FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163  
164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   >>  
g, but his perfect eye and wrist made him a beautiful player of any game with a ball. Also he rode and shot well, and knew all about the inside of a car. But, although he was always enthusiastic about anything he was doing, he was not really keen on games. He preferred wandering about the country looking for birds' nests or discovering the haunts of rare butterflies; he liked managing a small boat single-handed in a stiff breeze; he would have enjoyed being upset and having to swim a long way to shore. Most of all, perhaps, he loved to lie on the top of the cliffs and think of the wonderful things that he would do for England when he was a Cabinet Minister. For politics was to be his profession, and he had just taken a first in History by way of preparation for it. There were a lot of silly people who envied Peter's mother. They thought, poor dears, that she must be very, very proud of him, for they regarded Peter as the ideal of the modern young Englishman. "If only my boy grows up to be like Peter Riley!" they used to say to themselves; and then add quickly, "But of course he'll be much nicer." In their ignorance they didn't see that it was the Peters of England who were making our country the laughing-stock of the world. If you had been in Berlin in 1916, you would have seen Peter; for he had been persuaded, much against his will, to uphold the honour of Great Britain in the middle-weights at the Olympic Games. He got a position in the papers as "P. Riley, disqualified"--the result, he could only suppose, of his folly in allowing his opponent to butt him in the stomach. He was both annoyed and amused about it; offered to fight his vanquisher any time in England; and privately thanked Heaven that he could now get back to London in time for his favourite sister's wedding. But he didn't. The English trainer, who had been sent, at the public expense, to America for a year, to study the proper methods, got hold of him. "I've been watching you, young man," he said. "You'll have to give yourself up to me now. You're the coming champion." "I'm sorry," said Peter politely, "but I shan't be fighting again." "Fighting!" said the trainer scornfully. "Don't you worry; I'll take good care that you don't fight any more. The event _you're_ going to win is 'Pushing the Chisel.' I've been watching you, and you've got the most perfect neck and calf-muscles for it I've ever seen. No more fighting for you, my boy; nor cricket
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   152   153   154   155   156   157   158   159   160   161   162   163  
164   165   166   167   168   169   170   171   172   173   174   175   176   177   178   179   180   181   182   >>  



Top keywords:
England
 

fighting

 

watching

 
trainer
 

country

 

perfect

 

vanquisher

 

amused

 

stomach

 

annoyed


privately

 
offered
 

Heaven

 
sister
 
wedding
 

English

 

favourite

 

London

 

thanked

 

opponent


Britain

 

middle

 

weights

 

honour

 

persuaded

 
uphold
 

Olympic

 

suppose

 

allowing

 

result


disqualified

 

position

 
papers
 

public

 

Fighting

 

scornfully

 

cricket

 

muscles

 

Pushing

 

Chisel


methods
 
player
 

beautiful

 

proper

 

expense

 
America
 

champion

 
politely
 
coming
 

inside