ping
vibrations were felt in the midst of the stir of the crowds, and now in
the nearer approach the individual faces could be distinguished, wildly
painted; the athletic figures, gaudily clad and barbarically decorated;
the ball-sticks, held aloft in a sort of rhythmic vibration as if
quivering for a chance at the ball; and fourscore wild young voices
howled defiance at loco Town, whose youth in return howled its municipal
pride, failing only with failing breath.

They were all in the course at last. The judges, elderly warriors and
absolutely impartial, chosen from towns which had no interest at stake
in the match, were seated on a little knoll, commanding a view of the
ground, but at a sufficient distance to be in no danger from a maladroit
handling of the ball. This was made of deerskin, stuffed hard with hair,
and sewn up with deer sinews. The ball-sticks, of which each player
owned his pair, were also partly made of deerskin, the two scoops or
ladles being fashioned of a network of thongs on a wooden hoop, each
furnished with a handle of hickory three feet long, worked together with
a thong of deerskin to catch the ball between the rackets,--it being of
course prohibited to catch the ball in the hand.

The drums beat furiously; the word was given; the ball was flung high in
the air in the middle of the course, and the next instant one hundred
and sixty young athletes rushed together with a mighty shock the force
of which seemed to shake the ground. Some fell and were trampled in the
crush; others madly clutched one another, friend or foe, with the
ill-aimed ball-sticks, inflicting a snapping hurt like a bite,--a wound
by no means to be despised. One, an expert, sent the ball with an artful
twirl through the air toward the Ioco goal, and in the midst of a shout
that rent the sky the whole rout of players went frantically flying
after it, whirling with an incredible swiftness and agility when it was
caught midway, and hurled back toward Niowee with a force as if it had
been flung from a catapult. Here and there individual players in the
frenzied chase made wonderful records of leaps in their efforts to catch
the ball, springing into the air with a surprising strength and
elasticity, and a lightness as of creatures absolutely without weight.

A good match they were playing; for more than half an hour neither side
was permitted by the other to score a single point. The ball seemed for
a time as if it were awing fore