Page:The fighting scrub, (IA fightingscrub00barb).pdf/112

 CHAPTER IX

AN "UNEXPECTED" HONOR

Jeff had just twenty-eight yards to go for a touchdown, and he covered twenty-two of them before he was threatened. Then Drayton, right end, overhauled him. But after the tackle Jeff made three good yards, and when the whistle sounded, the pigskin lay no more than four feet from the last white-*washed streak. A horn tooted hoarsely, but "G.G." would have none of it.

"Play on," he ordered grimly. "Two minutes more, First!"

The Scrub exulted. They would have cheered Mr. Otis if there had been time. The First set grimly to work to hold the enemy at bay, and Thayer's first smash at the line netted inches only. But neither Sim nor the big fullback was discouraged. Four feet was only four feet, and Johnny could take that in a stride! But he had to have a hole, and the center of the First's panting, crouching line offered not even a crevice. So Sim shifted to his right, playing beyond end himself, and the Scrub drove straight ahead, wedging between guard and tackle, and Thayer shot up and forward, and the whistle blew and the ball was over!

To make assurances doubly sure, Sim Jackson gave way to Hoppin, and "Hop," standing safely away