Page:St. Nicholas (serial) (IA stnicholasserial321dodg).pdf/50

16 among you; there is n't one who would n't fight till he dropped for the old college. Not one! Not one!”

He held out his hands, and the ball struck them. The pain was so intense in his ankle that he could not put bis weight on that limb. He was standing on one leg, the left. With teeth cutting his lip cruelly, he swung the other with all his might, He heard it strike the ball with a dull thud; then he sank to the ground.

‘There was a moment of silence so unbroken that the seats on all four sides might have been deserted, instead of filled with thousands of spectators. Then came a roar that fairly shook the ground, and reverberated from the hill to the west. The ball had missed the post by an inch, and had cleared the bar nicely. The game was won by a score of 10 to 6.

They picked up Elton tenderly, and the trainer bathed his ankle in water. Presently the physician came forward and examined it.

“It is sprained,” he said, “badly sprained. You won't play any more football this year, young man.”

Then the coach came up and said, “Good work, boy!” and turned quickly away; and Walters grasped his hand and shouted, "I knew it! I knew it!”

The next morning Elton read in the papers how he had smiled while they bandaged his badly swollen ankle.