CHAPTER XIII.
THE LIVELY GAME WITH KEYPORT'S SEVEN Many a fellow in Scranton felt blue early on Saturday morning, when, jumping from his warm bed, and hastening over to a window, he looked out to discover a few flakes of snow lazily drifting earthwards.
The gloomy sky seemed to be in fit condition for a heavy snowfall, that would put the hockey game with Keyport entirely out of the question.
By the time breakfast was ready, however, these fugitive snowflakes had ceased falling entirely, and, shortly afterwards, the bright sun broke out, lifting the load from myriads of enthusiastic young hearts.
After all, it turned out a perfectly glorious winter's day, the air being keen, but with little wind to mar the work of the contenders on the icy rink.
Along about nine in the morning people began to gather at the park, paying for seats in the grandstand.

Everybody was as warmly clad as possible, since it is no joke to sit for an hour or two, with the thermometer registering half-way down to zero.
As before, one-half of the enclosed area was shut off from the general public, in order to afford the | hockey players the benefit of the new ice.

Of course, it had been flooded on the preceding night, after the last skater had left, and this caused a splendid surface to congeal.
Boys and girls came flocking to the place.

Many bore skates, but there were others who only wished to witness the contest between the two rival high-school teams, as scheduled for that morning.

There were hosts of other people present also; and already cars and conveyances of every description were arriving from Keyport, Allandale, Belleville, and such places, filled with eager enthusiasts, who loved a good hockey game above all sports, and would journey far afield in order to be present when one was to be played.
Shortly afterwards some of the Scranton players appeared on the enclosed area.