deposited forcibly on the ground.

When the ball was stepped in by the referee it was set down some four
inches inside the fifteen-yard line. In the stands and along the side of
the field Brimfield was cheering triumphantly, imploringly, and waving
her banners. The linesmen scampered in obedience to the referee's waving
arm.

"First down!" shouted the official. "All right, Brimfield? Ready,
Claflin?" The whistle piped again.

Rollins was stopped squarely on a try at right guard and Otis made a
scant three past the left tackle. Under the shadow of her goal-posts,
Claflin was digging her cleats in the turf and fighting hard. Rollins
went back. "Get through, Claflin! Block this kick!" cried the Blue's
quarter-back. "_Get through! Get through!_" Back went the ball from
Thursby, a trifle high but straight enough, Rollins poised it, swung his
leg, and then, tucking the pigskin under his arm, sprang away to the
left. Shouts of alarm, cries of warning, the hurried rush of feet and
rasping of canvas! Bodies crashed together and went down. Rollins, at
the ten yards now, side-stepped and got past a blue-legged defender,
turned in and went banging straight into the melee. Arms clutched at
him. He was stopped momentarily. Then he wrested free, plunged on for
another yard and went to earth.

"Second down!" cried the referee when he had bored through the pile of
squirming bodies and found the ball. He glanced along the five-yard
line, set the pigskin to earth again, and "About two feet to go!" he
added. Brimfield was shouting incessantly now, standing and waving.
"_Touchdown! Touchdown! Touchdown!_" Across the field Claflin sent back
a dogged chant: "_Hold 'em, Claflin! Hold 'em, Claflin! Hold 'em,
Claflin!_"

But surely Claflin couldn't do that! It seemed too much to ask or
expect. Otis made it first down off left tackle, placing the ball on the
three yards. Before the next play could be started the period ended and
the teams flocked to the water pails and then tramped down to the other
end of the field. The cheering never paused, even if the playing did.
Childers, red-faced and perspiring, kept the Brimfield section busy
every instant. "Once more, now! A long cheer with nine 'Brimfields'!
That's good! Keep it up! We're going to score, fellows! Let's have it
again! All into it!"

Only three yards to go and four downs to do it! Claflin lined up
desperately, her forwards digging their toes barely inside their last
line, her ba