Читать книгу Dick Merriwell's Fighting Chance; Or, The Split in the Varsity онлайн

71 страница из 83

But once in the dressing room, the reaction came. He saw the others strip and hurriedly don their togs; listened to their eager, excited discussion of their chances for victory; watched them troop out in a body and lope across to the gridiron; and, as he followed slowly, dispiritedly, he realized with a bitter pang that he was out of it. Instead of plunging into the contest with tingling blood and every sense alert, doing his best for his Alma Mater, straining every nerve to win a victory for the blue, he must stand on the side lines and just watch.

The thrilling, deep-toned cheers of the excited thousands would ring in his ears as before, but they would have a different sound. They would be meant for others, not for him. Somehow, he felt that if he could only have played in this one game he could be resigned about never going on the field again. If he could only show just once more what he could do—play just one more game for all that was in him, and perhaps help to win a victory, it would content him.