The Dozen from Lakerim

some of his work for a few days to help them out. He thus had almost the old Lakerim eleven at his command; and that very night, in that very room, they concoct

heed to the storm that was brewing for him, and was only too g

he also persuaded the captain of the scrub team to give him command for a week. Then he took his ne

large sheet of paper, and spread it on his center-table; then he took twenty-two checkers and set them in array like two football tea

take the ball around the right-end," he would say

ver. Many ridiculous mistakes were made at first, and each man had a good laugh at the folly of each of the others for some play that left a big

ld gather his class about him and work out the same problems on the blackboards, each man being compelled

e for a series of plays. Then Tug would call out some eloquent gibberish like "Seventy-'leven-three-teen," and that meant that on the first down the full-back was to come in on the run, and take the

was silently put in play before he was ready. On the fatal day Tug found that the scheme was well worth the trouble it took. It has

of. He was looking forward to the occasion when a complete game was to be played before the townspeople between the varsity and the scrub; and Clayton wa

e the first full game of the season on the Academy grounds, and every one was eager to renew acquaintance with the excitements of the fall

the line right under the goal-posts, and Clayton's head well whacked against one of those same posts as he was swept off his feet; how Tug's men on the line were taught to avoid foolish attempts to worry their opponents, and taught to reserve their strength for the supreme moment when the call came to split the line; how Sawed-Off, though lighter than Clayton's huge 200 pound center, had more than mere bulk to commend him, and tipped the huge baby over at just the right moment; how Tug now and then followed a series of honest football maneuvers with some unexpected trick that carried the ball far down the field around one end, when Clayton was scrambling after it in the wrong place; how Tug had perfected his interference until the man carrying the ball seemed almost as safe as if Clayton's men were Spaniards, and he were in the turret of the U.S.S. Oregon; how little time Tug's men lost in getting away after the ball had been passed to them; how little they depended on "grand stand" plays by the individual, and how much on team-work; how Tug's men went through Clayton's interference as neatly as a fox through a hedge; how they resisted Clayton's mass plays as firmly as harveyized steel; how Clayton fumed and fretted and slug