d the football, Bracebridge? It was your business to do so, or
to get it done."

"Oh, I can do it very well myself," said Ernest, "I have two first-rate
new ones hanging up in the play-room; they only want refilling. Come
with me, and we will douse them in the pond." Two large footballs, but
very flaccid-looking, were brought out, and by tying a stone and a line
to them they were both very soon thoroughly soaked. He then took them
out, and brought them into the house. First he took one, and undoing
the lacing which confined one side, he drew out a flaccid bladder.
"This is the sort of football we use here," he said, holding it up to
Selby. "It cannot be easily rendered unserviceable by thorn, nail, or
spike of any sort. If the bladder is injured, its place can be supplied
for a few pence, and the leather casing will last for years. This is my
blow-pipe," he added, producing a piece of tobacco-pipe. Undoing the
mouth of the bladder, round which a piece of string was tightly
fastened, he inserted his pipe, and very soon filled it with air.
Before this, however, he had put back the bladder into its case. Having
completed the filling of the bladder, he tightly laced up the ball so as
to completely enclose it. "You see," he observed, "should this get
pricked, even while we are playing, I can easily stop up the hole by
forming a neck, and tying a piece of thin string round it. Buttar, do
you take charge of the other ball in case it is wanted. It is high time
for us to be on the ground, to see that the goals are properly erected."

Ernest, Buttar, and Selby on this hurried off to the park field where
the game was to be played. The Doctor allowed football to be played, on
the understanding that it would immediately be prohibited should one boy
intentionally kick another; and two of the masters were required to be
present to see that the game was carried on properly. The goals were
about a hundred and thirty yards apart. They were formed of two upright
poles, eight feet from each other, with a cross-bar to secure them at
the top. The aim of the players was to pass the ball through their
opponents' goal, and, of course, to prevent it from being passed through
their own.

Ernest could not help feeling proud when he found forty boys ranged
under him, many older and bigger than himself. He forgot for the time
all about poor Ellis as he ran with one of the big footballs in his hand
to the ground where the game was