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 t............