ick caught it on the side. Instead of the ball
going down field, it veered to the left, in the path of Astro. Quickly
getting his head under it, he shifted it to Roger, who streaked in and
stopped it with his hip. But then, instead of passing ahead to Tom, who
by now was down field and in the open, Roger prepared to kick for the
goal himself.

Tom shouted a warning but it was too late. Schohari came rushing in
behind him, and at running stride, met the ball squarely with his right
foot. It sailed high in the air and over the _Polaris_ goal line just
as the whistle blew. The game was tied.

"That was some play, Manning," said Astro, when they were lined up
waiting for the next period to begin.

"You asked for it," snapped Roger, "you were yapping at me to play, and
now look what's happened!"

"Listen, you loudmouthed punk!" said Astro, advancing toward the smaller
cadet, but just then the whistle blew and the three boys ran out onto
the field.

The _Arcturus_ crew swept down the field quickly, heading for the ball
and seemingly ignoring the _Polaris_ unit. But Schohari slipped and fell
on the grass which gave Tom a clear shot at the ball. He caught it with
the side of his boot and passed it toward Roger. But Allen, at full
speed, came in and intercepted, sending the ball in a crazy succession
of twists, turns and bounces. The crowd came to its feet as all six
cadets made desperate attempts to clear the skittering ball with none of
them so much as touching it. This was the part of mercuryball that
pleased the spectator. Finally, Schohari managed to get a toe on it and
he sent it down field, but Astro had moved out to play defense. He
stopped the ball on his shoulder and dropped it to the ground. Steadying
it there, he waited until Tom was in the clear and kicked it forty yards
to the mid-field stripe.

The crowd came to its feet, sensing this final drive might mean victory
for the _Polaris_ crew. The boys of the _Arcturus_ swarmed in--trying to
keep Tom from scoring. With a tremendous burst of speed, Tom reached the
ball ahead of Schohari, and with the strength of desperation, he slammed
his foot against it. The whistle blew ending the game as the ball rose
in an arc down the field and fell short of the goal by ten feet. There
was a groan from the crowd.

But suddenly the ball, still reacting to the mercury inside, spun like
a top, rolled sideways, and as if it were being blown by a breeze,
rolled toward the goal