as well have Bob in the fifteen."

"A jolly sight better. Bob knows how to be civil."

"It is a crime to be poor," said Fullerton. "I hope I shall never
commit it."

"Well," said Clapperton, ignoring this bit of sarcasm, "if he was well
enough off to buy a cake of soap once a term, it wouldn't be so bad. I
believe when he wants a wash he goes down to Mrs Wisdom and borrows a
bit of hers."

"By the way, that reminds me," said Dangle; "did you fellows ever hear
about Mrs Wisdom's boat? The lout had it out the other day in the
rapids, and let it go over the falls, and it got smashed up."

"What!" exclaimed everybody.

"Do you mean," said Brinkman, "poor Widow Wisdom has lost her boat owing
to that cad? Why, she'll be ruined? However is she to get a new one?"

"That's the extraordinary thing," said Dangle. "It was she told me
about it. She says that Rollitt went straight away to the lake and
bought her a boat that was for sale there; and she's got it now down in
the lower reach; and it's a better one than the other."

"What!" exclaimed Clapperton, incredulously; "Rollitt bought a new boat!
Bosh!"

"It was a second-hand one for sale cheap. But it cost five pounds. She
showed me the receipt."

"Stuff and nonsense. She was gammoning you," said Clapperton.

"All right," said Dangle, snappishly; "you're not obliged to believe it
unless you like."

And there the conversation ended.

The day of the great match came at last. The Rendlesham men, who had to
come from a distance, were not due till one o'clock, and, as may be
imagined, the interval was peculiarly trying to some of the inhabitants
of Fellsgarth. The farce of morning school was an ordeal alike to
masters and boys. If gazing up at the clouds could bring down the rain,
a deluge should have fallen before 10 a.m. As the hour approached the
impatience rose to fever heat. It was the first match of the season.
For the last three years the two teams had met in deadly combat, and
each time the match had ended in a draw, with not one goal kicked on
either side. Victory or defeat to-day would be a crisis in the history
of Fellsgarth. Woe betide the man who missed a point or blundered a
kick!

Percy and his friends put on flannels in honour of the occasion and
sallied out an hour before the time to look at the ground and inspect
the new goal and flag posts which Fisher major, as the first act of his
treasurership, had ordered for the School.

I