midnight
Bassett looked at his friend keenly and seeing that Campbell 's face betrayed skepticism he prepared himself mentally to exercise the same talents that had made his father , Blow-Hard Bassett , a successful seller of mining stock . * * * * * The game with Wilton , on the last Saturday in October , was the first hard test of the season . The outcome of the struggle with Wilton had always been taken at Ridgley as an indication of the probable result of the game with Jefferson , -- the final athletic event of the year and the crisis of the football season . If Ridgley pushed back the sturdy Wilton team and snatched victory from the wearers of the purple , then there were reasonable grounds for hoping that three weeks later there would be a bonfire on the campus and a midnight parade to celebrate a victory over Jefferson , the ancient and honored foe of Ridgley . If , on the other hand , Wilton showed an impertinent disregard for the best line that Ridgley could assemble and carried their impertinence to such an extreme as to romp home with the victory , the situation looked black as ink , and the tense atmosphere that accompanies forlorn hopes took possession of Ridgley School and penetrated not merely to the recitation halls , but even , it was said , to the office of Doctor Wells , the head . In such times there were mighty efforts to bolster up the spirit of the team , to feed it concentrated football knowledge and to ward off by Herculean effort the black shadow of defeat that raised its ugly head like a thunder cloud pushing itself higher and higher over the white buildings on the hill . Before the Wilton game Coach Murray had a few words to say to the team that made every member tingle with a desire to show what he could do .