Murder in Any Degree

memory in the mind to divert it from that absolute intellectual concentration which the game demands

weat

of a

nough to affe

ns have b

I've se

t won't

tely, for the hundredth time. "Perhaps

o predecessors were waiting, and settled beside Pickings at the foot of

their season's output in a frantic effort to surpass the other. Pickings, the purist, did not approve of them in the least.

and luckily achieved good distance, Pollock re

ument of sand, balance his ball, and whistling nervously through his teeth, lunge successfull

his moment a thin, dyspeptic man with undisciplined whiskers broke in

a course here; record around seventy-one, isn't it? Good deal of water to keep out of? You gentlemen some of the cracks? Course pr

ad been pumped up for the journey gravely sa

carce. Did either of you gentlemen ever reflect how surprising it is that better scores aren't made at this game? Now, take seventy-one; that's only one under fours, and I venture to say at least six o

id Pickings, both crushing and parli

es averaged ten minutes, while his voluble companion, with an immense expenditure

eed his ball, took exactly eight full practice swings, and drove one

n be said for it," he said, as he w

rove a long ball, and he drove a great many that did not return in his bag. He glanced resentfully to the ri

o himself. "Of course

ralized by the attraction in opposite directions, his drive w

the professional, nodding his head, "f

ve to-day," said Pi

first tee," said Booverman discourage

er of form. He played his shot, which ca

he short running-up stroke to

e said savagely. "Any one else would get a three onc

roll on to the green straight for the flag. All at once Wessels and Pol

"You've run it down. First hole in

suspicion, gingerly removing the pin. At the bott

r happened to me," he said furiously; "abs

gs, in remonstrance, "you're

ord was attacked. "See here, I play thirty-six holes a day, two hundred and sixteen a week, a thousand a month, six thousand a yea

a handkerchief and

ll at once," h

rds away. It is considered rather easy as golf-holes go. The only dangers are a matted wilderness of long grass in front of the tee, the certainty of landing

I slice, I lose my ball, and that knocks my whole game higher than a kite." He added between his tee

ot the slightest thrill of nervous joy, he made a perfe

right," said Picking

th my irons," said Booverman, darkly. "Just wa

an's ball lay within three feet of

s, inaudibly. "By George

ow, backed by the road and trapped by ditches, where at that moment Pollock, true to his traditions as a war

mite this little homeopathic pill, and it will land just where I want it. I will probably put out for another two. Three holes in twos would prob

e got a dead line on every shot to-day. Marvelous! When you ge

en, though, Pickings, I know it! Five years ago I'd have been shaking like a

his ball, which lay on the green, hole high, and put do

m, was so overcome with excitement that he tw

e placed his ball carelessly, selected his driver, and turned on the fidgety Pick

a professional like Frank or even an amateur that hadn't offended every busy little fate and fury in

ickings in a loud whis

four-hundred-yard straighta

le ball, whithe

e ball, have I

e prairies in the

marshes where th

tle ball, is it

and drove another long, straight drive. Pickings, thril

putting-green under the shaggy branches of the willows. The receptive graveyard to the right gives a certain pathos to it, a splendid, quiet note in contrast to the feeling of the swift, hungry river

nd long, rolled up in t

een," said

found, to his satisfaction,

" said Pickings,

it for a five,"

aught the rim of the cup, hesitate

," said Picking

"Any one else would have had a three, straight on the c

ng to pieces, forgetting the invincible st

," he said, his voice no longer

rd hole. I lost my ball five times out of seven. There is something irresistibly alluring to me in the mosquito patches to my right. I think it is the fo

h desire to entreat him to caution, w

ter the click of th

little cozy home in a nice, deep hoof track, just as I found it yesterday afternoon. Then I will have the exquisite pleasure of taking my niblick, and whan

y in clear position just beyond the bumps and rills that ordinarily welcome a long shot. Booverman

gure of a boomerang, making for those who fancied a slice a delightful little carry of one hundred and fifty yards. To the left was a procession of trees, while beyond, on the course

a strange feeling that I'm not going to get into trouble here. That would be too obvious. It's

g, and carried the far-off bank with a low

orever," said Picking

y as a rock," said Boo

eighth shot. Booverman's drive had skimmed over the dried plain for a fair two hundred

y thunder! seven under four!" Suddenly he stopped, overwhelmed. "Why, he's actually around t

ball completely, and then top

said Booverman in a grumbling tone.

en, Booverman's ball lay abo

e four," said Picki

man burst into

here. Look-

urious. Pickin

rom his ball. "That, my boy, was where the cup was yesterday. If they hadn't moved the f

iously, shaking his head sympathe

to the hole, and sto

oot put that stops an inch short-did you ever see anything like it? By everything that's ju

uttering inner self. "He can't realize it.

of apple-trees are ready to trap a topped ball and bury it under impossible piles of dry leaves. Beyond, the wired tennis-courts give forth a musical, tinny note when attacked. In the middle distance a glorious sycamore draws you to the left, and a file of elms beckon the sliced way to a marsh, wilderness of grass and an overgrown gully

forgot that a dozen good scores had ended abruptly in the swale to the right. He was only irritated. He plumped down

ee on the six," he muttered as he

sy put, plucked his ball from the

a stroke on each of them. I'm playing two strokes more than I ought to

feeling his fingers grow c

e by burying your ball in the waving grass, which is always permitted a sort of poetical license. There are the traps to the seventh hole to be crossed, and t

e to three balls. On the contrary, when I have an average of six, I always get a five and often a four. How this hole has changed my entire life!" He raised his ball and addressed i

t with a brassy that laid him twenty yards off the g

y him in such a crisis. He began slowly to disintegrate morally, to revert to type. He contained himself until Booverman had driven free of the river, which flan

, do you know wh

four," said Booverma

, nothing;

ha

n th

, and tabula

verman, amazed. "Wha

it

ly some one else

h the green that was set in the crescent of surrounding trees,

n't told me," h

e first time Booverman's shot went wide of the mark, str

id Pickings wit

ulders. "The ball is now lost, and all the score goes into the air, the

ck on the course," said

sixty thousand times I have hit trees

ied Pickings, wit

table desire to leap upon Booverman like a fluffy, enthusiastic dog; but he fought it back with the new sense of responsibility that

club. It's a crime to go on; it's a crime to spoil such a record. Twenty-eight for nine holes, only forty-two needed for

hundred-yard flight to the ea

t'll happen now;

he drive went true to the green, straight on the fl

ickings, but to himself. "I

oing to make a fool of myself. I'm going right up to the tee, and I'm goin

ha

't care. H

or the second was accurate, and his put, after ci

an elephant's bed, and then across the Housatonic River, a carry of on

ree here, too," said Booverman, moo

iron high in the air

e," he said, nodding his head. Inste

is a long, narrow breathing spot, squeezed by the railroad tracks on one side and by the river on the other. Resolute and fearless golfers often cut them out entirely, nor are ashamed to acknowledge their terror. As you stand a

is doomed to go out of bounds or

refully," said Pickings in a voice that

t, almost off the fair. A midiron for his second put him in posi

augmented by a second shot over a long, mushy pond. If you play a careful iron to keep from the railroad, now on the right, or to dodge the river on your left, you are forced to approach the edge of

et-rid myself of memories. I have seen class A amateurs take twelve, and professionals eight.

began slowly to slice out of bou

he next will go there, too; then I'll put o

l, bounded high in the air, forward, back upon the course, lying in

rman, unrelenting. "That only evens up the

een to negotiate another four. Pickings, trembling like a toy dog in ze

earance of a chin spot on a full face of whiskers, was Booverman's favorite hole. While Pickings held his eyes to the ground and tried to b

lf, his head beginning to throb. He wanted to sit down and take hi

aid Booverma

id Pickings, observing

Even threes for the whole course-that's what I could do if I had those two strokes-the greatest thing that's ever been seen on a golf-course. It ma

to pump, but he was able to

get a thr

hree and four i

eavens! what

, I'd go down in history, I'd be immortal. And you, too, Picky, you'd be immortal, because

r plateau. A long cleek laid his ball off the green, a good app

s it," said Boo

three to do it. The two is qui

ull cleek, with about six mental hazards distributed in Indian ambush, and i

g. The click of the club was sharp and true. He turned to see t

th. He sent two balls into the lost land to

said, slashing away

studied the ten-foot route

id Pickings, lean

rman, exploding. "Think of what it

frantic club. Incapable of speech, he waved him feebly to drive. He

ven threes, one ove

doing?" said Booverman, angr

anything," s

-muttering

, feebly to himself. He added aloud, "Stop kicking about your old six

hastily approached his ball, dro

mind to wring your neck. Every shot I've pla

ninth hole-hi

to tell me my score, and, besides, I o

the railr

Yes, I'll admit that. Tha

your first

ll-once in sixty thousand times. Well, an

t go a

his ball, played a long midiron, just cleared the cre

ging down his club and glaring at Pickings.

his club, his legs began to tremble. He shook his

ossible. Unfortunately the ball lay thirty feet away, and the path to the hole was

at down, covering his eyes while Booverman wi

and

rose conv

!" said Booverman, hoarsely. "Do you think I've any

rig

stance; but the cleek in his hand shook like

ing his face, "I can't

u m

r. I'll never be ab

cible pessimism, Booverman had gone to pi

nding a fluttering hand. "I c

e!" He slapped him on the back, pinched his arms, and chafed his fingers. Then he l

overman in a whisper.

the flag in the

ho

-cast to a worm-cast, wobbling and rocking, and at th

rman, as though carried off by the sam