"Aren't you playing?" questioned Flossie.
"No, I'm merely an onlooker to-day," answered Pepper, and he raised his cap and shook hands. "How have you been since I saw you last?"
"We hope Putnam Hall will win," came from her sister.
"You can't hope it any more than I do," answered Pepper, and then he introduced several cadets to the young ladies, and all sat down to enjoy the game.
Pepper has his eyes open for the appearance of the students from Pornell. At first a few came in and took a stand in a corner, out of the way. They did not belong to the Bock crowd and seemed to be content to behave themselves.
"Maybe Roy Bock got cold feet and stayed away," said a cadet named Melmore.
"No, here he comes!" cried Bob Grenwood. "And Sedley and four others are with him."
Pepper looked in the direction pointed out and saw Roy Bock and his cronies approaching. All had big tin horns and immense wooden rattles, and their pockets bulged with apples and peanuts.
"Whoop her up, Dauntless!" yelled Roy Bock, as soon as he reached the grandstand. "Whoop her up, and wipe up the ground with Putnam Hall!" And then he swung his big rattle, and his cronies did likewise. Then the Pornellites crowded into the grandstand and took seats near Pepper and his fellow cadets and the girls. They talked in loud voices and said a number of things that caused the faces of the girls to burn, and made the cadets thoroughly angry.
"They ought to be put off the stand!" cried Bob, indignantly.
"And they will be put off if they keep this up," answered Pepper. "They can cheer all they please for the Dauntless eleven, but they have got to act like gentlemen."
As soon as the two elevens appeared, the practice commenced, and then there was a toss-up for goals, which Dauntless won. They took the south goal and Putnam Hall took the ball. Then came the kick-off, and the game was on.
At first the playing was rather tame, but inside of a few minutes both elevens warmed up, and from that moment the work became fast and furious.
The Dauntless team had the advantage of weight, but the eleven had not played together as much as had the majority of the Putnam Hall cadets, consequently some of their combination efforts were decidedly ragged. One move resulted in a bad fumble on the part of the left end. The ball was captured by Jack, and he carried it forward fifteen yards before downed.
