ere are heads to be broke;
So let ten veteran players come now follow me,
And fight for the honour of ancient Ronleigh."

_Chorus_.

"Then put up your goal-posts, and mark your touch-line;
We'll grind them to powder, and put them in brine.
Let boarders and day boys all come out to see
Us fight for the honour of ancient Ronleigh."

The ten merry men mustered quick at his call--
There were forwards, and half-backs, and goal-keeper tall;
But one who was wont in the forefront to be
No longer was seen in the ranks of Ronleigh.

_Chorus_: "Then put up your goal-posts, and mark," etc.

Too soon their rejoicings and empty their boast,
For the Town fellows very soon had them on toast;
And the bystanders sighed as they saw frequently
The ball pass the "back" of our ancient Ronleigh.

_Chorus_: "Then put up your goal-posts, and mark," etc.

From this draw a moral, you fellows who rule:
Sink personal spite when you act for the school;
And whatever your notions of prefects may be,
Let's have the right men in the team at Ronleigh.

_Chorus_: "Then put up your goal-posts, and mark," etc.

Something in these doggerel lines excited Jack Vance's wrath above
measure, the last verse especially raising his anger to boiling-point,
so that it fairly bubbled over. Jack was a loyal-hearted youngster;
he was nothing to Allingford, but Allingford was something to him, as
head and leader of the community of which he himself was a member.
The sight of the captain toiling manfully through the long, unequal
contest of the previous afternoon, doing practically double work to make
up for the loss of his fellow-back, and to prevent a losing game
degenerating into a rout, rose up once more before the small boy's mind,
and, as has been said before, his wrath boiled over.

"Well, I call that a beastly shame. The chap who wrote it ought to be
kicked round the field."

"My eye," cried Grundy, "listen to what's talking! Kicked round the
field, indeed! Why, I think it's jolly good: it serves Allingford and
those other fellows just right for turning Thurston out of the
team."

"What a lie!" retorted Jack. "You know very well they didn't turn him
out; he went out of his own accord."

"Here,