"A good throw!" cried Sid Henderson, as the moon, just then coming out from behind a bank of clouds, showed that the cord had fallen squarely over one arm of the cross, the weight coming down to the ground on the other side of the chapel.
"Humph!" growled Langridge. "I could have done as well on the next try."
"Haul up the rope!" ordered Kerr. "Lively, now!"
Several lads ran around to where the end of the cord, still attached to the weight, was on the ground. All around a struggle was going on, the freshmen endeavoring to hold back the attacking sophomores. Now and then a second-year lad would break through the protecting fringe, only to be hurled or pushed back again by the defenders.
Quick hands hauled on the cord, and the heavier rope rose in the air and slipped over the cross. It was held down on one side by several turns taken around a post. Then it was made taut at the opposite end.
"Shin up now, Snail!" cried Langridge, who had again assumed command of things. "Quick! We'll hold the rope! Get the clapper!"
The night-loving youth moved slowly forward. But, in spite of his lack of speed, he managed to make good time up the rope, which he skilfully ascended hand over hand.
"Don't let 'em get the clapper!" "Break through and yank down the rope!" were the cries of the sophomores.
Again and again they hurled themselves against the circle of freshmen, who protected the two groups of their comrades holding either end of the rope.
"Hold 'em, boys! Hold 'em!" pleaded Langridge.
Tom Parsons threw himself into the thick of the fight. He gave blows, and he took them, all in good nature. Once, when a small sophomore broke through, Tom picked him up bodily and deposited him outside the circle of defenders.
"Say, he's got muscle, all right," observed Clinton to Kerr.
"That's what. There's class there, all right. Shouldn't wonder but what he'd give Langridge a rub for pitcher, if he plays baseball."
"Oh, he'll play, all right. A fellow who can throw as he did can't help playing."
"Who's that?" asked Sid in a breathing spell, following a temporary repulse of the enemy.
"Oh, yes, he plays ball," said Sid. "His father knows my father. They used to be chums in Northville, a country town. That's how Tom happened to come here, and he asked if he couldn't room with me. He plays ball, all right."