By eleven o’clock the next forenoon the thaw1 had begun in earnest, but it was too late to cancel the game. Rock Hill appeared on the scene promptly2 and at a quarter to three the game began. The ice was soft along the boards and there was a film of water everywhere, but it was possible to play for all of that. Felder was out of the game with tonsilitis and Sanderson took his place at cover point. The whole school turned out to see the contest and lined the rink two and three deep. Alf expected a hard game but defeat was not reckoned on. Yet at the end of the first twenty-minute period, with the score 2 to 0 in Rock Hill’s favor, it didn’t look so improbable. Rock Hill presented a team of older and more experienced players and far excelled Yardley in skating ability and stick work. Had it not been for Dan’s really brilliant performance at the cage the score would have been much larger. In the second half Yardley had what benefit there was[233] from the wind, but, in spite of that, the play remained about her goal most of the time and that Rock Hill was able to add but one tally3 to her score was due to good work on the part of the defense4, and the fact that Rock Hill’s shooting was not as brilliant as her other game. With the score, 3 to 0, and some four minutes to play, Alf saved the home team from a shut-out by taking the puck himself the length of the rink and, with one short pass to Hanley and back in front of goal, scoring Yardley’s only tally. But there was no disgrace in being beaten by Rock Hill, and, on the whole, Yardley’s work showed a distinct advance over that of the game with the Yale freshmen5. If the Blue could play as well a week from that day, when she was due to meet the Green, Alf believed that the Pennimore Cup and the season’s championship would remain at Yardley.
But the weather was to be reckoned with, it seemed, for all Saturday and Sunday and Monday the warm spell continued, until the hockey rink was a shallow puddle6 of water with not a vestige7 of ice to be seen. The river broke up and the last of the snow melted in the drifts. The weather was almost springlike and Alf fumed8 and fretted9 and studied the predictions. And, meanwhile, the only practice to be obtained was[234] in the gymnasium where, with two Indian clubs set up to indicate a goal, the fellows shot until their arms ached.
But winter was only sulking in his tent, and on Tuesday morning the thermometer began to go down. By night the mercury was hovering10 about thirty and Alf went to sleep hopefully. The ground was hard in the morning, but the noon sun thawed11 it out again. Alf never entered or emerged from Oxford12 that he didn’t pause to scowl13 at the big thermometer by the door. Toward evening a breeze sprang out of the north and the mercury dropped ten degrees in half an hour. Moreover, it continued to drop all night and in the morning it showed twenty-one degrees. The weather was cloudy and at noon it was snowing fitfully. The rink was frozen smooth and hard and practice began again that afternoon. Alf once more wore a cheerful countenance14. In the locker15 room at the gymnasium afterwards he called across to Gerald: “Say, Gerald, we’ve got to get that cup back before the game. Do you mind doing it? You’d better run over to-morrow if you can find time.”
“All right,” answered Gerald. “I’ll attend to it, Alf. I suppose he will give it to me, won’t he?”
“Who? Proctor? I guess so, but I’ll give[235] you an order. Remind me to write it this evening.”
Gerald’s opportunity came after dinner the following day. He had no recitations between two and three and so, armed with Alf’s note to the store proprietor16, he tramped over to Greenburg in the teeth of a northeast gale17 and got the cup. He wanted very much to warm himself with a hot chocolate, but they had agreed that it would be wise to stay away from Wallace’s until last week’s episode of the broken glasses had been forgotten, and, since Wallace’s was the only place where they knew how to prepare a hot chocolate properly, Gerald was forced to start on his homeward trip without refreshment18. The cup was in its maroon19-colored flannel20 bag and he tucked it under his arm so that his hands might have the benefit of his coat pockets. When he reached the bridge over the river he heard his name called and, looking down, saw Harry21 Merrow on the ice. There were several other boys with him, mostly youngsters, and Jake Hiltz was sitting near by struggling with a refractory22 skate strap23.
“Going to skate?” asked Harry. Gerald shook his head and danced up and down in the effort to bring warmth into his numbed24 toes. Harry eyed the maroon bag.
[236]
“What are you doing with your skates, then?” he inquired.
“It’s not skates,” said Gerald. “It’s the hockey cup. I’ve been over to Greenburg for it.”
“Oh, I thought you had your skates there. Why don’t you get them and come on down? The ice is dandy.”
“I’ve got hockey practice in half an hour, Harry.”
“Oh, I forgot. Are you going to make the team? Arthur says you’re a good player.”
“I won’t make it this year, I guess,” Gerald answered. “Isn’t it cold? I must go on or I’ll freeze fast to the bridge here.”
In his room he took the cup out of the bag and set it on the table, tossing the bag aside, and while he warmed himself at the radiator25 he admired it and wondered whether Yardley would be able to keep it out of the clutches of her rival. It would, he reflected, be an awful shame if Broadwood should succeed in winning it for good. But whoever won it, he was going to see that there was another cup to take its place. After awhile it occurred to him that if he was not going to be late for hockey practice he would have to hurry. So he left the room, ran downstairs and sped[237] across the yard to the gymnasium. Alf and some of the others were just starting down to the rink as he reached the door.
“I got the cup, Alf,” he said. “It’s in my room. Shall I bring it over this evening?”
“Why, no, you might as well keep it until Saturday, I guess. Get your togs on, Gerald, and hurry down. If Andy comes in tell him I’ve gone ahead.”
There was a stiff practice that afternoon, a good three quarters of an hour of it, followed by two twenty-minute periods with the Second Team, for to-morrow’s session was to be brief and light, only sufficient to keep muscles limber. Gerald took part in the preliminary work and then wrapped himself against the cold and became official timekeeper while the First and Second Teams went at each other hammer and tongs26. The weather was conducive27 to fast work, and in the first period Alf’s players managed to score four goals to the Second’s one. In the second half all the substitutes had their chances and Gerald tried his best to make good. But he was over-anxious and, being light, always got the worst of it in a mix-up. Eager to distinguish himself, he over-skated time and again and lost the puck, and Alf called constant warnings to him.
[238]
“Careful, Gerald! There, you’ve done it again! Use both hands on that stick, man! You can’t do anything that way!”
He turned to Dan and added: “If Gerald could use his stick as well as he can use his skates he would make a good player.”
Dan smiled.
“He’s probably thinking that this is his last chance this year, Alf, and he wants to make a hit. He— Gee28, he will get killed if he tries that sort of thing!”
“Come now, Gerald!” sang out Alf. “This isn’t a slugging match! Keep your stick down and look what you’re doing. You, too, Roeder! Follow up, man, follow up!”
The Second managed to score twice in that half and the First broke through the opposing defense for four more goals. Then Andy called a halt and, in spite of Alf’s pleading for “another five minutes, Andy,” drove them off the ice. After they had had their showers and had dressed, Alf and Dan and Gerald left the gymnasium together.
“What was the matter with you this afternoon, Gerald?” asked Alf with a smile. “You looked as though you were trying to kill the whole Second Team.”
[239]
“Got sort of excited, didn’t you, chum?” laughed Dan.
“Well, you mustn’t get excited,” Alf said. “If you do you can’t play good hockey. You’ve got to keep cool all the time and know just what you’re doing. Let the other side lose their heads. If they do you’ve got the game cinched. Just as soon as you go up in the air you forget all about formation and begin to play the game all by your lonesome. And as soon as you do that you’ll find that the other chaps are eating you up, goal after goal. Remember that, kid. Next year you try again. You’ll be a good deal heavier then, I guess, and I don’t see why you shouldn’t make the team. And get your Y,” he added with a smile.
“I’m going to get it before then,” said Gerald gravely. “I’m going out for the Track Team, you know.”
“Of course; I’d forgotten. Well, I hope you win a few points for us, Gerald. For in spite of Tom’s blathering I have an idea that it isn’t going to be so much of a walk-over after all. You got the cup, you said?”
“Yes. And I wanted a hot chocolate but I didn’t dare go into Wallace’s for it. I pretty nearly froze coming home.”
“Well, if you had gone into Wallace’s he might[240] have made it warm for you,” laughed Alf. “Coming over this evening, Dan? You’d better. Tom’s going to Oxford, I think; they’ve got one of their amateur vaudeville29 entertainments on for to-night. Tom just dotes on hearing rag-time music and seeing fellows take paper flowers out of a derby hat.”
“Yes, I’ll drop in for awhile,” answered Dan. “My, but it certainly is cold!”
“It’s great! I hope it stays just this way until after Saturday.”
“Well, Saturday is bound to be a cold day for somebody,” replied Dan. After which bon mot he and Gerald scuttled30 for Clarke.
It was dark when they reached the room, and while Dan found the matches and lighted the gas Gerald took his coat off. He was hanging it on its hook in his closet when Dan spoke31.
“Where did you put the cup?” he asked.
“On the table there under your nose,” replied Gerald.
“On the table? Well, maybe you did, but it isn’t here now.”
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收听单词发音
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1
thaw
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| v.（使）融化，（使）变得友善；n.融化，缓和 | |
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2
promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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3
tally
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| n.计数器，记分，一致，测量；vt.计算，记录，使一致；vi.计算，记分，一致 | |
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4
defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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5
freshmen
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| n.（中学或大学的）一年级学生( freshman的名词复数 ) | |
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6
puddle
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| n.(雨)水坑，泥潭 | |
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7
vestige
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| n.痕迹，遗迹，残余 | |
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8
fumed
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| 愤怒( fume的过去式和过去分词 )； 大怒； 发怒； 冒烟 | |
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9
fretted
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| 焦躁的，附有弦马的，腐蚀的 | |
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10
hovering
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| 鸟( hover的现在分词 )； 靠近（某事物）； （人）徘徊； 犹豫 | |
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11
thawed
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| 解冻 | |
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12
Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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13
scowl
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| vi.(at)生气地皱眉，沉下脸，怒视；n.怒容 | |
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14
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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15
locker
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| n.更衣箱，储物柜，冷藏室，上锁的人 | |
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16
proprietor
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| n.所有人；业主；经营者 | |
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17
gale
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| n.大风，强风，一阵闹声（尤指笑声等） | |
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18
refreshment
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| n.恢复，精神爽快，提神之事物；（复数）refreshments:点心，茶点 | |
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19
maroon
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| v.困住，使（人）处于孤独无助之境；n.逃亡黑奴；孤立的人；酱紫色，褐红色；adj.酱紫色的，褐红色的 | |
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20
flannel
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| n.法兰绒；法兰绒衣服 | |
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21
harry
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| vt.掠夺，蹂躏，使苦恼 | |
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22
refractory
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| adj.倔强的，难驾驭的 | |
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23
strap
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| n.皮带，带子；v.用带扣住，束牢；用绷带包扎 | |
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24
numbed
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| v.使麻木，使麻痹( numb的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25
radiator
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| n.暖气片，散热器 | |
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26
tongs
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| n.钳；夹子 | |
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27
conducive
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| adj.有益的，有助的 | |
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28
gee
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| n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转 | |
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29
vaudeville
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| n.歌舞杂耍表演 | |
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30
scuttled
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| v.使船沉没( scuttle的过去式和过去分词 )；快跑，急走 | |
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31
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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