"Well," asked Roger, "do we freeze or don't we?"
"I don't want to. But majority always rules in this unit, Roger." Tom
glanced at Astro. "How about it, Astro?"
"We can beat 'em fair and square. We play all out!" answered Astro.
Roger didn't say anything. He moved to one side and took his position
for the dash down field.
The whistle blew again and the crowd roared as the two teams charged
toward the ball. The cadets were eager to see if the _Arcturus_ crew
could tie the score or if the crew of the _Polaris_ would increase its
lead. But after a few moments of play, their cries of encouragement
subsided into rumbles of discontent. In its eagerness to score, the
_Arcturus_ unit kept making errors and lost the ball constantly but the
crew of the _Polaris_ failed to capitalize. The second period ended with
the score unchanged.
As he slumped to the ground for the rest period, Astro turned on Roger
bitterly. "What's the idea, Manning? You're dogging it!"
"You play your game, Astro," replied Roger calmly, "I'll play mine."
"We're playing this game as a team, Roger," chimed in Tom heatedly.
"You're kicking the ball all over the lot!"
"Yeah," added Astro. "In every direction except the goal!"
"I was never clear," defended Roger. "I didn't want to lose possession
of the ball!"
"You sure didn't," said Tom. "You acted as if it was your best friend
and you never wanted to be separated from it!"
[Illustration]
"We said we didn't want to freeze this game, Roger, and we meant it!"
Astro glowered at his unit-mate.
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