Just then Redwood turned and waved his hand to somebody near us.
"Look out; he wants you," said Langrish.
"Me?" said I, flabbergasted.
"Don"t you see him beckoning? Look alive, or you"ll catch it."
I could hardly believe it; and yet everybody near looked round at me in apparent wonder at my delay.
Perhaps Redwood had heard something about me from Tempest and wanted to--
"Go on," said Trimble, giving me a shove. "If he wants to stick you in the Fifteen, tell him it"s not good enough."
"Look sharp," called the others, encouragingly, as I started to obey the summons.
By this time Redwood was strolling our way. Mahomet, thought I, is coming to the mountain. So, to save him trouble, I trotted up to meet him.
At first he didn"t notice me. Then when I said, "Did you want me?" he stared me over from head to foot as a Newfoundland dog would inspect a pug. It was on the whole a benevolent stare, not unmingled with humour; especially when the cheers of my late comrades called his attention to my ingenuous blushes.
"I didn"t," said he; "but you"ll do, if you don"t mind. Cut home to my house. Number 3, Bridge Street, and ask them to send my leather belt.
Look alive, there"s a good chap."
This speech, the first really polite speech I had heard since I entered Low Heath, took me by storm, and captivated me at once to the service of the captain of the school. I galloped off, as proud as a non- commissioned officer who has been sent to fetch his regimental flag on to the field of battle. The chaps behind might cheer and jeer and cry, "Gee-up, Sarah!" and "Mad dog!" as much as they liked. They would have been only too proud to be sent on my errand.
It was a good ten minutes" run to Bridge Street, and I was fairly out of breath when I rang at the bell of Number 3. It seemed a long time before any one came, and I was beginning to be afraid I should forfeit the reputation I hoped to acquire, when hurried footsteps announced that my ring had been heard.
Mrs Redwood was out, said the servant, and she had been down the garden with the children.
When I delivered my message, she asked me to wait; and with her little charges evidently on her mind, ran upstairs to fetch the belt.
It was a nice house, although a small one. The garden door was open, and gave a beautiful peep over the little sloping lawn to the river and the woods beyond. I was not sure that, after all, a town-boy might not have a good time of it, living in a place like this, instead of in school.
Suddenly my reflections were disturbed by a shrill scream from the garden, followed by a little girl of five or six crying--
"Annie, Annie! Mamie"s tumbled in; Mamie"s tumbled in!"
For a wonder I had my wits about me, and divined the truth at once.
With a bound I was down the steps and across the lawn, half knocking down the panic-stricken little messenger on the way, and at the river"s edge, floundering piteously in about two feet of water, found the unfortunate little Mamie--evidently a twin-sister--more frightened than hurt, but perilously near to getting into deep water.
Her yells redoubled when she found herself grabbed by the sash by a stranger, and lugged most unceremoniously on to _terra firma_.
Scarcely had I achieved this gallant rescue, without even wetting my own shoes, when Annie, as white as a sheet, came flying on to the scene.
"It"s all right," said I; "she"s not hurt."
Whereupon Annie most inconsiderately leaned up against a post, clapped her hands to her heart, and went or threatened to go off into hysterics.
And there was I, a poor unprotected male, left to face the squalling of two infant female children and a full-grown female nurserymaid!
"Look here," said I, appealingly, "Mamie"s soaking wet. You"d better take her and dry her, before she gets her death of cold."
This appeal had the desired effect. It stopped the nurse"s spasms and let loose her tongue.
"Oh dear, oh my! And I told her not to go through the gate. Oh, you naughty girl you; and you. Miss Gwen, for letting her do it. Come in directly, you little hussies!"
It struck me as grossly unfair of Annie; but I did not venture in her present state of mind to protest, for fear she should call me hussy too.
I followed indoors, somewhat guiltily, at the tail of the procession, feeling myself in a very unpleasant situation, in which I would not on any account be caught by Redwood"s mother or by Redwood himself. To my delight, on the floor of the hall, where Annie had dropped it, lay the belt, at which I sprang greedily, and not waiting to say thank you, or put in a word for the doomed infants, which would have been quite inaudible in the volume of Annie"s philippics, I saved myself (as the Frenchman says), and ran at racing speed with my prize back to the school field.
To my mortification I found the match had just begun, and it would be impossible to deliver my missive till half-time. What would the captain think of me? Would he suspect me of having dawdled to buy sweets, or look over the bridge, or gossip with a chum? I would not for anything it had happened, and felt not at all amiably disposed to Miss Mamie, as the inconsiderate cause of my delay.
However, there was nothing for it but to wait. I resolved not to put myself into the clutches of the Philosophers till my mission was discharged, for fear of accident; so I seated myself on one of the pavilion steps and watched the play.
It was evidently a hot match for a scratch one. As far as I could make out, the remnants of last season"s Fifteen, amounting to eleven veterans only, were playing the next Fifteen, who, having the best of the wind, were giving a dangerously good account of themselves. They were acute enough to make all the use they could of the favouring element by keeping open order and kicking whenever they had the chance, whereas of course the other side played a tight game, and ran with the ball. Even for a novice like myself, it was interesting to watch a contest of this kind. The Fifteen evidently hoped to rush the thing and carry their goal before half-time deprived them of the wind, whereas the Eleven were mainly concerned to keep on the defensive and risk nothing by over- haste.
Among the veterans I could distinguish the big form of Redwood, always close to the ball, and near him with a shudder I recognised Crofter working hard, while hovering on the wing of the scrimmage was the genial Pridgin, looking as if he would fain be in bed, but, when the time for action came, making it very uncomfortable for the enemy. On the other side I was not long in finding out Tempest, with the glow of enthusiasm on his cheek as now and again he broke through the ruck and sent the ball into quarters. Wales, too, was there, spick and span as usual, playing neatly and effectively, and withal elegantly.
As time wore on it was evident the veterans were being penned closer and closer by their antagonists. Presently a dangerous scrimmage was formed just in front of their goal. For some minutes the ball was invisible, then by an apparently preconcerted movement the forwards of the Fifteen loosened and let it dart back into the open behind them, where lurked Tempest ready to receive it. He did not wait to pick it up, but ran to meet it with a flying kick. For a moment it seemed doubtful whether it would clear the onward rush of Redwood and his forwards. But it did, and rose steadily and beautifully over their heads, and with the wind straight upon it, reached the goal and skimmed over the bar, amid the loud shouts of every one, conspicuous among which was my shrill voice.
Half-time! Now was my chance; and before the shouting had ceased, or the discomfited Eleven had quite realised their misfortune, I darted into the sacred enclosure, and presented the captain with his belt.
"I"m awfully sorry I wasn"t in time," said I. "You"d just begun when I got back."
"Thanks, youngster, it"s all right," said Redwood, wonderfully cheerful, as it seemed to me; "here, take care of this for me," and he divested himself of the belt he was wearing and donned the new one.
"You"ll have the wind with you now," I ventured to observe.
"Yes," said he with a nod, "I think we shall do the trick this time, eh?"
"Rather," said I; and departed elated, not so much to have been spared the rebuke I expected, but to be talked to by such a hero, as if I was not a junior at all, but a comrade.
My chums when I rejoined them were anxious to prevent my being too much puffed up by my exploit.
"Good old Sarah Toady," cried Trimble, as I approached. "Is he coming?"
"Who? Where?" I inquired.
"I thought you were asking Redwood to tea or something."
"No, I wasn"t--I only--"
"There"s Jarman," cried Langrish. "Run and cadge up to him. Perhaps he"ll pat you on the back too."
Despite these taunts I could not fail to notice the depressing effect of the new arrival on the onlookers generally. Mr Jarman, the gymnasium master, was a ruddy, restless-looking man of about thirty-five, with cold grey eyes, and the air of a man who knew he was unpopular, but was resolved to do his duty nevertheless. If I had heard nothing about him before, I should have disliked him at first glance, and instinctively tried to avoid his eye. And yet, as he stood there, talking to Mr Selkirk, the melancholy master of the reputedly "fast" house at Low Heath, he did not look particularly offensive.
"Look out now; they"re starting again."
There was no mistaking the veterans now. Their backs were up, and the order had evidently gone out for no quarter to be given to the audacious Fifteen.
Redwood"s kick off all but carried the goal from the middle of the field, and from that moment it never got out of the "thirties," as the imaginary line between the two distance flags was called. To Crofter belonged the honour of first wiping off scores with the enemy. And after him Redwood dropped a goal, first from one side line, then from the other. Pridgin, too, scored a smart run in; but, unluckily, the kick fouled the goal post and saved the Fifteen a further disaster then.
But before time was called a fourth goal was placed to the credit of the veterans. The vanquished fought gamely to the end. Once or twice Tempest broke away, but for want of effective backing was repulsed. And once a smart piece of dribbling down the touch line by Wales gave the Eleven"s half-backs an anxious moment. But that was all. The match ended, as every one expected, in a slashing victory for the old hands, together with a general verdict that Tempest and Wales, at any rate, had won their laurels and were safe for two of the vacant caps.