The Girls of Central High at Basketball; Or, The Great Gymnasium Mystery Read online

  CHAPTER VII

  THE SECOND HALF

  The dressing room buzzed like an angry beehive for a minute. It wasLaura Belding, captain of the team, who finally said:

  "Hester surely can't have deserted us in this way. She knows thatRoberta is not even familiar with our secret signals."

  "She's gone, just the same," said her chum, Jess. "That's how meanHester Grimes is."

  "Well, I declare! I don't know that I blame her," cried LilyPendleton.

  "You don't blame her?" repeated Nellie. "I don't believe you'd blameHester no matter what she did."

  "She hasn't done anything," returned Lily, sullenly.

  "How about the gym. business----"

  Bobby Hargrew began it, but Laura shut her off by a prompt palm laidacross her mouth.

  "You be still, Bobby!" commanded Nellie Agnew.

  "You're all just as unfair to Hessie as you can be," said Lily withsome spirit. "And now this woman from West High had to pick on her----"

  "Don't talk so foolishly, Lil," said Dora Lockwood. "You know verywell that Hester has been warned dozens of times not to talk back tothe referee. Mrs. Case warns her almost every practice game aboutsomething. And now she has got taken up short. If it wasn't for whatit means to us all in this particular game, I wouldn't care if shenever played with us."

  "Me, too!" cried Jess, in applause. "Hester is always cutting somemean caper that makes trouble for other folk."

  "We can't possibly win this game without her!" wailed Dorothy.

  "I'll do my very best, girls," said Roberta Fish, the substituteplayer at forward center.

  "Of course you will, Roberta," said Laura, warmly. "But we can't teachyou all our moves in these few moments--Ah! here is Mrs. Case."

  Their friend and teacher came in briskly.

  "What's all this? what's all this?" she cried. "Where is Hester?"

  "She took her hat and coat and ran out before we came in, Mrs. Case,"explained Laura.

  "Not deserted you?" cried the instructor.

  "Yes, ma'am."

  "But that is a most unsportsmanlike thing to do!" exclaimed theinstructor, feeling the desertion keenly. That one of her girls shouldact so cut Mrs. Case to the heart. She took great pride in the girlsof Central High as a body, and Hester's desertion was bad fordiscipline.

  "You must do the best you can, Laura, with the substitute," she said,at last, and speaking seriously. "I will inform Miss Lawrence that youwill put in Roberta for the second half, too. Nothing need be saidabout Hester's defection."

  "I am afraid we can't win with me in Hessie's place," wailed Roberta.

  "You're going to do your very best, Roberta," said Mrs. Case, calmly."You always do. All of you put your minds to the task. Your opponentsare only one point ahead of you. The first five-minutes' play in thefirst half was as pretty team work on your part as I ever saw."

  "But we can't use our secret signals," said Laura.

  "Play your very best. Do not put Roberta into bad pinches----"

  "But the captain of the East High team sees our weak point, and forcesthe play that way," complained Jess Morse.

  "Of course she does. And you would do the same were you in her place,"said Mrs. Case, with a smile. "But above all, if you can't wingracefully, _do_ lose gracefully! Be sportsmanlike. Cheer the winners.Now, the whistle will sound in a moment," and the instructor hurriedaway to speak to the referee.

  "Oh, dear me!" groaned Roberta. "My heart's in my mouth."

  "Then it isn't where Sissy Lowe, one of the freshies, said it was inphysiology class yesterday," chuckled Bobby Hargrew.

  "How was that, Bobby?" queried Jess.

  "Sissy was asked where the heart was situated--what part of thebody--and she says:

  "'Pleathe, Mith Gould, ith in the north thentral part!' Can you beatthose infants?" added Bobby as the girls laughed.

  But they were in no mood for laughter when they trotted out upon thebasketball court at the sound of the referee's whistle. They tooktheir places in silence, and the roars of the Central High boys, withtheir prolonged "Ziz--z--z--z----Boom!" did not sound as encouraging as ithad at the beginning of the first half.

  Basketball is perhaps the most transparent medium for revealingcertain angles of character in young girls. At first the playersseldom have anything more than a vague idea of the proper manner ofthrowing a ball, or the direction in which it is to be thrown.

  The old joke about a woman throwing a stone at a hen and breaking thepane of glass behind her, will soon become a tasteless morsel underthe tongue of the humorist. Girls in our great public schools arelearning how to throw. And basketball is one of the greatest helps tothis end. The woman of the coming generation is going to havedeveloped the same arm and shoulder muscles that man displays, andwill be able to throw a stone and hit the hen, if necessary!

  The girl beginner at basketball usually has little idea of directionin throwing the ball; nor, indeed, does she seem to distinguish fairlyat first between her opponents and her team mates. Her only idea is totry to propel the ball in the general direction of the goal, thethought that by passing it from one to another of her team mates shewill much more likely see it land safely in the basket never seeminglyentering her mind.

  But once a girl has learned to observe and understand the position andfunction of team mates and opponents, to consider the chances of thegame in relation to the score, and, bearing these things in mind, canform a judgment as to her most advantageous play, and act quickly onit--when she has learned to repress her hysterical excitement and playquietly instead of boisterously, what is it she has gained?

  It is self-evident that she has won something beside the mere abilityto play basketball. She has learned to control her emotions--to adegree, at least--through the dictates of her mind. Blind impulse hasbeen supplanted by intelligence. Indeed, she has gained, withoutdoubt, a balance of mind and character that will work for good notonly to herself, but to others.

  Indeed, it is the following out of the old fact--the uncontrovertiblefact of education--that what one learns at school is not so valuable asis the fact that he _learns how to learn_. Playing basketballseriously will help the girl player to control her emotions and hermind in far higher and more important matters than athletics.

  To see these eighteen girls in their places, alert, unhurried,watchful, and silent, was not alone a pleasing, but an inspiringsight. Laura and her team mates--even Roberta--waited like veterans forthe referee to throw the ball. Laura and her opposing jumping centerwere on the _qui vive_, muscles taut, and scarcely breathing.

  Suddenly the ball went up. Laura sprang for it and felt her palmsagainst the big ball. Instantly she passed it to Jess Morse and withinthe next few seconds the ball was in play all over the backfield--mostly in the hands of Central High girls.

  They played hard; but nobody--not even Roberta--played badly. The EastHigh girls were strong opponents, and more than once it looked asthough the ball would be carried by them into a goal. However, on eachoccasion, some brilliant play by a Central High girl brought it backtoward their basket and finally, after six and a half minutes, thevisiting team made a goal.

  The Central High girls were one point ahead.

  The ball went in at center again and there was a quick interchange ofplays between the teams. Suddenly, while the ball was flying throughthe air toward East High's basket, the referee's whistle sounded.

  "Foul!" she declared, just as the ball popped into the basket.

  A murmur rose from the East High team. Madeline Spink, the captain,said quietly:

  "But the goal counts for us, does it not, Miss Lawrence?"

  "It counts as a goal from a foul," replied the referee, "which meansthat it is no goal at all, and the ball is in play."

  The East High girls were more than a little disturbed by the decision.It was a nice point; for on occasion a goal thrown from the foul linecounts one. It broke up, for the minute, the better play of the EastHigh team, and the instant the Central High girls got th
e ball theyrushed it for a goal.

  There was great excitement at this point in the game. If Central Highwon two clean points it would hardly be possible for East High torecover and gain the lead once more. Laura signalled her players fromtime to time; but she was hampered whenever the ball came nearRoberta, or the time was ripe for a massed play. The substitute didnot know all the secret signals.

  Had Hester Grimes only been in her place! Her absence crowded theCentral High team slowly to the wall. In the very moment of success,when a clean goal was about to be made, they failed and theiropponents got the ball. Again it was passed from hand to hand. Onegirl bounced the ball and a foul was called. Again the Central Highsrushed it, and from the foul line made another goal.

  Two points ahead, and the boys in the audience cheered madly. Noharder fought battle had ever been played upon that court.

  "Shoot it over, Jess!" roared Chet, at one point, rising and waving tohis particular girl friend, madly. "Look out! they'll get you!"

  "Look out, Laura! don't let 'em get you----Aw! that's too bad," grumbledLance Darby, quite as interested in the work of Chet's sister on thecourt.

  "Hi! no fair pulling! Say! where's the referee's eyes?" demanded Chet,the next moment, in disgust.

  "Behind her glasses," said his chum. "I never did believe four eyeswere as good as two."

  The ball came back to center again and there was little delay beforeit was put in play. Only three minutes remained. The eighteen girlswere as eager as they could be. Madeline Spink and her team mates weredetermined to tie the score at least. A clean goal would do it.

  They rushed the play and carried the ball into Roberta's country.Roberta never had a chance! In a moment the ball was hurtling towardthe proper East High girl, and no guarding could save it.

  A cheer from the audience--those interested in the East Highgirls--announced another clean goal. The score was tied and two minutesto play!

  "Do not delay the game, young ladies!" warned the referee.

  They were in position again and the ball was thrown up. No fumblesnow. Every girl was playing for all that there was in her! A singlepoint would decide the rivalry of the two schools at the beginning ofthe playing season. To lead off with this first game would encourageeither team immeasurably.

  East High led off first; but quickly Laura and her team mates got theball again and pushed it toward the basket. There was no rough play.The umpires, as well as the referee, watched sharply. It was a sturdy,vigorous, but fair game. This was a time when Hester's hot tempermight have brought the team disgrace; and for a moment Laura was,after all, glad that the delinquent had gone home.

  Then, suddenly, from full field and a fair position, the ball rose andflew directly for the basket. While in mid-air the whistle was blown.Time was called and the game was ended.