ilence

CHAPTER I

HEROES IN MOLESKIN

"Third down, four yards to gain!"

The referee trotted out of the scrimmage line and blew his whistle; the
Hillton quarter-back crouched again behind the big center; the other
backs scurried to their places as though for a kick.

"_9--6--12!_" called quarter huskily.

"Get through!" shrieked the St. Eustace captain. "Block this kick!"

"_4--8!_"

The ball swept back to the full, the halves formed their interference,
and the trio sped toward the right end of the line. For an instant the
opposing ranks heaved and struggled; for an instant Hillton repelled the
attack; then, like a shot, the St. Eustace left tackle hurtled through
and, avoiding the interference, nailed the Hillton runner six yards back
of the line. A square of the grand stand blossomed suddenly with blue,
and St. Eustace's supporters, already hoarse with cheering and singing,
once more broke into triumphant applause. The score-board announced
fifteen minutes to play, and the ball went to the blue-clad warriors on
Hillton's forty-yard line.

Hillton and St. Eustace were once more battling for supremacy on the
gridiron in their annual Thanksgiving Day contest. And, in spite of the
fact that Hillton was on her own grounds, St. Eustace's star was in the
ascendant, and defeat hovered dark and ominous over the Crimson. With
the score 5 to in favor of the visitors, with her players battered and
wearied, with the second half of the game already half over, Hillton,
outweighted and outplayed, fought on with the doggedness born of despair
in an almost hopeless struggle to avert impending defeat.

In the first few minutes of the first half St. Eustace had battered her
way down the field, throwing her heavy backs through the crimson line
again and again, until she had placed the pigskin on Hillton's
three-yard line. There the Hillton players had held stubbornly against
two attempts to advance, but on the third down had fallen victims to a
delayed pass, and St. Eustace had scored her only touch-down. The
punt-out had failed, however, and the cheering flaunters of blue banners
had perforce to be content with five points.

Then it was that Hillton had surprised her opponents, for when the
Blue's warriors had again sought to hammer and beat their way through
the opposing line they found that Hillton had awakened from her daze,
and their gains were small and infrequent. Four times ere the half was
at an end St. Eus