the ball
and the play was aimed at center; big Tom Curwood, however, was equal to
the occasion; he stopped the play before the purple-clad son of
Jefferson had covered a yard beyond the Ridgley line.

A second wild howl of delight went up from the Ridgley stands; those two
small incidents, the quick downing of the runner after the kick-off and
the stiff stand of the Ridgley line on this first play from regular
formation, had brought a sudden feeling of confidence. Down there on
that white-lined field the wearers of the red had begun to show that
they could hold their own. But the next play--an end run by the
left-half, who made seven yards and advanced the purple within two yards
of first down--brought a thunderous roar from the other side of the
field.

The Jefferson captain now stepped back into kicking position. The ball
was snapped as if for a punt, but Norris, instead of kicking, started
around the Ridgley right end. Neil Durant went over swiftly, but one of
the Jefferson backs formed perfect interference and the big wearer of
the purple, evading the Ridgley end and the captain went through into an
open space,--and almost before the Jefferson stands had begun to shout
encouragement to him had covered twenty yards.

It was Teeny-bits running diagonally across the field who finally made
the tackle. To the Ridgley left-half a strange feeling had come as he
saw Norris break away; it had seemed to him, for a brief instant, that
anything he could do would be of no use whatever. In the next moment he
found himself almost upon Norris and before he had time to think he had
made a tackle that turned the despairing groans of the Ridgley
supporters into a yell of relief. The great Jefferson full-back had been
stopped dead by the smallest man on the field. Norris got to his feet
and looked at Teeny-bits with the same expression of interest that had
appeared on the faces of the Ridgley regulars weeks before when
Teeny-bits had made his first appearance with the scrub.

"Some tackle!" he exclaimed, and grinned, as much as to say: "Well,
well, that's pretty good for a little fellow."

In the scheme of plays as outlined before the game by Coach Murray,
Ridgley when on the defensive was always to keep an eye open for Norris.
Neil Durant had been told off to watch the Jefferson captain; it was his
duty to shift his position always in accordance with any shift that
Norris made. Of course the Ridgley ends--and every member of the