than wisely of the Tiger's prowess with the ball; for he was already accounted a bit of a windbag about the game, and his personal ineptitude soon found him out. Chips had put his name down for the Lower Ground, and Jan his for the adjoining Middle, owing to his decidedly superior stature. But there were plenty of lusty louts on the Middle, and Jan had to go some days without a game; when he got one he was not put on to bowl; and May was well advanced before he found himself taking wickets in the second Middle game.
It was Shockley of all people who had tossed the ball to him, with a characteristic reference to poor Chips's vicarious bragging. "That young lubber Carpenter says you can bowl a bit; if you can't I'll give the ruddy little liar the biggest licking he's ever had in his life!" It was significant that Jan himself was not threatened with violence; but perhaps it was the Shocker's subtlety that devised the surest means of putting the new bowler on his mettle. The fact remains that Jan shambled up to the wicket, gave an ungainly twiddle of the left arm, and delivered a ball that removed the leg bail after pitching outside the off stump.
The defeated batsman proceeded to make a less creditable stand than the one the Tiger had broken up. "I'm not going," said he, without stirring from the crease.
"You jolly well are!" thundered Shockley, who was first captain of the game. "The umpire didn't give it a no-ball, did he?"
"No, and he didn't give me guard, either. New guard for a left-hand bowler, if you don't mind, Shockley; you should have said he was one."
"I'm blowed if I knew," replied the Shocker, truly enough, and turned from the other big fellow to the
