an trials of skill and strength in many ways. Some
of them would catch the Shetland pony who was turned out in the field,
and get two or three together on his back, and the little rogue,
enjoying the fun, would gallop off for fifty yards, and then turn round,
or stop short and shoot them on to the turf, and then graze quietly on
till he felt another load; others played peg-top or marbles, while a few
of the bigger ones stood up for a bout at wrestling. Tom at first only
looked on at this pastime, but it had peculiar attractions for him, and
he could not long keep out of it. Elbow and collar wrestling as
practised in the western counties was, next to back-swording, the way to
fame for the youth of the Vale; and all the boys knew the rules of it,
and were more or less expert. But Job Rudkin and Harry Winburn were the
stars, the former stiff and sturdy, with legs like small towers, the
latter pliant as india-rubber, and quick as lightning. Day after day
they stood foot to foot, and offered first one hand and then the other,
and grappled and closed and swayed and strained, till a well-aimed crook
of the heel or thrust of the loin took effect, and a fair back-fall
ended the matter. And Tom watched with all his eyes, and first
challenged one of the less scientific, and threw him; and so one by one
wrestled his way up to the leaders.

Then indeed for months he had a poor time of it; it was not long indeed
before he could manage to keep his legs against Job, for that hero was
slow of offence, and gained his victories chiefly by allowing others to
throw themselves against his immoveable legs and loins. But Harry
Winburn was undeniably his master; from the first clutch of hands when
they stood up, down to the last trip which sent him on his back on the
turf, he felt that Harry knew more and could do more than he. Luckily,
Harry's bright unconsciousness, and Tom's natural good temper, kept them
from ever quarrelling; and so Tom worked on and on, and trod more and
more nearly on Harry's heels, and at last mastered all the dodges and
falls except one. This one was Harry's own particular invention and pet;
he scarcely ever used it except when hard pressed, but then out it came,
and as sure as it did, over went poor Tom. He thought about that fall at
his meals, in his walks, when he lay awake in bed, in his dreams,--but
all to no purpose; until Harry one day in his open way suggested to him
how he thought it should be met, and in a wee