nd said his patient was getting
along nicely.

"Given one more day, and possibly by Sunday she may come into her
senses again," he told them before leaving. "And then she can thank
you, madam, for all your kind heart has done for her. But that
little boy is a sunbeam for any house. I have half a mind to steal
him myself."

CHAPTER XIII

THE LIVELY GAME WITH KEYPORT'S SEVEN

Many a fellow in Scranton felt blue early on Saturday morning, when,
jumping from his warm bed, and hastening over to a window, he looked
out to discover a few flakes of snow lazily drifting earthwards.

The gloomy sky seemed to be in fit condition for a heavy snowfall,
that would put the hockey game with Keyport entirely out of the
question.

By the time breakfast was ready, however, these fugitive snowflakes
had ceased falling entirely, and, shortly afterwards, the bright sun
broke out, lifting the load from myriads of enthusiastic young hearts.

After all, it turned out a perfectly glorious winter's day, the air
being keen, but with little wind to mar the work of the contenders on
the icy rink.

Along about nine in the morning people began to gather at the park,
paying for seats in the grandstand. Everybody was as warmly clad as
possible, since it is no joke to sit for an hour or two, with the
thermometer registering half-way down to zero.

As before, one-half of the enclosed area was shut off from the
general public, in order to afford the | hockey players the benefit
of the new ice. Of course, it had been flooded on the preceding
night, after the last skater had left, and this caused a splendid
surface to congeal.

Boys and girls came flocking to the place. Many bore skates, but
there were others who only wished to witness the contest between the
two rival high-school teams, as scheduled for that morning. There
were hosts of other people present also; and already cars and
conveyances of every description were arriving from Keyport,
Allandale, Belleville, and such places, filled with eager
enthusiasts, who loved a good hockey game above all sports, and would
journey far afield in order to be present when one was to be played.

Shortly afterwards some of the Scranton players appeared on the
enclosed area. Their coming was greeted with all sorts of cries,
meant, for the most part, as encouragement, and expressing a firm
belief in their ability to win out.

"We're pinning our faith on you boys. Dugdale, remember!" cri