that has ever disgraced a Fernhurst ground, and you haven't the manners
to listen to me. Good man, are you so perfect that you can afford to pay
no attention to me? For heaven's sake, don't make your footer like your
cricket, the slackest thing in the whole of Fernhurst. Come on, we'll go
on with this game."

For ten more minutes "the Bull" watched the Colts making feverish
endeavours to do anything right. But his powers of endurance were not
equal to the strain.

"Here," he shouted, as Harding was going up to change after
superintending a pick-up, "you might referee for about ten more minutes
here, will you? I can't bear the sight of the little slackers any
longer."

A sigh of relief went up as the figure of Buller rolled out through the
field gate. Strangely enough, the Colts did rather better after this,
and Collins scored a really quite fine try. But the side left the field
glowing with resentment. None more than Gordon and Lovelace.

"What does the fool mean by making a little ass like Burgoyne captain?"
complained Gordon. "Dirty little beast, who does not wash or shave. And
he hacked me up the bottom, too, the swine. I'm getting a bit sick of
'The Bull.'"

"So am I. What we really want is my brother back again. He kept him in
order all right. My brother was a strong man, and did not stand any rot
from Buller or anyone else."

"Hullo, you two, you look about fed up! What's the row?"

They turned round; Mansell was coming up behind them. Lovelace burst out
perfervidly:

"It's that fool Buller. He cursed the Colts all round, and he made
Burgoyne captain instead of me, and he hacked Gordon's bottom, and told
him he had no manners. Believe me, we have had a jolly afternoon."

"And I suppose he said that he had captained Oxford, Cambridge, New
Zealand and the Fiji Islands, and that in his whole career he had never
seen anything like it."

"Oh yes, he fairly rolled out his qualifications, like a maid-servant
applying for a post."

"Oh, well, never mind," said Mansell; "he is a good chap, really, only
he can't keep his temper. He'll probably apologise to you both before
the end of the day. I remember Ferguson said once: 'All men are fools
and half of them are bloody fools.' Not so bad for Ferguson that! Cheer
up!"

"Yes; but, damn it all, it is a bit thick," said Lovelace. "And a tick
like Burgoyne to boot."

As they were changing, a fag from Buller's made a nervous entry; he
looked very lost, but finall