witnessing the meeting of the rival teams on the gridiron.

How some of the most impatient managed to pull through the intervening
time it would be hard to tell. But finally Saturday morning dawned,
and the fact that the sun shone from an unclouded sky, while the air
was quite nipping, brought joy to thousands of eager hearts in
Chester, and doubtless also in Marshall; for both towns were said to
be football crazy this year.




CHAPTER VIII

A CALL FOR HELP



"Hello! Jack, I was just thinking of dropping around at your place.
Can you spare me a few minutes of your precious time this morning?"

Big Bob Jeffries called this across to the other, down on the main
street of Chester. Jack was hurrying along, after finishing the
several errands that had taken him into the heart of the shopping
district. It was on the great Saturday morning that was to give the
town folks their first taste of real football. Everywhere people
seemed to be talking about it, and the chances the local team had of
pulling off a victory. Jack, being known as the captain of the eleven,
and an acknowledged leader among his fellows, was greeted with many an
anxious question concerning the condition of the team, and whether he