feet and said:
"Fellows, you have elected a _real_ leader; one who has grit and spirit
and who always thinks of the team before he thinks of himself, a fellow
who does much and says little; Teeny-bits Holbrook is the captain of the
Ridgley eleven. In view of the fact that he is the only one here who
voted for some one else we'll call it a unanimous election."
Teeny-bits looked from one face to another with such an expression of
bewilderment and astonishment that every one knew that he was dazed with
surprise. They were all looking at him and he realized that they counted
on him to say something. He got up and attempted to fulfil their
expectations but he never was quite sure what he said, although he knew
that they cheered and yelled and that presently he sat down. Within a
few minutes Coach Murray brought the banquet to a close and they all
went out to watch the celebration which was already well under way.
The band that had done almost continuous service during the afternoon
had been retained and was now engaged in booming out--somewhat raucously
and discordantly but nevertheless effectively--the Ridgley songs,
principally the Ridgley victory song. Above the din sounded the _boom_,
_boom_ of the bass drum--not always in time with the music--and the
members of the team discovered that Snubby Turner had persuaded the
"artist" who wielded the padded sticks to relinquish his noise-producing
instruments and that Snubby, at the head of the band, was drumming away
to his heart's content and every few seconds giving voice to a yell that
expressed his supreme happiness in the outcome of the afternoon's
struggle. Every one laughed at Snubby and felt himself inspired by the
example to yell louder and contribute with more abandon to the
demonstration around the fire.
As Teeny-bits looked at Snubby, he said to himself again that it was
impossible that this genial and loyal son of Ridgley was guilty of
stealing from members of the school or being in any way connected with
the incidents that had contributed to his own former unhappiness. He
made up his mind that he would, within the next twenty-four hours, have
a talk with Snubby and attempt to arrive at an explanation of the
mysterious events which were still puzzling his mind.
Until midnight the red sparks mounted above the tops of the Ridgley
maples,--mounted until they seemed to join with the stars that on this
crisp autumn night looked down from clear skies upon the scene of
revelry.
Only two members of Ridgley School were absent from the celebration and
no one at the time missed them,--Tracey Campbell, substitute left
half-back of the football team, and Bassett, the self-named Western
Whirlwind.
Parades and speeches and cheering, torchlight wavering against the white
buildings, huge banners held aloft with the stirring figures, 20 to 14,
emblazoned in red upon them, and then gradually as the night grew old, a
lessening of sound and a dimming of light,--that was the way of
Ridgley's festivity. Finally the members of the school made their way
back to the white dormitories; the great day was over; the pleasure that
remained was the pleasure of retrospection, of thinking over each detail
of the victory, of re-living the struggle and of reading the accounts of
the game in the newspapers. In those papers the sons of Ridgley were
destined to find not only the glowing account of the game, which they
knew would greet their eyes, but also news of a startling and unexpected
nature.