ackbone of the team, and many a new
trick in the game was invented by one of them as they sat together in
the autumn nights over the sputtering lamp.

By the boys of the school they came to be known as the "Big Four," and
it was to them that every one looked to uphold the honor of the Hall,
both in study and athletics.

The team kept on practicing with persistent regularity, and the interest
in the championship, which had somewhat abated after the Jamesville
game, now began to arouse, for the Ripley Falls contest was at hand.

For three weeks the eleven had had a holiday, and played no heavy games
except on two occasions, when a delegation from the Whipford Athletic
Club had given them a sample of hard playing, and, sad to say, beaten
them on both meetings. It was no wonder, though, for their team was
composed of full-grown young men, some of whom had been to college and
all of whom were in business or lived in the neighborhood.

It was no disgrace to be defeated by such good material, and while the
Hall team went into the fight with no expectation of winning, they came
out with a great stock of experience and many new points. It was a good
practice to them, and a couple of the Athletic Club players took their
eleven in hand and coached them for a whole week. Every boy was
developing into a fine all-around player.

One Saturday afternoon in the middle of November, on a dull and chilly
day, the team from the High School at Ripley Falls came over with a full
complement of players, and the whole school to a boy following on their
footsteps.

They were an enthusiastic but orderly crowd, and had the most implicit
confidence in their team. In truth, their eleven deserved it, for they
had met both Davenport and Jamesville and whipped those teams by good
scores--the former by 16 to 4, the latter by 25 to 8, thus rendering
their chances for the pennant null.

So far, they had won the same number of games as either the Whipford or
Weston, and stood neck to neck with them in the race.

There was more uncertainty about to-day's game than any the Hall boys
had yet played, but none of them would hear of defeat for an instant.

"What!" exclaimed Ike Smith, who was worked up to the shouting point,
and who had heard one of the boys express a doubt as to the team's
ability to win except by a stroke of luck. "What do you say? Our eleven
be frozen out? I guess not, young fellow. Look at Cole, just coming out
of the gymnasium. Why