CHAPTER XXIV
HESTER WINS
The final games of the trophy series between the girls of the HighSchools of Centerport, Lumberport, and Keyport were played on thegrounds of Central High. It was verging on winter. Thanksgiving was athand, and the first basketball series must be out of the way beforethe boys' big football games on Thanksgiving eve.
Although school athletics was much in the minds of the girls, thosewho participated in the games had to stand well in their classes toretain their positions on the teams. Books first, athletics afterward.That was the iron-bound rule of the Girls' Branch Athletic League.
But most of the girls on the team of Central High were brightscholars. Miss Grace G. Carrington was never "easy" on the athleticgirls. That wouldn't be her way. She usually seemed glad to putobstacles in the way of those who she knew were so deeply interestedin athletics.
But aside from Bobby Hargrew, that last fortnight she had no chance todemerit any of the basketball team. And--to the wonderment of the girlsthemselves--she never said a word to Bobby regarding what had happenedwhen she, Miss Carrington, rapped on the office door.
Having whipped East High so decisively, Captain Laura and her mateswent at the Lumberport team with greater confidence. Lumberport wasnot the weakest team in the league; but Central High had managed tobeat them in every previous game, and in this last one the home teamplayed such snappy basketball that the visitors never came near themafter the first toss-up.
It was a great game and the enthusiasm of the spectators increasedwith every play. How the boys cheered! There was a big crowd ofspectators from Lumberport and they "rooted" for their home team.Despite the excitement, however, there was not a moment's rough play.
Mrs. Case had watched Hester narrowly during these final games. Therehad been moments when the big girl was crossed by circumstances, or byher opponents, when--in the past--she might have flared up and said, ordone, something unpleasant. But Hester seemed to have gained somecontrol of her temper, and the hard places in the games were passedover successfully.
It was a fact that Hester had very little in common with the rest ofher team-mates, save Lily. She did not put herself forward, and asnone of them had been her close friends before she was put off theteam, she still kept her distance now that she was back in harnessagain.
At home Hester's mother was determined to make a heroine of her. Manyof the ladies of the Hill, who seldom before this had called oneasy-going, slip-shod Mrs. Grimes, came to see her now and praisedHester's courage and her kindness to Johnny Doyle and his widowedmother. Mrs. Grimes was, naturally, pleased at all this praise.
"I've a mind to give a party, so I have!" she said to Hester, one day."Your father could easy pay for as nice a party as was ever given onthe Hill. He needn't be stingy. And we could get to be friends withall these nice folks----"
"Oh, Mother!" sighed Hester. "Don't be foolish. These people don'treally care a thing for us. They'd only laugh. Their houses are noteven furnished like ours----"
"I should say not!" cried Mrs. Grimes. "We have some of the mostexpensive furnichoor you could buy at Stresch & Potter's----"
"Yes. At a department store. Nice people do not furnish their homes inthat way. The varnish smells too new on our chairs and tables. We aretoo new. We never should have come to live on the Hill when fathermade money."
"How ye talk!" exclaimed the astonished Mrs. Grimes. "Where would yehave us live--at the Four Corners still?"
"Perhaps we wouldn't be so much like fish out of water there,"grumbled Hester.
"I'm no fish, I'd have ye understand!" exclaimed Mrs. Grimes. "AndMrs. Belding axed me to join a club--the New Century 'tis called. 'Tisall women and our husbands haven't a livin' thing to say in it. I'mgoin' to join."
"The New Century!" exclaimed Hester, indeed surprised.
"Yes. I'd be glad to be in something that Henry couldn't poke hisfinger into and boss," sighed the much harassed lady.
"But it's never the New Century?" cried Hester.
"Why not?"
"That's the most select club on the Hill. Lily's mother belongs, andMrs. Agnew, and all those folk."
"And why not _me_?" demanded her mother. "We've got as much money----"
"Hush! Stop talking about money if you want to be popular in the NewCentury Club," said her daughter, who had learned a thing or twoherself of late. "That is what is the matter with us--we're proud ofour money."
"And why not? When Henry began with a shoestring."
"Well, don't be telling of it!" cried Hester. "These other people gottheir money so long ago that they've forgotten how they got it. Wewant to forget, too."
But Hester was learning lessons fast. It had amazed her to see howpeople--and nice people, too--thought that what she had done for JohnnyDoyle was of serious importance; while her lavish expenditure of moneyamong her mates had heretofore won her few friends.
The fact that she had saved a man from the burning woods and carriedthe warning of the forest fire, had made her friends, too. When shehad jumped into the sewer-basin after Johnny, Dr. Agnew seemed for thefirst time pleased with her.
_It was unselfishness that counted!_
Hester Grimes had never thought of it before. She had never thoughtout logically why Laura Belding was so popular, why Nellie Agnew wasliked so well, and what made the other girls cluster aboutharum-scarum Bobby Hargrew. They were all unselfish girls, thoughtfulin their several ways for the comfort of others.
Hester was learning what really paid in life--especially in the life ofschool and athletics. A good temper, a tongue without a barb to it,and thoughtfulness for the comfort of others. Those attributes won outamong the girls of Central High--as they are bound to win out in everywalk in life.
And Hester Grimes had begun to conduct herself accordingly.
The final game of the series for the cup was slated for a certainFriday afternoon. Colonel Richard Swayne--Laura Belding's very goodfriend, and a liberal supporter of girls' athletics--had invited thecontesting basketball teams from all five High Schools to partake of acollation in the big upper hall of Central High's new gymnasium, afterthe final game. _That_ was to be played between the Keyport andCentral High teams.
Whichever of the two teams won would stand highest in the schedule ofthe league, and to such winning team would be presented the trophy bythe president of the Board of Education.
There would be such a crowd to see the game that tickets had to beissued, and those tickets went mostly to the girls who had competed inthe basketball series, for distribution among their parents andfriends. There was not so much cheering by the spectators at thisgame, for the boys were cut out of it. There wasn't room for theregular "rooters."
Many parents, however, who had not been attentive to the game before,were in the seats provided now, to criticise the sport of which theyhad heard so much. And everybody admitted that the two best teams ofthe schools were now struggling for the trophy.
From the first toss-up the girls played with a snap and vigor thatamazed and delighted even their instructors. Trained as they had beenall the fall, there were few fouls to record, and very littleretarding of the game. The signals were passed silently and the girlsindulged in little talking. Unnecessary talking and laughter marsbasketball.
It was a pleasure to watch the lithe, vigorous young girls. They wereuntrammeled by any foolish fashions, or demands of dress. Their bodilymovements were as free as Nature intended them to be. They jumped, andran, and threw, with a confidence that none but the well trainedathlete possesses.
The first half included a series of fierce rushes upon the Keyportside for baskets; but Central High held them down. Hester playedbrilliantly. Not once did she lose her temper, nor foul her opponent.She blocked the attempts of the Keyport players to make goals, but thereferee did not catch her over-guarding or otherwise playing foulbasketball.
She really won the onlookers with her splendid form in playing. Theybegan cheering her particularly. Where Roberta Fish had been weak i
nthe mass plays, Hester was strong. The Keyport captain, rememberingthat weak place in the former Central High line-up, forced the playinto Hester's territory.
"Oh, you Hester!" yelled Bobby, beside herself at last, withenthusiasm. "You're a bear! Shoot it, Hessie! Let it come!"
But each time that the ball was shot for the basket, somethingintervened. Once it went straight for the basket, rolled around therim, and dropped--to the floor without entering the receptacle!
The Central High rooters met this failure with a groan. But it was notHester's fault. She had done her best, and her shooting was as cleanas it could be.
The timekeeper's whistle called the play at the end of the halfwithout either side having made a point.
It had been a rasping game. Many times Hester Grimes had been temptedto say something or do something that would be counted as "roughplay"; but she had restrained herself, and when she walked to thedressing room she found Mrs. Case walking beside her with a hand uponher shoulder.
"Good girl!" exclaimed the physical instructor of Central High. "Keepit up, my dear, and you'll be the best player we have on the roll."
"But I didn't get a chance to do a thing!" grumbled Hester, shakingher head.
"That is why I am praising you," said Mrs. Case, drily. "For what you_didn't_ do. Keep it up. Restrain yourself as well for the rest of thegame. Your chance may come for a brilliant play; but if it doesn't,keep a grip on yourself just the same."
Hester was secretly strengthened by this praise. She went out into thefield at the call of the gong for the second half with thedetermination to deserve Mrs. Case's good word, whether the team wonor lost. And almost at first chance came Hester's way and she waspermitted to display a brilliant bit of play. It brought a goal forCentral High--the first scored in the game.
But the girls could not stop to cheer her. Laura nodded and smiled ather, however, as the ball was brought back from the basket to betossed up. For some reason Hester began to feel a warm glow about herheart. Her captain's commendation had never meant much to her before.
Up went the ball and Laura and the other jumping center did their bestto get it. The ball went from girl to girl, first in the hands of oneteam, then in the other. The Keyport team almost made a goal; but theywere foiled by good guarding on Central High's part.
Up and down the field went the ball and the excitement grew moment bymoment. Two to nothing in favor of the home team! That was a situationbound to create excitement both in the field and on the benches.
Suddenly the captain of the visiting team got the ball. She passed itswiftly to her back center. Signaling one after the other of herteam-mates, the Keyport captain sent the ball from hand to handuntil--to the startled amazement of her opponents, the ball was in handfor a clear throw. In another moment it was in the basket and thescore was tied again!
Four minutes more to play!
When the referee threw the ball up again every one of the eighteengirls playing was on the _qui vive_. The subordinate players watchedtheir captains for signals. Central High got the ball. They rushed itdown the field. But the guarding of the Keyport team was too much forthem. They could not reach the basket.
Again and again was the ball passed back and forth. Once more theKeyport captain shot it back for a clear throw. But Hester managed tohalt it. There were but a few moments of play left. It is not goodbasketball to oppose other than one's immediate opponent; but for onceHester went out of her field to stop the ball.
A side swipe, and the ball was hurtled directly into Laura's hands.She turned and threw it swiftly, making the signal for the famousmassed play which was the strongest point in the game as played byCentral High.
Down the field the ball shot, from one to the other. Hester's quickbreak in the Keyport plan had rattled the latter team for a moment.And before the visitors recovered, the ball was hurtling through theair straight for the basket.
The whistle blew. But the ball sped on. It struck the edge of thebasket; but the next breath it slid in and--_the game was won_!
Central High had outstripped its strongest opponent. The game won, sowas the series, and the beautiful cup would remain in the possessionof Central High.
"And all because of you, Hessie!" shouted Bobby, when they got back tothe dressing room. "You're a bully good sport! Isn't she, girls?"
"She won the game," declared Laura, coming forward to shake Hester'shand.
They all had something nice to say to her. Hester couldn't reply. Shestood for a moment or two in the middle of the room, listening tothem; then she turned away and sought her own locker, for there weretears in her eyes.