! Speed'll be in the game now ...
he's due any minute!"
A second substitute raced out on the field and Coach Brock now
excitedly examined the telegraph blank.
"Ashby!" he groaned, as he saw the office from which the wire was sent.
"Twenty miles... He had ten minutes of the intermission minutes for
time-outs ... plus two minutes' for the third quarter plus another ten
to fifteen minutes for time-outs ... plus two minutes' intermission
between quarters ... how much does that make? Can he get here before
the game's over?... Why did that galoot have to go so far away?...
Come on, team--the old fight!"
News that their backfield star was due to appear any second proved a
tremendous bracer to a beaten team. Medford braced on her ten yard
line and held the mighty Hamilton for downs, then punted out of danger.
Medford did even more than this. As the third quarter drew to a close,
she drove deep into Hamilton territory on her first sustained offensive
of the day.
"Save the game for Speed!" became the slogan. "Put the old ball in
scoring position!"
But the fourth quarter got under way with no sign of Speed Bartlett and
Coach Brock was forced to wave a yellow slip of paper as proof that he
hadn't been pulling a ruse on his team.
"He's coming!" the coach megaphoned. "This wire says so!"
"He must be coming from Florida!" growled quarterback Pete Slade.
"Let's go, guys!... Maybe we can score without him!"
A taxi suddenly wheezed into the stadium, steam and water frothing from
the radiator, the cap of which had been blown off. A figure leaped
from the taxi before it had come to a stop and went racing toward the
Medford bench. A section of the Medford crowd recognized the figure
and set up a great hue and cry. The Medford team, hearing the
outburst, immediately called for "Time out!"
"Pay this man twenty bucks!" Speed panted, pointing to the taxi driver,
as Coach Brock embraced him, wildly. "How about my togs?"
"They're right here!" said the Coach. "Gather around him, you fellows.
He'll have to change on the field ... no time to chase to the locker
room!"
Clothes were fairly thrown at Medford's star halfback and willing hands
helped strip him while other willing hands, almost too willing, fairly
jerked on his moleskins. Meanwhile Coach Brock had shoved two ten
dollar bills in the taxi driver's hand, wrapped a blanket around him
and pushed him down on the bench alongside the substitutes.
"What's
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