the game was scheduled to begin at three o'clock, but long before that hour the great gymnasium was crowded with enthusiastic supporters of the rival teams. the sophomores and seniors with their friends filled the right side of the balcony, while the freshmen and juniors with their friends were at the left. at one end of the floor was erected a platform for the faculty, while on narrow benches on either side of the floor the teams and officials were to sit. the gymnasium had been gayly decorated with the blue and white of 1915 and the blue and orange of 1914; and huge banners were hung from the iron railing of the balcony.
as jean was on the flag committee she stood at the door and helped distribute flags to the freshmen. at last every one had been given out, and she hurried to her seat. elizabeth[247] and she were both fortunate enough to draw seats in the front row, not side by side, but only separated by two other freshmen, mary boyce and ruth witham. as she crowded her way down through the masses of girls she was stopped again and again to be congratulated by those who had just heard of what she had done.
"why, jean, who would have thought it of you?" said peggy allison as jean pushed by her. "it's lots better than making the team. come down to the inn with me after the game. i want you to meet my cousin, miss murray, from radcliffe. i'm giving just a little supper for her, and it will be grand to have such a heroine as you with us."
"oh, nonsense, peggy! i wish you wouldn't talk about it; it's nothing, but i shall be awfully glad to go down to the inn with you. i'm starving already. you might introduce me to your cousin, though, instead of taking it for granted that we know each other."
"oh, i beg your pardon, jean, but i'm so excited over what you've done that i have forgotten[248] everything else. allow me to introduce you to my cousin, miss janet murray, radcliffe 1914. miss murray, allow me to introduce you to miss jean cabot, ashton 1915. there, is that perfectly proper, jean? don't forget to meet us after the game."
"all right," said jean, "and i'm very glad to have met you, miss murray," and she finally reached her seat. no sooner had she sat down than the class cheer leader arose and said, "ready, girls; three long cheers for jean cabot," and the gym resounded with the three long rahs with cabot at the end. jean blushed a little and then began to look about her, apparently unconscious of the sensation her appearance had created. she thought she had never before seen anything as exciting as the scene the gym presented now. there were rows upon rows of girls with their bright-colored flags and streamers, their faces aglow with excitement. most of them were sitting down, but those not fortunate enough to secure seats stood in the back rows and leaned this way and that for a better view. it did not make much difference as long as[249] they were there. down among the faculty there seemed to be as much enthusiasm as in the balcony, only in a more subdued manner. jean looked at miss hooper to see if she wore the white carnations she had sent to her that morning, and smiled to herself as she saw her holding them in her hands and waving them every little while as she recognized a freshman or upper-class girl in the balcony. miss emerson had many carnations and daffodils, too, the flower that the sophomores decided best matched their class color, and she noticed that almost all the faculty wore or carried some flowers or ribbons to show their preferences.
"oh, mary, isn't it wonderful?" said jean, as she seized mary boyce's hand, "and to think i might perhaps have played with them if i had only studied harder. you better believe i'll study harder next—" but she stopped, for the door of the dressing-room opened and the girls ran out upon the floor.
"why, jean," said ruth witham, "what dandy suits the girls have. are they new?"
"yes," said jean, "it's a surprise. the[250] girls made them all themselves. doesn't anne cockran look too sweet for anything? isn't she little? but she surely can make baskets if she ever gets half a chance."
just then the freshmen broke into a round of cheers for the team and every member on it, and in turn the sophomores gave their cheers. the two teams practised a few minutes at both goals and promptly at three o'clock miss matthews blew her whistle and the girls lined up ready for play.
"ready, sophs?" and sallie lawrence replied, "all ready."
"ready, freshmen?" and bess johnson replied, "all ready."
the ball was tossed into the air, the whistle blown and the game was on. "good," said jean; "they're off; keep your eye on bess johnson. isn't she tall? she ought to be able to put the ball right into the basket by just reaching up her hands," and as she said this, bess johnson, the freshman captain, with her superior reach touched the ball first and sent it spinning toward the sophomore goal. anne cockran, freshman forward,[251] rushed in pursuit of the ball, but missed it and a sophomore guard captured it and passing it quickly to the center who, eluding her long-armed opponent, continued its course toward the freshman goal by sending it into the arms of a waiting forward. before she could be covered, she tossed it up to the basket where for a moment it poised upon the edge and then rolled in. a goal in less than two minutes of play!
a deafening shout arose from the sophs, and not to be outdone the freshmen followed suit, although jean declared to the girls around her that she didn't see anything to cheer for. "to keep up their courage," said elizabeth. "don't be discouraged, jean; they've only begun playing."
"that's all right, beth, but i'm superstitious about some things, and i firmly believe that the side which gets the first basket always wins the game."
"who told you that?" asked ruth witham.
"nobody," replied jean, "but i believe it, and you see how it works out to-night."
[252]
although the sophomores had got a basket so easily during the first minutes, it was not so easy getting another. the freshmen did not intend to allow them to continue gaining points, and settled down to good steady playing. both sides were pretty evenly matched, and their passing and guarding were excellent. the sophomore team was a little heavier than the freshman one, and perhaps lacked a little of the agility of the lighter girls. the ball went back and forth over the floor with an occasional attempt at a basket, until suddenly anne cockran got the ball in her possession and turning quickly to measure the distance to the basket, slipped and fell to the floor and for a moment lay there perfectly still. "time!" shouted bess johnson, the freshman captain, and miss matthews blew her whistle. after the college doctor examined anne carefully he found that she had twisted her ankle, and of course could not play the rest of the game. very reluctantly anne left the floor amid a deafening cheer, and if one had been in the gallery she might have heard many a freshman murmur to her neighbor, "oh, isn't it a shame![253] and she's our best player. we've lost now, surely."
after the doctor had bound up anne's ankle and wrapped her in a big bath-robe, he carried her out to the players' bench, where she was to watch the rest of the game, even if it broke her heart not to be out on the floor playing. bess johnson called for "phil" woodworth to take anne's place, and the game was on again.
quickly the ball was put into play and there was such rapid passing and clever blocking on the part of each team that one seemed to have little advantage over the other. the playing grew more furious, and several times the referee had to interfere in order to put the ball back into play. finally, in one of these scrimmages almost under the sophomore goal, the ball rolled out from under the feet of two struggling contestants straight toward phil woodworth. unguarded for the moment, she sprang quickly forward, seized the ball and, in her slow, hesitant manner aimed at the basket. the ball dropped into the basket, but not a second too soon, for at that[254] very moment the timer's whistle blew for the end of the first half. there was a tense silence for a moment, followed by tumultuous cheers by the freshmen as they realized that the work of the substitute had tied the score.
"oh, i'm so excited i can't sit here another second!" said jean. "let's stand up a little while; my foot's asleep, i've kept it so long in one position. i'd like to walk a little, but there's such a crowd i never can get through it."
"better not try, jean," said ruth, "there isn't time, anyway, and it's fine to watch the crowd. wasn't that splendid for phil woodworth? after all, it does count to be a substitute. her room-mate, grace littlefield, told me just to-day that when the regular team was chosen and phil didn't make it she was so disappointed that she declared she'd never play basket-ball again, and it took a lot of coaxing on the part of the girls to get her to promise she'd be sub. why, i'd give everything i possess in the world to be down there playing, even as one of the subs! poor anne! how do you suppose she feels?"
[255]
"pretty sore, ruth, and of course awfully disappointed, but she'll get her numerals all right, won't she? she certainly deserves them," said mary boyce.
"oh, girls, look!" said jean. "there's miss emerson and miss thurston going over to speak to anne. my! isn't that an honor! think of miss thurston condescending to console an insignificant freshman! actually, she is the coldest, most unsympathetic individual i ever ran up against."
"yes," said elizabeth, "and she's just in the act of giving her some flowers one of her fond admirers sent her, and miss emerson is sharing her carnations, too. doesn't she look dear in that new gray dress? i think she's the sweetest college president that ever lived, and i wish i could do something to have her give me even one little carnation, to say nothing of a whole bunch of them. doesn't a game like this just make you want to do things for old ashton? i'll be a loyal supporter even if i can do nothing more."
"oh, you'll do something, my fair elizabeth," said jean, "and before very long, too.[256] how much more time is there? i wish they'd begin. i want somebody to do something. i hate a tie score."
"here come the girls," said mary, as the girls took their positions and the whistle sounded; "now for some good fast playing."
with the changing of the goals, the tactics of the sophomore team seemed to change, and their superior weight and greater experience began to break down the freshman defense. they had quickly scored two goals to the freshmen's one and added another point, when an excited freshman, through too strenuous holding, committed a foul.
"why don't they play more carefully?" said jean. "they're just throwing the game away." and as if to add strength to her remark, the referee at that moment declared another foul and another point was added to the sophomore total. "oh, i don't want to see the rest of the game," wailed jean. "i can't see the sophs beat us so badly. why can't our girls do something?"
at the toss-off which followed, bess johnson gave a signal with her left hand and instead[257] of sending the ball towards the sophomore goal she tossed it back into the hands of one of the guards, who, in obedience to the signal, had rushed forward. catching the ball before it had touched the floor, she threw it accurately to a waiting forward who, before the bewildered sophomores had recovered from this unusual strategy, threw the ball into the basket. the score was now 8-4 in favor of the sophs. encouraged by the success of this play, the freshmen redoubled their efforts, but to little purpose, as they were already beginning to show the effects of their strenuous play, so that except for one point added to their score by a sophomore foul they could do little more than successfully defend their goal.
the game was rapidly drawing to a close when the ball going out of bounds was awarded to bess johnson to throw in. closely guarded by the waving arms of her opponent, she glanced quickly over the floor and at that moment saw the agile form of louise harrison as, eluding her opponent, she rushed down with arms outstretched to[258] catch the ball. with quick movement she threw it over the shoulder of her antagonist toward the rapidly moving figure, who, though going at full speed, caught it fairly. but she had not a moment to consider passing it to another nearer the goal, as two sophs rushed towards her. the basket seemed very far away indeed, but with quick concentration and taut muscles she threw with all her might. it seemed an interminable moment as the ball soared through the air, but at last with a little spiral drop it settled into the waiting net.
with a quick movement she threw it over the shoulder of her antagonist.—page 258.
time was up, and the sophomores had won, but by the scantest of margins, the final score being 8-7 in their favor. it took a moment or two for the freshmen to recover from their defeat, and then they cheered as lustily for the sophs as though it had been their own victory. then there was a wild rush for the gymnasium floor and the balcony was emptied of all its occupants. the sophs formed a procession, and some of the strongest girls carried their captain, sallie lawrence, off the[259] floor amid shouts and cheers, and the freshmen, not to be outdone, seized bess johnson and followed suit.
when the teams came out of the dressing-rooms again the sophs sent up a mighty shout. "the freshman flags, the freshman flags, we want the freshman flags!" as they shouted, each girl seized the hand of the one nearest her and they formed a circle round the gymnasium. when they dissolved the circle some of the cheer-leaders erected from convenient apparatus what most closely resembled a funeral pile in the center of the floor, and then called for the freshmen to form a line. sallie lawrence hastened to the piano and struck up the funeral march and the freshmen slowly approached the pile and each girl dropped her flag and passed on out of the building.
"well, i don't care a bit," said jean to an animated group of freshmen outside the gymnasium. "if they did win it was only by one point, and our girls really did some wonderful playing. why, that shot of bess[260] johnson's was worth the whole game. isn't she a star?" then looking around her she whispered, "now to get ready for our banquet; if we can only succeed in that we won't mind losing the game."