CHAPTER XV
TOM'S LUCK TURNS
The discouraging thing about beating the First
was that the First wouldn't stay beaten. If
you scored on it one day it came back the
following day and tried to see just how overbearing it
could be. Or if you beat it on Monday, say, it spent
the rest of the week rubbing your face in the dirt, until
you almost wished you hadn't been so rash. So the
Scrub's hour of triumph was brief. On Tuesday the
enemy, with all its best talent present, took a long, craving
look at the Scrub and proceeded to devour it. Three
scores, two touchdowns and a field-goal resulted from
the first period, by the end of which the Scrub was
somewhat demoralized although still fighting. During
the five minutes of intermission Mr. Babcock managed
to restore his charges to a fair condition of usefulness.
What no one could understand was why, when
the Scrub had the ball, the First got the jump every
time and upset every play before it reached the line.
This had happened with such monotony that the most
reasonable explanation seemed to be that the First had
somehow since yesterday become endowed with clairvoyant
powers that enabled it to know beforehand what
the opponent meant to do. That the First had learned
the Scrub signals had occurred to the latter, only to be
