foot foremost; and
Tom, who was mighty proud of his running, and not a little anxious
to show his friend that, although a new boy, he was no milksop, laid
himself down to work in his very best style. Right across the close they
went, each doing all he knew, and there wasn't a yard between them when
they pulled up at the island moat.

"I say," said East, as soon as he got his wind, looking with much
increased respect at Tom, "you ain't a bad scud, not by no means. Well,
I'm as warm as a toast now."

"But why do you wear white trousers in November?" said Tom. He had been
struck by this peculiarity in the costume of almost all the School-house
boys.

"Why, bless us, don't you know? No; I forgot. Why, to-day's the
School-house match. Our house plays the whole of the School at football.
And we all wear white trousers, to show 'em we don't care for hacks.
You're in luck to come to-day. You just will see a match; and Brooke's
going to let me play in quarters. That's more than he'll do for any
other lower-school boy, except James, and he's fourteen."

"Who's Brooke?"

"Why, that big fellow who called over at dinner, to be sure. He's cock
of the school, and head of the School-house side, and the best kick and
charger in Rugby."

"Oh, but do show me where they play. And tell me about it. I love
football so, and have played all my life. Won't Brooke let me play?"

"Not he," said East, with some indignation. "Why, you don't know the
rules; you'll be a month learning them. And then it's no joke playing-up
in a match, I can tell you--quite another thing from your private school
games. Why, there's been two collar-bones broken this half, and a dozen
fellows lamed. And last year a fellow had his leg broken."

Tom listened with the profoundest respect to this chapter of accidents,
and followed East across the level ground till they came to a sort of
gigantic gallows of two poles, eighteen feet high, fixed upright in the
ground some fourteen feet apart, with a cross-bar running from one to
the other at the height of ten feet or thereabouts.

"This is one of the goals," said East, "and you see the other, across
there, right opposite, under the Doctor's wall. Well, the match is for
the best of three goals; whichever side kicks two goals wins: and it
won't do, you see, just to kick the ball through these posts--it must go
over the cross-bar; any height'll do, so long as it's between the posts.
You'll have to stay in goal to touc