“Play fair!” shouted a score of Putnam Hall students. “Everybody watch the foul line!”
After that Roy Bock did not dare to overstep the line. As a consequence his delivery was not so good, and his score dropped behind a dozen points or more.
At last the two teams reached the ninth frame. Pornell was leading by seventeen points. They got two spares, one made by Carey and the other by Noddingham.
“Do your very best, fellows!” cried Jack, to his friends, and they bowled with such care and swiftness that they got three strikes and two spares.
“Hullo, it’s almost a tie!” cried Harry Blossom. “Go in and win!”
“Make every ball count now, fellows!” yelled Pepper. He was so excited he could not keep his seat.
Everybody was talking or cheering and the din was terrific. In the midst of the excitement the Pornell students made one spare and a seven, two eights and a nine. Putnam Hall came to the front with two strikes and two spares. Then the extra balls were speedily bowled.
Score of third game, Putnam Hall 1042, Pornell Academy 982.
Then a wild cheering ensued, in the midst of which the cadets from the Hall surrounded the victors and shook hands over and over again. It was certainly a moment of great triumph.
“I’m proud of you, boys,” said George Strong. “You did very well indeed.”
“Silence!” came suddenly from Roy Bock, as he climbed up on a bench.
“What’s the matter?” asked several, pausing in the midst of the general excitement.
“I claim a foul. Putnam Hall did not win that last game fairly.”
“What do you mean, Bock?” demanded Dale, indignantly.
“I say you did not win the game fairly,” repeated the Pornell student stubbornly.
“Explain yourself, Bock!” called out several.
“I will. In the ninth and tenth frames three of their bowlers overstepped the foul line. I saw them do it, and so did Carey, Gussic and Grimes.”
“That charge is absolutely false,” cried Andy. “I for one did not come within three inches of the mark.”
“Nor did I,” added Stuffer, and the others of the team said practically the same thing.
“This is very unfortunate,” said George Strong. “You should have had an umpire for the line.”
“I was watching the line,” said a Putnam Hall student named Barton. “I saw none of our bowlers overstep the mark. But the Pornell men went over—until Andy and the others protested.”