Acton"s Feud.
by Frederick Swainson.
CHAPTER I
THE FOUL
Shannon, the old Blue, had brought down a rattling eleven--two Internationals among them--to give the school the first of its annual "Socker" matches. We have a particular code of football of our own, which the school has played time out of mind; but, ten years ago, the a.s.sociation game was introduced, despite the murmuring of some of the masters, many of the parents--all old Amorians--and of Moore, the Head, who had yielded to varied pressures, but in his heart thought "Socker"
vastly inferior to the old game. a.s.sociation had flourished exceedingly; so much so that the Head made it a law that, on each Thursday in the Michaelmas term, the old game, and nothing but the old game, should be played, and woe betide any unauthorized "cutters" thereof. This was almost the only rule that Corker never swerved a hair"s breadth from, and bitter were the regrets when Shannon had sent word to Bourne, our captain, that he could bring down a really clinking team to put our eleven through their paces, if the match were played on Thursday. Sat.u.r.day, on account of big club fixtures, was almost impossible. Corker consented to the eleven playing the upstart code for this occasion only, but for the school generally the old game was to be _de rigueur_.
So on this Thursday pretty well the whole school was out in the Acres, where the old game was in full swing; and, though I fancy the players to a man would have liked to have lined up on the touch-line in the next field and given Shannon the "whisper" he deserves, O.G. claimed them that afternoon for its own, and they were unwilling martyrs to old Corker"s cast-iron conservatism. Consequently, when Bourne spun the coin and Shannon decided to play with the wind, there would not be more than seventy or eighty on the touch-line. Shannon asked me to referee, so I found a whistle, and the game started.
It was a game in which there seemed to be two or three players who served as motive forces, and the rest were worked through. On one side Shannon at back, Amber the International at half, and Aspinall, the International left-winger, were head and shoulders above the others; on our side, Bourne and Acton dwarfed the rest.
Bourne played back, and Acton was his partner. Bourne I knew well, since he was in the Sixth, and I liked him immensely; but of Acton I knew only a little by repute and nothing personally. He was in the Fifth, but, except in the ordinary way of school life, he did not come much into the circle wherein the Sixth moves. He was brilliantly clever, with that sort of showy brilliance which some fellows possess: in the exams, he would walk clean through a paper, or leave it untouched--no half measures. He was in Biffen"s house and quite the most important fellow in it, and no end popular with his own crowd, for they looked to him to give their house a leg up, both in the schools and in the fields, for Biffen"s were the slackest house in St. Amory"s. He played football with a dash and vim good to see, and I know a good few of the eleven envied him his long, lungeing rush, which parted man and ball so cleanly, and his quick, sure kick that dropped the ball unerringly to his forwards. He was not in the eleven; but that he would be in before the term was over was a "moral." He was good-looking and rather tall, and had a certain foreign air, I thought; his dark face seemed to be hard and proud, and I had heard that his temper was fiery.
Bourne had chosen him to play against Shannon"s team, and as Acton bottled up the forwards on his wing Bourne felt that the school"s future right back would not be far to seek.
I soon saw that the school was not quite good enough for the others: Shannon was almost impa.s.sable, and Amber, the half, generally waltzed round our forwards, and when he secured he pa.s.sed the ball on to Aspinall, who doubled like a hare along the touch-line. The question then was "Could Acton stop the flying International, who spun along like Ba.s.sett himself?" And he did, generally; or, if he could not, he forced him to part with the ball, and either Baines, our half, lying back, nipped in and secured, or Bourne cleared in the nick of time. Nine times out of ten, when Acton challenged Aspinall, the International would part with the ball to his inside partner; but twice he feinted, and before either of the school backs could recover, the ball was shot into the net with a high and catapultic cross shot. Again and again the game resolved itself into a duello between Acton and Aspinall, and Bourne, when he saw the dealings with the International and his wiles, smiled easily. He saw the school was stronger than he thought.
The interval came with the score standing at two against us. When I started the game again I found that our fellows were pulling along much better with the wind, and that some of Shannon"s men were not quite so dangerous as before, for condition told. We quickly had one through, and when I found myself blowing the whistle for a second goal I began to think that the school might pull through after all. Meanwhile Acton and Aspinall were having their occasional tussles, though somewhat less often than before, and three or four times the school back was overturned pretty heartily in the encounters.
Though there was not a suspicion of unfairness or temper on Aspinall"s part, I fancied that Acton was getting rather nettled at his frequent upsets. He was, I considered, heavier than Aspinall, and much taller, so I was both rather waxy and astonished to find that he was infusing a little too much vigour into his tackling, and, not to put too fine a point on it, was playing a trifle roughly. Aspinall was bundled over the touch-line a good half-dozen times, with no little animus behind the charge, and ultimately Bourne noticed it. Now, Bourne loathed anything approaching bad form, so he said sharply to Acton, though quietly, "Play the game, sir!
Play the ball!" Acton flushed angrily, and I did not like the savage way he faced round to Bourne, who was particularly busy at that moment and did not notice it. The game went on until within about five minutes from time.
Amber had been feeding Aspinall a.s.siduously for the last ten minutes, and Acton had, despite his cleverness, more than he could really hold in the flying International. He stalled off the attack somehow, and Bourne always covered his exertions, so that it seemed as if there would be a draw after all. At last the ball was swung across, and Aspinall was off on a final venture. Acton stuck to him like a leech, but the winger tipped the ball to his partner, and as Acton moved to intercept the inside, the latter quickly and wisely poked the ball back again to Aspinall. He was off again in his own inimitable style, and I saw him smile as he re-started his run.
I rather fancy Acton saw it too, and accepted the smile as a sneering challenge; anyhow, he set his lips and I believe made up his mind that in any case Aspinall should not get the winning goal. How it exactly happened I cannot say, but as Aspinall was steadying himself, when at top speed, for an almost point-blank delivery, I saw Acton break his own stride, shoot out his leg, and the next moment the International was stumbling forward, whilst the ball rolled harmlessly onward into our goal-keeper"s hands. I could hardly believe my own eyes, but it was a deliberate trip, if ever there was one! Aspinall tried to recover himself, failed, and came with a sickening crash against the goal-post. I blew the whistle and rushed to Aspinall; his cheek was bleeding villainously and he was deadly pale. I helped him up, and he said with his usual smile--who could mistake it for a sneer?--"Thanks, old man. Yes, I do feel a bit seedy. That back of yours is an animal, though." He tried hard to keep his senses; I saw him battling against his faintness, but the pain and shock were too much for him; he fell down again in a dead faint.
We improvised a hurdle and carried him up to the school. Acton, pale to the lips, prepared to bear a hand, but Bourne unceremoniously took him by the arm and said with concentration, "No thanks, Acton. We"ll excuse you--you beastly cad!" I heard Bourne"s remark, though no one else saw or heard. Acton"s hand closed involuntarily, and he gave Bourne a vitriolic look, but did nothing nor said anything. We took Aspinall up to Merishall"s--his old house--where he was staying, and left him there still unconscious.
What astonished me was that no one save Bourne had noticed the trip, but when I came to think it over the explanation was easy. Acton had, whether from accident or of purpose, "covered" his man and blocked the view from behind. I myself had not really _seen_ the trip, but it would have been plainly visible for any one opposite on the touch-line, and luckily there was no one opposite. The goal-keeper might have seen it, but Roberts never attends to anything but the ball--the reason he"s the fine keeper that he is. Bourne had actually seen it, being practically with Acton, and I knew by his pale face and scornful eyes that he would dearly have liked to kick Acton on the spot.
I was, as you may guess, intensely pleased that no one had an idea of the foul except Bourne and myself, for I could imagine vividly where the rumour of this sort of "form" would spread to. We"d hear of it for years after.
I mentally promised that Acton should have a little of my opinion on the matter on the first opportunity.
CHAPTER II
THE PENALTY
I arranged to see Bourne that evening, when we should have heard the doctor"s report on Aspinall. In the evening Bourne strolled into my room, looking a little less gloomy than I expected. "Briggs says that there is nothing broken, and that as soon as Aspinall gets over the shock he will be all right. The cut may leave a scar, but that will be about all. All the same, Carr, I think that"s too heavy a price to pay for the bad temper of one of our fellows who can"t stand a tumble into the mud at "footer."
You saw the villainy, didn"t you?"
"I can"t say I actually saw him trip, but there"s no doubt whatever that it was an abominable foul."
"None at all. I saw him, worse luck, tolerably plainly."
"Do you know anything about him?"
"Practically nothing."
"I think Biffen"s rather fancy he"s going to lift them out of the mire."
"Can"t say I envy them their champion."
"What strikes me as odd is that such a magnificent player should do such a vile trick."
"Rum, certainly. The affair will give quite a professional touch to our "Socker" fixtures, and the Carthusians will ask us to bar our bullies when they come down again. Oh, this _is_ sweet!"
"I say, Bourne, this business must not move one inch further. You"ve spoken to no one?"
"Is it likely?"
"We"ll not have any of our dirty linen washed _coram populo_, old chap. Frightful bad form. No one knows but you, Aspinall, and self."
"Surely Aspinall will----"
"You don"t know Aspinall, old man. He"d shrivel up sooner than say a word more. Bet you he"ll speak of it as an accident. Remember, he was captain of the school here once."
"Which makes it a blacker shame than ever," said Bourne, wrathfully.
"I"ve inquired casually of the Fifth, and it seems our friend once distinguished himself in the gym. Lost his temper--as _per recipe_--and Hodgson had to knock him down before he could see that we put on the gloves here for a little healthy exercise, and the pleasure of lifting some of the public schools championships. He, however, apologized to Hodgson, but I don"t think he"ll do the honourable here."
"Then, the chief attraction of the beauty is its temper?"
"Or want of it."
"Who is he, anyhow?"
"Yorkshire people, I believe. Own half a town and no end of coin. Been to school in France and Germany, and consequently came here rather late. I know his head-piece Is all right, and I imagine his amiability is only a little foreign blood working its way out. He will be with us in the Sixth at Christmas."
"Delightful prospect. What I want to know is--how are we to settle this business as far as he is concerned? Ought Moore to know?"
"I don"t think so. Never trouble Corker more than you can help, old man.
That"s a tip for you when I"m gone. Besides, masters generally mishandle affairs of this sort. I rather fancy I"ll put it to Aspinall when he pulls through."
"Do. One thing, though, is pretty certain. He"ll never get his cap as long as I"m captain of the footer eleven. I"d rather come out of it myself."
"Of course. I see there"s no help for that, but, all the same, it will make complications. What a pity he _can_ play!"
"It is, for he is a back out of a thousand."
Bourne"s voice had in it a ring of genuine regret, and whilst I could almost have smiled at his unaffectedly tragic tone, I could see the vista which his resolution opened up. I heard the school shouting at Bourne to let the finest player out of the eleven in, and all the shouting would be across "seas of misunderstanding." I know Bourne saw the difficulties himself, and he left my study soon after with a rather anxious look on his face. Personally I determined not to think about the matter until I had seen Aspinall. From the very first I had never expected any help from Acton. There was something about the whole of his bearing in the caddish business that told me plainly that we would have to treat him, not as a fellow who had been betrayed to a vile action by a beastly temper and was bitterly sorry for it, but as a fellow who hated us for finding it out.