Page:Boys of Columbia High on the Ice.djvu/244

226 it was about to shoot into the net. Then came a swift stroke that sent it caroming over the ice, full fifty feet away, with a horde of eager skaters in pursuit.

"All over!" shouted Buster, standing on his toes to see the finish.

"All but the shouting!" echoed Jack Eastwick; for well did they know that when that swift shot of Hastings headed for the Columbia net it was high water mark in the Clifford advance.

And true enough, the heart seemed to be quite taken from the Clifford seven after that failure of Hastings to make good. They fought on doggedly, but lacked the vim and fire that they had so recently been showing. With but two minutes left it was utterly out of the question to dream of making the twin goals necessary to tie the score, let alone enough to win out.

And presently the referee's whistle signified that the match had reached its legitimate conclusion!

Columbia High had finished her most remarkable year in a blaze of glory! Everything had indeed come her way that season, and it would long remain as the most wonderful in all the history of the famous institution.

Cheers immediately arose, and let it be said to the honor of Columbia that the very first her sons and daughters put up were in honor of the gallant