The score was unchanged at the end of the first half, and the students scattered during the period of intermission, assured that no further information would be received until after the second half of the game was begun.  The confidence in victory was, however, not so great when they assembled once more, though the interest apparently was as keen as at the beginning.  For some unaccountable reason the dispatches were delayed and a much longer interval than usual intervened before the welcome yellow slip was handed to the announcer.  Murmurs of disappointment were heard on every side, and it became more evident with every passing moment that hope had mostly been lost.  At last, however, the welcome word was received, and even Will Phelps was so eager to hear that he crowded forward into the front ranks of the assembly.

“Alden scores touchdown and goal.  Winthrop fighting desperately, but outweighed and outplayed since Hawley taken out.”

“It’s all over but the shouting,” said the sophomore whose gloomy views had been so sharply rebuked by the senior.  “There isn’t any use in hanging around here.  Come on, fellows!  Let’s go where there’s something a little more cheerful.”

He made as if to depart from the crowd, but as no one followed him, he apparently abandoned his purpose and remained with his fellows.  Only two more dispatches were read, the second of which announced the end of the game with the score still standing in favor of Alden thirteen to nothing.

“Rotten!” exclaimed the sophomore angrily.  “Just what we might—­” He stopped abruptly as the senior advanced to a place where he could be seen by all and began to harangue the assembly.

“Now, fellows,” he began, “the best test of our spirit is that we can stand up and take this in the right way.  Of course, we wanted the game, and some of us hoped and expected we would have it too.  But the other team, and doubtless the better one, has won.  Next year we’ll be ready for them again, or rather you will, for I sha’n’t be here, and the time to begin to win then is right here and now.  But I want to put in a good word for our team.  I haven’t a doubt that they did their level best, and if we could see them now, we’d be almost as proud of them as if they had won.  I know every man put in his best work.  And what I propose is that we go down to the station to-night and meet them with as hearty a cheer as if they had won the game, for we know they did their best to uphold the honor of old Winthrop to a man!”

A cheer greeted the senior’s words, and at ten o’clock that evening all the students who were in town assembled at the little station to greet the returning members of the team.  But Will Phelps, when the train came to a standstill and the boys leaped out upon the platform, speedily forgot all about the game in the sight which greeted his eyes.

CHAPTER XVII

PETER JOHN’S DOWNFALL