The first half of the game was over. The score at the end of the half stood U. A. A., 18; Fardale, 6.

Fardale’s one touch-down and goal had been made on a fluke.

The teams had lined up as follows:

This was a great change about on the home team from the regular order. Buckhart had been taken off left end and given Darrell’s position at half-back, while Darrell was dropped entirely. Lewis, a plebe, had been substituted for Buckhart. Merriwell, Singleton, Smart, and Tubbs were the only men who held their positions. Bradley had been shifted from right guard to left tackle, Shannock had been removed from right end to left guard, Jolliby had moved over from right tackle to right end, Earl Gardner had been given Bradley’s position as right guard, and these things had served to break the team up completely, quite taking the confidence out of it.

Gardner had made the run with the ball, which he secured on a bad pass and a fumble, and his had been the glory of Fardale’s only touch-down. It seemed that Uniontown had the game “on ice.”

The visitors had played a rushing, thumping, rough-house game. At first the cadets had met them in this business, but they lost spirit when Uniontown kept the ball in the territory of the home team nearly all the time, seeming altogether too heavy and strong.

Dick was desperate. He was determined to do something to bring about a change. With the team as it was, he had small hopes of winning. Strangely enough, all through the first half, for all of the rough tactics of the visitors, no man was knocked out so that he was forced to retire from the game.

Brad walked off the field by Dick’s side when the half was over. The gym was near enough for the men to run over to it, and this they did.

“The jig is up, pard,” said Buckhart. “They’ve got us! And it is all the work of that dirty dog Arlington! He has ruined the team! I swear it would have been better if I had cheated and kept him from getting on the committee!”

Dick did not seem to hear Buckhart’s words. He was thinking swiftly just about then.

“We must win this game! I am determined to do it!” he muttered.

“No matter how determined you are,” said Brad, “you can’t do it with this team as it stands.”

Dick heard this, for he nodded. Reaching the gym, Dick found two fellows ready to give him a rubbing if he wished it.

“We’ll cut it out,” he said. “You fellows go for Hal Darrell. Bring him here.”

Then he turned to Brad, asking:

“Dare, Kent, and Bradley are with the substitutes, are they not?”

“Sure.”

Darrell was found in a minute or so, and brought into the gym.

“Hal,” said Dick, “do you want us to win this game?”

“Sure thing,” said Hal.

“Well, I want you to know that I did not drop you from the team. I was given orders by the committee to play the team just as it lined up to-day. Arlington is the man who did this.”

Hal shrugged his shoulders.

“I want you to get into your rig,” said Dick. “Will you do it?”

“Are you going to play me?”

“Yes.”

“In defiance of the committee?”

“Yes!”

“I’ll be on hand.”

Dick sent for Bradley, Dare, and Kent, with all of whom he talked.

Just as the team was leaving the gym for the field, Arlington and Warne came hurriedly into the place.

“Just in time!” exclaimed Warne.

“Go on, fellows,” said Dick. “I will be with you in a moment.”

At the same time he made a gesture to Buckhart. Brad was surprised. He did not quite understand, but he hurried the others out and followed them.

“In this final half,” said Warne, “there is one thing we want you to do, Merriwell. Of course, you can’t expect to win, as that team is much older and heavier, but——”

“I must have dropped it in the shower-room,” said Dick, pretending to be searching for something. “I’ve got to have it. And I must be out on the field in two minutes. If you fellows have anything to say, come on and say it while I’m searching.”

He ran into the room where the boys took their shower-baths. There was a plunge in the same room.

Warne and Arlington followed. Dick seemed to be searching, looking swiftly about, his eyes on the floor.

“As I was saying——” resumed Warne.

He got no further. Out of the room darted Dick, and the heavy door banged, shutting in Chester Arlington and the chairman of the athletic committee. Outside there was a heavy bolt, which Dick shot into place.

“Say on, Warne!” he exclaimed exultantly and defiantly; “but I can’t stop to listen. I can’t afford to be bothered by this committee during the last half of the game.”

He hurried from the now deserted gymnasium. As he was leaving he heard his astonished captives banging on the door of the bathroom and shouting for him to open it.

“Pound away! Yell away!” he said. “I think there will be sufficient noise on the field so that your cries will not be heard for a time, at least.”

He ran from the gym toward the field, and was just in time to go out with the team.

When the disappointed cadets saw the team go on the field for the second half they started up and showed interest, for there had been a big change. With a single exception, the old players were back in their regular positions.

Kent, who had not entirely recovered from injuries received in a previous game, was not at left tackle, although he was waiting among the substitutes. Gardner filled his place. Gardner was not quite large enough for guard, but he was so very fast that Dick had decided to retain him in the line. Shannock and Buckhart were again on the ends. Dare and Bradley were the guards, Jolliby was at right tackle, and Darrell assumed his old position at left half-back. Three members of the athletic committee stared and wondered.

“What does it mean?” asked Anson Day. “Why, I thought Merriwell had been given orders to——”

“Where’s Warne?” asked Oliver Stone excitedly.

“Where’s Arlington?” exclaimed Hadley Burrows. “We must see about this!”

But they looked in vain for either Warne or Arlington.

The cadets were cheering with new life now. Everywhere the red and black was waving. What a difference there was! Confidence seemed restored.

There was a lull as the spread-out teams waited for the kick-off. In that hush and pause Dick Merriwell’s keen ears seemed to catch the sound of faint, muffled shouts coming from the direction of the gymnasium, and he smiled grimly.

Fardale went into the game with a whirl and a rush that almost swept Uniontown off her feet. The home team had snap, ginger, vim, and go to it. Every man was in the game. They played together, and they were out for victory. Getting the ball, Fardale began hammering against the enemy, at their thirty-yard line. The funnel-play was tried, and Singleton hit the left wing of the enemy, going through for five yards.

The same play was repeated, the funnel seeming pointed in the same direction. Singleton rushed ahead until near what seemed the point of assault, then suddenly darted out through the side of the funnel, where an opening had been made for him, and went through the left wing of the enemy for seven yards. Well, this was the kind of stuff! This was playing football!

A third time the ball was given to big Bob. And now he went forward protected by a wedge that hit the line in the center. The wedge pressed on steadily until the opposing team began to tear it to pieces. Bob saw a tackler coming through, and, with a deft movement, he tossed the ball out to Dick Merriwell, who had been keeping just back of him on the outside of the edge.

The next moment Singleton was dragged down. But the ball was gone, Dick had it, and he was away like a flash. To the right ran Dick, darting past Iott, who tried in vain to reach him. He circled the end and started down the field.

When Chase brought him down he had made full fifteen yards, and the cadets on the seats were mad with delight.

The Uniontown team was startled and not a little dismayed. Instead of coming out weak in the second half, the cadets were stronger and faster than they had been at the beginning of the game.

The ball was carried into Uniontown’s territory and steadily driven down toward the goal-line of the visiting team. Fardale hammered into the enemy with a dogged persistency that was admirable and told of the sand possessed by the academy lads.

Several times through the game Uniontown had resorted to slugging, and now she tried it again. Jolliby was thumped and Dare was kicked in the stomach. The umpire detected the fellow in the act of kicking and gave him a warning, but the kicker said he had not meant to violate the rules.

Still Fardale would not be stopped. Time after time she made her distance, and the ball was forced down to within ten yards of the goal of the visiting team. Then the cadets were set back for holding, and an off-side play lost them the ball when they had the taste of success on their lips. It was hard, but Dick stiffened up his team, and they prepared to hold the enemy.

Uniontown seemed to prepare for a kick. Instead of kicking, however, Uniontown gave the ball to Waldron, while her line buckled down to hold Fardale. Waldron shot forward, rose into the air, hurdled the line handsomely, and made six good yards before Darrell pulled him down. It was a very handsome play, and the visiting crowd had good cause to cheer.

Now Uniontown began to push Fardale back steadily. Now and then, when it was necessary to make a yard or two without fail and Fardale seemed to hold fast, Waldron hurdled. Repeatedly he was successful, and Fardale was driven back to her forty-yard line.

Dick saw that the hurdling was counting against them, and he determined to stop it. He watched closely, and the next time Waldron came flying at the line, the captain of the cadets charged from the opposite side.

With a flying leap, Dick shot upward and met the hurdler in the air above the line. Waldron had not expected this, and he was flung backward for a loss, Dick coming down upon him. The cadets roared their delight at this.

Twice after that Waldron was stopped in the same manner by Dick, who completely ruined the success of his hurdling.

When Fardale got the ball again she marched straight down the field and pushed it over for a touchdown without being checked at any point.

A goal was easily made.

Dick had a word to say to his men as they spread out for the next kick-off. He was determined to waste no time. Thus it happened that Fardale did not return the kick. Darrell caught the ball and ran sixteen yards with it before being grassed.

The signal was given for the center-back play. The Uniontown players were surprised to see little Smart take the place of the ponderous Tubbs, while Tubbs retired to full-back and Singleton became temporary quarter-back.

When they started to walk over Smart, however, Singleton backed Ted up, and then Tubbs, with the ball, came smashing into the line and bored his way along. They seized him and tried to drag him down, but he kept on for full ten yards before they could stop him.

“Great work!” laughed Dick. “On the jump now, fellows!”

“On the jump!” cried Ted Smart.

It was the signal for the old “ends-around” play. Fardale had never met Uniontown on the gridiron before, therefore the visitors were not on to the cadets’ little play of the previous year.

When the ball was snapped the ends and sides of the line seemed to melt backward before the assault of the enemy. The center held fast, while the ends swung round, followed by the opposing men, who were pushing. As they swung round they came in behind the man who had the ball, and he was thrust forward, a portion of the visitors working against themselves without knowing they did so.

Dick kept this play up, working it once or twice by pulling Tubbs back and letting him slam into the line, until the ball was driven down to within six yards of the goal-line. There Uniontown made a stand and held for three downs. But Dick himself went through on the last trial, and he managed to squirm forward after being dragged down so that the ball was six inches over the line when the piled-up men untangled.

Dick was pretty badly hurt, but he succeeded in getting on his feet, turning the ball over to Singleton. Darrell held the ball, and big Bob kicked the goal, tieing the score.