"Oh, my, isn't it rough!" screamed Laura Ford, as the young major hit the grass with great force, two of the Dauntless men being on top of him.
"Oh, that's all in the game," was Pepper's comment. "But I shouldn't want to see anybody get his ribs stove in," he added.
Putnam Hall got the pigskin to within ten yards of the Dauntless goal line, and then came an unexpected turn of affairs. The leather was lost by the Putnam Hall center, and carried around the right end and up the field for thirty yards.
"Hurrah! that's the way to do it, Dauntless!"
"Dauntless to the front!" yelled Roy Bock. "Everybody in the game!" and then, in the midst of the excitement, he drew back with a soft apple in his hand and threw the half-decayed fruit at Jack. It just grazed the young major's shoulder.
Pepper was on the watch, for he had expected just such a dirty trick. He leaped up, and reaching over, caught the Pornell student by the ear.
"You get out of the grandstand!" cried Pepper. "If you don't I'll get a crowd to mob you."
"Let Roy alone!" sang out Bat Sedley. "If you don't, I'll crack you one!"
"Hello, you rascals!" came unexpectedly from nearby, and a farmer named Baker showed himself. "You here? Jest wait till I git my paws on you!" And he started in the direction of Roy Bock, Bat Sedley and two of their cronies.
"Great Scott! It's that farmer!" ejaculated Roy Bock, and he started to scramble out of the grandstand in a hurry, and after him went the others.
But they were not quite quick enough for Darius Baker, and at the foot of the stand the farmer caught Bock in one hand and Bat Sedley in the other. Then he swung the two together until their heads cracked.
"Will steal my apples and pears?" he shrilled. "Will talk sassy to my darter, eh? I'll teach you!" And then, letting go suddenly, he cuffed Roy Bock on the ear and thumped Bat Sedley in the jaw so hard that that student howled outright.
"No mistake!" bawled Darius Baker. "Git out o' here before I call the constable an' have ye locked up!" And then Roy Bock and his cronies lost no time in hurrying away, without so much as looking behind them.
"Guess you know 'em?" remarked Pepper, when the farmer came back into the stand and resumed his seat.