with the ball to get through. Don't be afraid. Ends, you want to get
down like lightning on kicks. Nail in his tracks the man who catches
the ball, but don't, for the love of the pigskin, touch him until he
has it, or you'll be offside. Watch out for fake kicks, forward
passes, double passes--watch out for all tricks. If there's a fumble,
fall on the ball and stay there, unless you see a chance to run with
it. You fellows who expect to do any toe work, don't get nervous. The
boys will hold the others back until you get a chance to boot the ball
away. And you fellows in the line, see that you do hold.

"There!" concluded the coach with a sigh. "I've given you enough
football instructions to last all season. Now get busy and let's see
how much of it you remember."

"Line up!" cried Captain Morse Denton, and, the preliminaries having
been arranged, the ball was kicked off by the scrub, as the other
players wanted to see how well they could rush it back.

It was Tom's luck to capture the yellow spheroid as it descended, and,
well protected by interference, he raced down the field.

"Get him, fellows! Get him!" appealed the scrub captain, and several
made an effort to break through to tackle Tom. Our hero noticed that
Sam Heller was running interference for him on the left, and for a
moment Tom felt that perhaps he had misjudged Sam in one particular.

"He certainly is making good interference for me," mused our hero.
"Maybe he won't play me false after all. But I'm going to be on the
watch."