Abashed at the sight of the boy lying white and still on the ice, the
other hockey players gazed at one another.
"He's shamming!" growled Elmer.
"You know better than that!" retorted Jerry.
"What do you mean?"
"That you and Socker deliberately ran into Watson--and you know it as
well as I do!"
"I saw Socker give him the knee!" interposed Paul.
Intense was the feeling between the two teams, and instinctively the
boys who had been playing lined up with their respective captains. But
before the argument became more bitter, Harry opened his eyes, gazed
about him in a dazed manner, and then sat up.
"Got a bit of a knock, didn't I?" he smiled. "I say, did I score a
goal?"
At the question, all the boys turned to look toward the net of Socker's
team, having forgotten in their excitement to notice where the puck had
gone.
"Jove, but you did!" cried Paul. "Good boy, Harry!"
Instantly the other members of the team with which Harry was playing
took up the cry and Elmer and his companions skated away to hide their
chagrin.
"Here comes Longback; we can put him in, and you can get out of the
game!" exclaimed Paul, helping Harry to his feet.
"Not much--that is, if you are willing I should keep on playing,"
returned Harry. "I'm all right now; and I should like to show those
other fellows that I'm not a pillow!"
"But can you stand the handling?" asked Jerry, anxiously.
"Leave it to me--I'm no rag-doll," retorted Harry. "If they are up to any
tricks, I know a thing or two!"
The gameness of the new student appealed to all the members of the team
on which he was playing, and without further comment they lined up for
the next play.
Surprised to see Harry still in the line-up, Socker skated over to Elmer
and held a brief consultation with him, but their whisperings were
interrupted by the puck being put into play.
As luck would have it, the rubber was sent straight toward Elmer and,
with a clever stop, he dribbled it along toward Harry, evidently
thinking that he would be able to pass him easily because of his
seemingly dazed condition.
But Harry realized his purpose and, with a burst of speed, he rushed in,
snatched the puck, steadied his stick--and then drove it spinning toward
the goal net, sending it past the tender.
"Good boy!" shouted his team-mates. And the cheer was immediately taken
up by the boys and girls who had gathered to watch the game.
Smarting more under the thought that the fellow they had sought to
humiliate had succeeded in turning the tables against them than in the
fact that their opponents had scored two goals, Socker called his men
about him.
"Play for Watson!" he cried through clenched teeth. "That fellow's got
to have his big head taken off him!"
"Ready!" called the lad who was acting as umpire; and with set teeth,
Socker's men took their positions.
Straight and true for the goal Paul sent the puck, but Snooks checked it
just in time to prevent another score, and cleverly Elmer took the
rubber through the opposing players until only Harry stood between him
and the man at the net.
Gritting his teeth, the new member of the Rivertown High School
determined to show that he was an offensive as well as a defensive
player. With a terrific rush, he bore down on Elmer Craven, and with a
sudden twist of his stick, tripped the fellow, grabbed the rubber,
dribbled it out of reach, then sent it spinning with a force that drove
it through the net!
Loud were the shouts from the onlookers--but Elmer lay still and quiet.
"You hit him in the head with your stick!" growled Socker, starting
toward Harry.
"Nonsense! _I_ play a clean game! Leave it to me--I'll bring him round in
a jiffy!"
And while the others stood inactive, Harry scraped up some ice with his
skate and rubbed the shavings on Craven's face.
"Who's doing that?" demanded the boy, sitting up.
But his only answer was a general laugh.
"Everybody ready, puck's going to be put in play!" shouted the umpire,
and without delay, the boys took their positions.
"You want to watch out, the whole team will be down on you this time!"
warned Jerry to Harry, but the lad only laughed.
"I reckon I can give them as good as they send," he replied. "It just
took me a few minutes to get onto their game. I----"
But his words were interrupted by the play.
While Snooks caught the rubber and started back with it, all the other
members of the team bore down on Harry.
Not seeming to notice them, the boy hurried to the assistance of the
goal tender, his pursuers in full cry. Then, with a suddenness that
caused the scholars on the side lines to gasp, Harry turned, shoved his
stick between the skates of the fellow nearest him, and sent him
sprawling on the ice, causing the others to fall on top of him.
Loud was the laughter that rose from the boys and girls who were not in
the game, while Jerry and Paul patted Harry on the back.
But several of the instructors happened to be among the spectators and,
realizing that the game would soon be beyond the bounds of sport, they
intervened.
"Vhy not ve all go and get kindling voods for a bonfire dis efening?"
shouted Prof. Schmidt, the genial German professor.
"Yes! Yes! Get wood for a bonfire!" cried the boys and girls on the side
lines; and forgetful of the hockey game, they skated across the ice,
effectually putting an end to the contest.