the victory, the situation looked black as ink, and
the tense atmosphere that accompanies forlorn hopes took possession of
Ridgley School and penetrated not merely to the recitation halls, but
even, it was said, to the office of Doctor Wells, the head. In such
times there were mighty efforts to bolster up the spirit of the team, to
feed it concentrated football knowledge and to ward off by Herculean
effort the black shadow of defeat that raised its ugly head like a
thunder cloud pushing itself higher and higher over the white buildings
on the hill.

Before the Wilton game Coach Murray had a few words to say to the team
that made every member tingle with a desire to show what he could do.
When the whistle blew and the game began, Teeny-bits was sitting on the
side lines with the other substitutes.

Ridgley kicked off to Wilton, and immediately received a terrific
surprise. The pigskin went sailing through the air impelled by the heavy
boot of big Tom Curwood; it fell into the purple-covered arms of a rangy
Wilton half-back who, instead of running with the ball, immediately sent
away a long spiral punt that flew over the heads of the charging Ridgley
players. Neil Durant yelled out a quick warning and turned with his
team-mates.

Ned Stillson was nearest the ball when it struck the ground; he intended
to gather it up as it bounced, and then he meant to carry it far back
toward the Wilton goal, but his calculations went wrong. His
outstretched fingers touched the ball and almost grasped it, but the
pigskin oval slipped from him and next instant--to the horror of the
Ridgley watchers--was seized by a swift-footed son of Wilton who had
come tearing downfield as if some weird instinct had informed him that
Ned was to make the fatal error. Before any Ridgley player could
overtake him he was lying between the goal posts with a satisfied grin
on his features. The game was scarcely thirty seconds old and the score
was 6-0 in favor of the invaders! A moment later the Wilton captain
kicked an easy goal and the tally was seven.

Nor was that all of the misery in store for Ridgley; before the
timekeeper had signaled the end of the first quarter, another disaster
had occurred; and this time the element of luck, which might have been
said to enter somewhat at least into the scoring of the first touchdown,
played favorites no more with Wilton than with Ridgley. The home team
was outgeneraled. By a series of strong rushes the visito