"Thirty seconds to play," shouts the umpire, poring over his stop-watch.
"Thirty seconds to make one last attempt for Yale, and every man on the
eleven nerves himself to hold against the Princeton rush-line as against
death himself. As the quarter-back cries the signal, the right and left
half-backs, from mere force of habit, crouch ostentatiously, as if
prepared for a run round the end. But the feint is unnecessary. Every
man on the Princeton eleven, every coacher on the side-lines, every
football-player on the crowded grand stands, knows that a goal from the
field is Yale's only chance, knows that on Teddie's coolness depends the
fate of the day. Back goes the ball on a long, low, accurate pass from
the wiry little quarter-back. And before it has reached Teddie's
outstretched hands the crash comes, and against the sternly waiting line
comes the full force of the Princeton rushers bent on breaking through
and blocking the kick.
"Hold 'em, Yale!" gasps the Captain from his place at tackle, as he
braces against the hard-pressed right-guard. And for a second Yale
holds. Then the line wavers, and straight for Teddie, from as many
different points, spring three men. But that second had been enough.
Deftly and slowly, as if in practice, the ball is poised and dropped.
Struck on the rebound by Teddie's foot, it spins up and out just above
the outstretched fingers of the Princeton rushers, who leap high in the
air to intercept it. The goal is a difficult, diagonal one to make, and
every player forgets to breathe as the ball sails slowly on, until it
just clears the cross-bar, making the score stand 5-4 in favor of Yale;
the game has been won in the last quarter of a minute.
[Illustration: THE GAME HAS BEEN WON IN THE LAST QUARTER OF A MINUTE.]
In such an indescribable turmoil as the one that followed, with every
Yale sympathizer swarming out on the field to embrace the eleven which
had so gallantly snatched a victory from the jaws of defeat, it was
impossible to chronicle events with perfect accuracy; but it has been
reported, on reliable authority, that shortly after the goal was kicked,
a hatless and much dishevelled individual, bearing some faint
resemblance to the dignified Mr. Larned, the well-known financier of New
York, was seen enthusiastically hugging a muddy Yale player, supposed to
be the full-back, pouring forth divers fragments of cheers the while,
and at intervals embracing a tall man in a slouch hat who was performing
a vigorous war-dance with variations. Both of these parties mentioned
were also said to have been members of the group that carried the
aforesaid full-back around the field on their shoulders in triumph.
Undoubtedly the facts in the case have been much exaggerated, but it is
certainly true that Mrs. Larned, to her unbounded amazement, received
the following telegram from her husband late that evening:
"Teddie, my friend Bright, and four of the Yale eleven will eat
Thanksgiving dinner with us to-night."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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