the budding athlete there was an excellent custom of
classifying not only the players who attained the first team; but
beyond them there were "the Forty" who wore velvet caps with tassels,
"the Sixty" who wore velvet caps with silver braid, "the Eighty," and
even "the Hundred"--all of whom were posted from time to time, and so
stimulated their members to try for the next grade.

Like every other school there were bounds beyond which one might not
go, and therefore beyond which one always wanted to go. Compulsory
games limited the temptation in that direction very considerably; and
my own breaches were practically always to get an extra swim. We had
an excellent open-air swimming pool, made out of a branch of the river
Kenneth, and were allowed one bathe a day, besides the dip before
morning chapel, which only the few took, and which did not count as a
bathe. The punishment for breaking the rule was severe, involving a
week off for a first offence. But one was not easily caught, for even
a sixth-former found hundreds of naked boys very much alike in the
water, and the fact of any one having transgressed the limit was very
hard to detect. Nor were we bound to incriminate ourselves by replying
to leading questions.

"Late for Gates" was a more serious crime, involving detention from
beloved games--and many were the expedients to which we resorted to
avoid such an untoward contingency. I remember well waiting for an
hour outside the porter's view, hoping for some delivery wagon to give
me a chance to get inside. For it was far too light to venture to
climb the lofty railings before "prep" time. Good fortune ordained,
however, that a four-wheel cab should come along in time, containing
the parents of a "hopeful" in the sick-room. It seemed a desperate
venture, for to "run" the gate was a worse offence than being late and
owning up. But we succeeded by standing on the off step, unquestioned
by the person inside, who guessed at once what the trouble was, and
who proved to be sport enough to engage the porter while we got clear.
Later on a scapegrace who had more reason to require some by-way than
myself, revealed to me a way which involved a long detour and a climb
over the laundry roof. Of this, on another occasion, I was sincerely
glad to avail myself. One of the older boys, I remember, made a much
bolder venture. He waited till dusk, and then boldly walked in through
the masters' garden. As luck would have it, he met our