Page:Lacrosse- The National Game of Canada (New Edition).djvu/42

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THE ORIGINAL GAME.
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subject who are down, if the ball happens to pass in their direction." "There are times," he adds, "when the ball gets to the ground, when there is a confused mass of balls, sticks, shins and bloody noses." When the ball fell among the spectators, the players leaped into them like a whirlwind, with as little regard for their safety as their own, and there was a well known art among the spectators of saving oneself from much tumbling and contusion by embracing the nearest tree and holding on like grim death until the rush of players had passed. It seemed as if they were bent upon dislocating or breaking every bone of their bodies; they tumbled and dragged and did everything rough in pursuit of the little deer-skin ball. One remarkable feature of the old game was the magnificent leaps which the players indulged in, either for show or to grasp the ball in the air. "At one time," says Lanman, "the whole crowd of players would rush together in the most desperate and fearful manner, presenting, as they struggled for the ball, the appearance of a dozen gladiators, striving to overcome a monster serpent; and then again, as one man would secure the ball and start for the boundary of his opponent,