only served to give Tug’s men a chance to get their wind after some violent play; how Tug was everywhere at once, and played for more than the pleasure of winning this one game—­played as if he were a pair of twins, and only smiled back when Clayton glared at him; how Punk guarded the goal from the longest punts the varsity full-back could make, and how he kicked the goal after all but one of the many touch-downs the scrub team made; how little Jumbo, as quarter-back, passed the ball with never a fumble and never a bad throw; how, when it came back to his hands, he skimmed almost as closely and as silently and as swiftly over the ground as the shadow of a flying bird, and made long run after long run that won the cheers of the crowd; how B.J., Sawed-Off, and Pretty, as right-end, center, and left-end, responded at just the right moment, and how Pretty dodged and ran with the alertness he had learned in many a championship tennis tournament; and how Reddy, as left half-back, flew across the field like a firebrand, or hurled himself into the line with a fury that seemed to have no regard for the bones or flesh of himself or the Claytonians; how—­

IV

But did any one ever read such a string of “hows”?  Why, that sentence was getting to be longer and more complicated than the game it was pretending not to describe; so here’s an end on’t, with the plain statement that the game (like that sentence) came finally to an end.  But the effects of the contest did not end with the dying out of the cheers with which the victory of the scrub was greeted.  And Tug’s elevation did not cease when he had been caught up on the shoulders of the crowd and carried all over the field, amid the wild cheers of the whole Academy.  No more did Captain Clayton’s chagrin end with his awakening from the stupor into which he had been sent by the surprisingly good form of the scrub.

Clayton felt bitter enough at the exposure of his bad captaincy, but a still greater bitterness awaited him, and a still greater triumph awaited Tug, for the Athletic Association put their heads together and decided to have their little say.  The result was published in the Kingston weekly, and Tug, after the overwhelming honor of being interviewed by a live reporter, read there the following screaming head-lines: 

Scrub wipes the earth
with varsity!

* * * * *

Kingston Football Team Meets with a
Crushing Defeat at the Hands of
the Second Eleven.

* * * * *

Score, 28 to 4.

* * * * *

Varsity outplayed at
every point.

* * * * *

Popular Opinion Forces Captain Clayton
to Resign in Favor of
“Tug” Robinson.

* * * * *