The very sight of his evolutions seemed to demoralise the Rendlesham men.

They floundered and slid on the slippery grass, and made wild grabs without ever reaching him.

It was really too ridiculous to be eluded by a raw hand like this--and yet he eluded them.
Half-way down the field he ran with a roar of applause at his back, and only a handful of the enemy left ahead.

How splendid if he could only pass them, and make his record with a run from one goal to the other! Alas! a swoop from behind greeted the proud thought; two hands clawed at his shoulders, and from his shoulders slipped to his waist, and from his waist slid down to his ankles, where for a moment they held, and sent the runner tripping over on his nose in the mud, with the ball spinning away a yard ahead.
It was all up.

No! Fisher was on the spot, and at Fisher's heels Ridgway.