Evening star., 1933-10-15

treacherouS muo tnat Sno OUT
from under you, sending you
reeling and sprawling.
And rain. Cold, driving rain that soaked
your jersey and your pants. chilling your skin
and making your teeth chatter. Vicious, dis
heArtening rain that hammered into your eyes.
ran of the end Of your nose and made the ball
. heavy lump Of sodden. watersoaked leather.
It was terrible day for foot ball. but good
crowd Of loyal intensely partisan spectators
huddled in the stands. getting what protection
they could from blankets and umbrellas. un-
willing to leave the field until the final whistle
blew. And out on the gridiron % soaked and
shivering players fought ON in the gray dusk
Of the dismal Autumn afternoon.
There wasn't much left to fight about. The
last quarter was almost ended, and North High
had the game On ice with 1876 lead. There
fore the great majority Of those % players
waited anxiously for that final whistle, eager to
have it over with
But there was one outstanding exception, and
that was Ted Harker, tall, fast halfback for
North High. No matter how bad the rain or
the mud, Ted was never so happy as when ne
was playing foot ball. Ten minutes before
when he had knitted through tackle, eluded the
opposing secondary, and splaShed his way IS
yards for a touchdown his soul had been filled
with a great eation. The cheers of the crowd
had been music to his ears. And even now.
after almost four quarters of hard, driving play
ON the rain soaked field, he was Straining and
eager for each new play to be called.
n lORIH had the ball almost in midfeld
Y Tom BronsH. the quarterback, sent two
plays at the line but gained only two yards
The game was almost over. He was tempted
to punt on third down, content to play safe
defensive game and protect his teams lead.
But Ted Harker ran up to him as the teams
lined up. Ted's eyes were shining with the
love OF battle, and his face was all eagerness
under its coating of mud.
'"Try 49, Tom" Ted whispered. "Their left
halfback is sleeping, and I can get past him in
a walk
Tom hesitated, but Ted's eagerness was con-
tagious. He called the play, took the pass from .
center, and ran wide to the right, apparently
about to circle the end.
Ted had been off like shot as the play was
called He drove straight at the sleeping"
halfbaek behind the opposing line. That player,
his wits dulled by rain and fatigue, lodged out
of his way, which was Just what Ted expected.
Free, Ted dashed on down the slippery field as
fast as he could go.
Toms pass with the sodden ball was beauty.
It scared 30 yards down the field-almost too
far. But Ted added an extra burst of speed,
caught the heavy pigskin in sure fingers, tucked
it into the crook of his elbow and sped
The opposing safety man tried desperately to
cut him Off but without success. Ted slid
across the line for a fourth touchdown.
A FEW minutes later the North High team
was reveling in the luxury of hot showers
and well-earned victory. They were happy,
merry lot but nobody was happier than Ted.
And the boisterous, half -mocking praise that
came from his teammates for that final touch
down made his face glow with pleasure. What
. game foot ball was he thought to himself as
he rubbed his hair vigorously with a heavy