said Gordon. "He made such a fuss that I let him
off lightly, and then he goes down to the day-room and makes out I am a
wreck. Collins, I charge thee, put away compassion! It does not pay with
these degenerates."

There is nothing more interesting to the artist than watching a thing
grow under one's hand. And Gordon, who had the ambition of the artist in
embryo, was thoroughly engrossed in the training of his House sides. A-K
Junior was a promising side; it beat Claremont's by twenty points, and
Rogers's by over fifty.

Morgan captained the side, and was easily the best man in it, but among
the lesser lights there was a great display of energy, much of it
misplaced. The worst offender was Bray. To watch him play was to witness
a gladiatorial display of frightfulness. His fists flew about like a
flail, his legs were everywhere. On the whole he did more damage to his
own side than to his opponents. And the amount of energy he wasted every
game in hacking the bodies of any who got in his way must have been
exhausting. Gordon had to speak to him almost severely once or twice.

In the game against Rogers's, Bray nearly got sent off the field. There
had been a tight scrum which had more or less collapsed. The whistle
blew. Jenks had been persuaded to referee.

"Now then, form up properly there."

When the two scrums assorted themselves, Bray was discovered about five
yards from the ball, sitting on the head of a wretched, fat, unwashed
product of Rogers's, punching him violently and ejaculating after each
punch:

"Damn you! Damn you! Damn you!"

Jenks looked very fierce.

"Now then, you stupid fellows. If you go on like that, I shall have to
report you to the Headmaster, and you know what that will mean."

Bray looked a little frightened, and for the future devoted his energies
to the football and not the footballers, to the distinct advantage of
the side.

But Gordon began to find that the more his interest increased in House
games, the less interest he took in uppers and Fifteen puntabouts. He
was always wanting to go and see how his House was getting on. As soon
as the first keenness wore off he found the interminable "uppers,"
totally unrelieved by the excitement of matches, amazingly dull. Indeed,
the whole school side was beginning to grow weary. Every Monday and
Thursday there was a puntabout. Every Tuesday and Saturday there was the
same game--First Fifteen _v._ Second Fifteen--with one or two masters,
s