Fathers and sons -- Fiction; Runaway wives -- Fiction; Sportswriters -- Fiction
Peter didn't leave the press box immediately. He was much too shaky to
attempt the journey down the long steps to the field. The Harvard stands
had poured out on to the gridiron and the students were throwing their
hats over the goal posts. The Yale undergraduates remained and across
the field came booming, "For God! For Country! And for Yale!" Peter knew
that he would have to cool off emotionally before he could write his
story. That would have to tell who carried the ball and when and how
far. He couldn't just write, "Harvard! Harvard! Harvard!" and let it go
at that. He must make most of his story on that run of Bullitt's. The
thing was almost perfect in its newspaper possibilities. It couldn't be
better. The tackle which stopped the quarterback on the fourteen-yard
line had knocked him out. Peter wished he knew what Dr. Nichols had said
when he ran out to the player. Then he remembered somebody had told him
once that the doctor had a formula which he invariably used when a
player was knocked out. "What day of the week is it? Who are you
playing? What's the score?" That was the test which must be passed by an
injured man before he could remain in the game.
Suddenly an idea came to Peter. That was just the touch he needed. His
story was made. He almost jogged all the way to the telegraph office.
His first two starts were false ones. Then he achieved a sentence which
suited him and pounded away steadily. No doubts assailed him. He was
never forced to stop and hunt for any word. The thing just wrote itself.
"There's a little trouble," said the chief operator, "but I can let you
have a wire in about half an hour."
"I've got half of it done already," replied Peter. "Make it snappy."
They were holding him up and he stopped to look over what he had
written.
"Cambridge, Mass., November, 19--By Peter Neale--The Harvard worm turned
into a snake dance. Tied by Penn State, beaten by Centre and by
Princeton, the plucky Crimson eleven made complete atonement this
afternoon when it won from Yale by a score of 10 to 3.
"Joy came in the evening. Harvard did all its scoring in the dusk of the
final period. The Crimson backs showed that they were not afraid to go
home in the dark.
"Charles K. Bullitt, quarterback, who weighs 156 pounds, earned most of
the glory. In the past this slight young man has been valued chiefly for
his head work. He is rather a delicate piece of thinking machinery and
it has been the custom to guard him a little from the bumps of the game.
His rôle has been like that of a chief of staff.
"The customary procedure is for Bullitt to peer calmly over the opposing
lines and then make a suggestion to one of the bigger backs as to where
it might be advisable for him to go. In general his acquaintance with
the ball has been only a passing one. He is expected merely to fair
catch punts and not to run them back. Indeed for the last two years
Bullitt has fairly thought his way into a place on the Harvard team.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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