“Hurrah for Sam Rover!”

“Great Caesar! see him leg it!  They can’t catch him!”

“There he goes over the line!”

“A touchdown!  The game is a tie!”

“Quick, fellows!” cried Sam.  “Only five more minutes, remember.  Who is to kick?”

It was a player named Larcom.  But Larcom was not equal to it, for the wind was rising and blowing in several directions at once.

“No goal!  The game is a tie!”

“Put the ball out again!”

“Only four minutes to play!”

Again the football went forth, and again the crowd pounced upon it.  The Pornellites were now desperate and massed themselves as never before.  They pushed forward ten yards — fifteen — twenty —­ almost thirty.  It looked as if they would score another touchdown, if not kick a goal.  But now Sam Rover sent a certain sign to his players.  It was taking a risk, but it was worth trying.

The ball came over to the right of the field and spun like lightning to the left.  Fred caught it up, ran ten yards, and passed it to Larry Colby, who turned it over to Tom.  Away it went to Sam, and then to Frank.  The Pornellites were bewildered.  Where was the ball?”

“Putnam has it!”

“There she goes!  Hurrah for Frank Harrington.  Another touchdown!”

It was true.  Putnam Hall had scored another touchdown.  A tremendous yelling and cheering broke out, in the midst of which the gong sounded.  The game was over, and our boys had won the victory.

In a twinkle the gridiron was covered with swarming students, and Sam and his fellow players were hoisted up on willing shoulders, to be trotted around the oval.  “Hurrah for Pornell!” they shouted.  “Hurrah for Putnam!” came back the cry.  It had been a bitter but friendly contest, and victors and vanquished shook hands over and over again.

Of course many students of Pornell were bitterly disappointed, but no one felt so sour over the whole afternoon’s doing as did Dan Baxter.  In all he had lost over fifty dollars, and now neither his fellow students nor the boys of Pornell Academy wanted anything to do with him.  “I haven’t any use for a chap who bets against his own crowd,” was the comment of one academy student, and he voiced the sentiment of all.  Only Mumps stuck to his chum, and the two, soon left the grounds together.

By four o’clock the cadets were on their way back to Putnam Hall, the carriages moving behind the two companies of young soldiers, who sang and shouted themselves hoarse as they moved along.  Even Captain Putnam entered into the spirit of the affair.  “Brings me back to the days when I was a cadet myself,” he said to George Strong.

Directly after supper a huge bonfire was lit on the playground, and the students were allowed to have their own fun until eleven o’clock.  The football team was, of course, the center of attraction, and Sam and Tom came in for their full share of honors.