noon
Delmar students , on hand six thousand strong , felt almost lost without the tuneful services of their famous band . An uncanny absence of boisterous sound prevailed as though everyone was impressed with the peculiar nature of the occasion . And because of this strained sort of reverent silence the atmosphere was gradually being made so tense as to be almost unbearable . Members of the Elliott team , confined to their rooms until noon by order of Red Murdock , reflected -- to a much more trying degree -- the feelings of the multitude . Outside they could hear the tramp and shuffle of feet and occasionally an outcry , but their ears recorded no blare of music or outburst of jostling gaiety . And , as minute crawled after minute , their irritation grew so that they took to pacing up and down -- up and down -- figuratively frothing at the mouths to be out and clawing into Delmar ... anything to get the torture of waiting over ! By fifteen minutes before game time every possible nook and cranny of Elliott field was jammed with heart-palpitating humanity .