The Gold Bat

tsi

diot, man. I b

I've been waiti

shed rotting about in front of th

seen that

in a tone of compromis

ht. Odd

those of the team who, being day boys, changed over at the pavilion, instead of performing the operation at lei

t the condition of the first, second, and third fifteen dressing-rooms. "Indignant" would inquire acidly, in half a page of small type, if the editor happened to be aware that there was no hair-brush in the second room, and only half a comb. "Disgusted O. W." would remark that when he came down with the Wandering Zephyrs to play against the third fifteen, the water supply had sudden

pinion that, whatever happened subsequently, he was going to have it first. Finally, on the suggestion of Otway, who had reduced tossing to a fine

on without any great exertion. On this occasion the match had been rather more even than the average, and the team had o

e ball out occasionally?" he asked. Otw

aurice, one of the forwards. "And when we did l

ves' fault. We always go

in Robinson. "They played awf

e's about the best captain we've had here for a l

since Rivers-Jone

regarded the standard set by him as one that did not admit of comparison. However good a Wrykyn centre three-quarter might be, the most he could hope to be considered was "the best since Rivers-Jo

to the wings. And the search for the weak spot was even further narrowed down by the general verdict that Clowes, on the left wing, had played well. With a beautiful unanimity

in the bath, vice Otway, retired. "I suppose they had to try him, as he w

," was Robinson's opinion. "A man who's big a

to tackle him. He could have brought him down like a shot if he'd only gone for him. Paget was running straight along the touch-line, and hadn't any room to dodge. I

other pass, to

ne sum

again. "Trevor won't ke

g man. Rand-Brown had occupied a similar position in the second fifteen. He was big and speedy, and in second fifteen matches these qualities make up for a great deal. If a man scores one or two tries in nearly every match, people are inclined to overlook in him such failings

y don't play him, I don't see who they're going to get. He's

wes, when they had got into their blazers after the match. Clowes was in the same house as Trevo

days yet. I never saw such a lot of slackers. You ought to have ta

cond day of term?" asked Clowes. "The forwards alwa

revor. "They'll shake down all right after a few match

ly sight too much of the mince-pie and Christmas pudding about their play at present." There w

hink of Rand-B

bilities of the various members of his team, it is best to avoid a too positive statement one way or the other before one has hear

it afforded strong presumptive evidence of their sanity. If they disagreed, it was unfortunate, but he was not going to alter his opinions for that,

e was bad,"

t to funk. He mucked five out of every six passes I gave him, too, and the ball wasn't a bit slippery. Still, I shouldn't mind that so much if he had o

ghtfully, "would seem to

ost sad, tone of voice in which he delivered them. He was tall and dark and thin, and had a pensive eye, whi

ot stand alone in his views on Rand-Brown's performan

"It'll be rather hard, though. The man one would na

wing three-quarter o

body in the thir

said Clow

Barry's good,"

wes. "I admit he's sma

first? A chap might do jolly well for the thir

m when we played Seymour's last year in the final. I certainly came away with

eason for supposing that he's fallen off since then. We've seen that Rand-Brown can't

any harm in trying him. We'll have another scratc

m stopping t

inst you. I wish you hadn't left, though, by Jove. We s

n matches in the same year was almost unheard of. This year there had seemed every likelihood of it. The match before Christmas on the Ripton ground had resulted in a win for Wrykyn by two goals and a try to a try. But the calculations of the school had been upset by the sudden dep

s. They would have to approach the Easter term fixture from another--a non-Paget--standpoint. In these circumstances it became a serious problem: who was to get th

of course," s

e have shown, were of