or all the law would allow and a line-shift was
followed by a quick toss of the ball to one side of the field. Luckily
for the home team, however, it was Steve Edwards' side that was chosen,
and Edwards, while he was not quick enough to prevent the catch, stopped
the runner for a yard gain. It was third down then, with the ball out of
position for a field-goal and ten yards to a touchdown and the Brimfield
supporters, urging their team to "Hold 'em!" breathed easier.

"Fourth down! Five to go!" announced the referee.

"Stop 'em!" panted Marvin.

Then the Morgan's drop-kicker moved back to the twenty-yard line and
well to the left of centre, and centre stood sidewise as though to make
an oblique pass. It hardly seemed possible that Morgan's would attempt a
goal from such an angle, but still there was but one down left and the
Brimfield line, though it had yielded short gains, was not likely to
give way to the enemy for the five yards necessary for a first down.
Captain Innes watched the Orange-and-Blue formation doubtfully, striving
to guess what was to develop. In the end he scented a fake-kick and
warned his line.

"Fake!" he shouted. "Fake! Watch that ball! Get that end, Steve! Hold
'em, hold 'em, Brimfield!"

And Brimfield held them. At least, Brimfield held all but one of them.
It was unfortunate that that one should have been the one who had the
ball! Just what really happened was a matter of discussion for many
days. It occurred so suddenly, with such an intricate mingling of backs
and forwards, that Brimfield was unable then or later to fathom the
play. Even from the side line, where Coach Robey and a dozen or more
substitutes looked on intently, that play was puzzling. All that seemed
clear then or afterwards was that the ball did actually go to the
drop-kicker, that that youth swung his leg in the approved fashion, that
one of the backs--some said the quarter, while others said one of the
halves--ran back and took the pigskin at a hand-pass, and that
subsequently a tackle who had played on the end of the line was seen
tearing across the goal line well toward the other side of the field.
There had undoubtedly been a lateral pass, perhaps two, but the Morgan's
players had so surrounded the play that the whole thing was as
unfathomable as it was mysterious and as mysterious as it was
unexpected. The one fact that stood out very, very clearly was that the
enemy had scored a touchdown. And, although she afterwa