BETWEEN THE HALVES.
Stone recovered to find some one sopping his face with a cool, dripping
sponge. They had carried him off the field, and he was lying on a
blanket behind the tiered seats, over the upper tier of which bent a
row of sympathetic faces. His teammates were around him, being kept
back by one or two fellows who insisted that he should have air.
“What—what’s matter?” he mumbled thickly, as he tried to sit up.
“Easy, old fellow,” said the voice of Roger Eliot, who had been
applying the sponge. “You were knocked stiff in that last scrimmage.”
“Scrimmage?” echoed Ben uncertainly, vaguely fancying he had been in a
fight with his bitter enemy. “Did Bern Hayden——”
“It wasn’t Hayden. We tried to fool the Clearporters into thinking he’d
again go through with the ball, but he passed it to me. They downed me,
though, just as the half ended.”
“Oh,” said Stone, remembering at last, “we were playing football.”
“That fightin’ Irishman must have soaked ye,” observed Sile Crane. “You
had him crazy all right, the way you bucked him around.”
“Carney did not hit me,” declared Ben positively.
Winton, like Eliot, had been working to bring Stone round. “Well,” he
observed with satisfaction, “you seem to be all right now. I reckon you
can get back into the game for the next half, can’t you?”
“Sure thing,” was the prompt answer. “I’m not hurt any.”
“That’s the stuff,” applauded the coach, rising to his feet. “That’s
the spirit that wins. Some of you fellows need a little more of it.
Rollins, you’re bigger and heavier than that man Hutt, but he’s walked
through you four or five times. Brace up and stop him. Davis, you’ve
got to show more nerve. Don’t be afraid of cracking yourself when you
try to tackle; you’re not crockery. Look alive, Tuttle, and get into
the plays quicker. Sometimes you take root in your tracks.”
“Great ginger!” gasped Chub in astonishment over this call-down. “I
thought we were all doing pretty well.”
“Give him a peanut, somebody, to brace him up,” chuckled Chipper Cooper.
In another moment Chipper was shivering beneath the withering eye of
the coach.
“You’ve got a whole lot to learn about football,” said Winton. “Move
your feet when you go down the field under a kick. Davis can run around
you twice and be ahead of you at the place where the ball falls.”
“Oh, jiminy crickets!” gasped Cooper. “I’ve got mine! Stop your
grinning, Spotty.”
“You all let up after that second touchdown,” continued Winton. “Did
you think you had points enough? Have you a notion that there’s danger
of overexerting yourselves? You should have had two more touchdowns, at
least. Clearport was growing better toward the last of it, and you
fellows acted as if you had caught the hookworm. This kind of a
football game is never won till it’s finished, don’t forget that. If
you quit a little bit in the next half you’re liable to get it put all
over you. Those fellows are good; they’re better than you are, but they
don’t know it. Let them wake up to the fact, and you’ll be lucky if
they don’t play you off your feet. You’ve got to keep them so busy they
won’t find time to realize how good they are. Hayden, I’d like a
private word with you.”
With a look of surprise on his face, Bern followed the coach, who
stepped aside from the others. In a moment Winton was talking to him in
low tones.
“By gum!” said Sile Crane. “He sorter handed it right out to the whole
of us, didn’t he? I kinder thought he was goin’ to praise us for our
fine work.”
Cooper poked a thumb into Piper’s ribs. “He didn’t say anything to you
personally, did he, Sleuth? Wonder how you got by? Morehead had you
groggy in that last smash.”
“Yes,” admitted Sleuth, “we butted our cocoanuts together, and my
deduction is that he’s got _more head_ than I have.”
“Oh, you villain!” exclaimed Chipper. “You trespasser on my sacred
preserves! I should have thought to say that myself. Look at Bern; he’s
getting excited. Wonder what Winton’s drilling him for?”
Hayden was indeed showing traces of excitement, for his face was
flushed, his hands clenched, and he shook his head with an air of angry
denial.
“I saw you,” said Winton, in a low, calm tone, “I saw you slug Stone on
the jaw with your fist, Hayden; it’s useless to deny it.”
“It’s very strange,” sneered Bern, “that you were the only one who saw
it. Where were the referee’s eyes?”
“Following the ball, doubtless. Carney swung Stone round sidewise as
you lunged into the scrimmage, for doubtless he thought you had the
ball, and he was trying to block you. It gave you a chance to hit Stone
squarely on the side of the jaw, and you smashed him. Perhaps I was the
only person who observed it; I hope I was. You’ve played a brilliant
game, Hayden, and you can’t afford to let your temper and your hatred
of Stone mar your record. Only for the fine style in which he blocked
off the opposing guard, you never could have made such good gains. He
doesn’t know you hit him, for he didn’t see you; and he won’t know
unless I——”
“I deny that I did it,” muttered Bern sullenly.
“And while you deny it you’re aware that I know you did. Settle your
personal grudges off the football field; that’s the thing to do. Don’t
think for a moment that I’m taking sides in this quarrel between you
and Stone; I know nothing of the merits of the matter, and it’s no
affair of mine. Nevertheless, if I should see you do another wretched
trick of that sort I’d stop the game to pull you off the field.”
“You’re only the coach; the captain of the team would have something to
say about that.”
Winton’s eyes flashed. “I’m the coach, and as long as I continue in
that capacity I’ll exert my authority to pull any man out of the game.
You have a nasty temper and a revengeful disposition, my boy, and it
will be for your advantage to learn to curb yourself. Would you like to
see Clearport win this game?”
“Certainly not.”
“I thought not.”
“Clearport can’t win. We’ve got them beaten now.”
“So that’s what you think. If you had seen as many football games as I
have, and if you had watched this one from the side-lines, you would
realize that there is not as much difference between these two teams as
there seemed to be. If they ever discover our weak spots and get busy
on them, they’ll make us go some yet. The line is none too strong, and
the loss of Stone would weaken it frightfully. Furthermore, what do you
imagine the fellows would think of you if they even suspected that you
had tried to knock Stone out—and you might have succeeded if the half
hadn’t ended just as you slugged him. I’m not going to say anything
more; I think I’ve said enough. But don’t forget that I have my eyes on
you.”
Not a word of this conversation had reached Stone’s ears, yet, sitting
on the blanket and looking toward Winton and Hayden, Ben somehow
obtained a slight inkling of the truth. This suspicion was strengthened
as Winton finished speaking and turned away; for, in spite of himself,
Bern could not help glancing toward Stone, and his eyes wavered beneath
the boy’s steady, questioning gaze.
Piper, having stretched himself on the ground near Ben, had likewise
fallen to watching Hayden and his accuser.
“My deduction is——” began Sleuth.
Two short, sharp blasts from the referee’s whistle told that the
intermission was over and the time for the second half to begin had
arrived.
------------------------------------------------------------------------