The Gold Bat Read online

  XI

  THE HOUSE-MATCHES

  It was something of a consolation to Barry and his friends--at anyrate, to Barry and Drummond--that directly after they had been evictedfrom their study, the house-matches began. Except for the Ripton match,the house-matches were the most important event of the Easter term.Even the sports at the beginning of April were productive of lessexcitement. There were twelve houses at Wrykyn, and they played on the"knocking-out" system. To be beaten once meant that a house was nolonger eligible for the competition. It could play "friendlies" as muchas it liked, but, play it never so wisely, it could not lift the cup.Thus it often happened that a weak house, by fluking a victory over astrong rival, found itself, much to its surprise, in the semi-final, orsometimes even in the final. This was rarer at football than atcricket, for at football the better team generally wins.

  The favourites this year were Donaldson's, though some fanciedSeymour's. Donaldson's had Trevor, whose leadership was worth almostmore than his play. In no other house was training so rigid. You couldtell a Donaldson's man, if he was in his house-team, at a glance. Ifyou saw a man eating oatmeal biscuits in the shop, and eyeing wistfullythe while the stacks of buns and pastry, you could put him down as aDonaldsonite without further evidence. The captains of the other housesused to prescribe a certain amount of self-abnegation in the matter offood, but Trevor left his men barely enough to support life--enough,that is, of the things that are really worth eating. The consequencewas that Donaldson's would turn out for an important match all muscleand bone, and on such occasions it was bad for those of their opponentswho had been taking life more easily. Besides Trevor they had Clowes,and had had bad luck in not having Paget. Had Paget stopped, no otherhouse could have looked at them. But by his departure, the strength ofthe team had become more nearly on a level with that of Seymour's.

  Some even thought that Seymour's were the stronger. Milton was as gooda forward as the school possessed. Besides him there were Barry andRand-Brown on the wings. Drummond was a useful half, and five of thepack had either first or second fifteen colours. It was a team thatwould take some beating.

  Trevor came to that conclusion early. "If we can beat Seymour's, we'lllift the cup," he said to Clowes.

  "We'll have to do all we know," was Clowes' reply.

  They were watching Seymour's pile up an immense score against a scratchteam got up by one of the masters. The first round of the competitionwas over. Donaldson's had beaten Templar's, Seymour's the School House.Templar's were rather stronger than the School House, and Donaldson'shad beaten them by a rather larger score than that which Seymour's hadrun up in their match. But neither Trevor nor Clowes was inclined todraw any augury from this. Seymour's had taken things easily afterhalf-time; Donaldson's had kept going hard all through.

  "That makes Rand-Brown's fourth try," said Clowes, as the wingthree-quarter of the second fifteen raced round and scored in thecorner.

  "Yes. This is the sort of game he's all right in. The man who's markinghim is no good. Barry's scored twice, and both good tries, too."

  "Oh, there's no doubt which is the best man," said Clowes. "I onlymentioned that it was Rand-Brown's fourth as an item of interest."

  The game continued. Barry scored a third try.

  "We're drawn against Appleby's next round," said Trevor. "We can managethem all right."

  "When is it?"

  "Next Thursday. Nomads' match on Saturday. Then Ripton, Saturday week."

  "Who've Seymour's drawn?"

  "Day's. It'll be a good game, too. Seymour's ought to win, but they'llhave to play their best. Day's have got some good men."

  "Fine scrum," said Clowes. "Yes. Quick in the open, too, which isalways good business. I wish they'd beat Seymour's."

  "Oh, we ought to be all right, whichever wins."

  Appleby's did not offer any very serious resistance to the Donaldsonattack. They were outplayed at every point of the game, and, beforehalf-time, Donaldson's had scored their thirty points. It was a rule inall in-school matches--and a good rule, too--that, when one side led bythirty points, the match stopped. This prevented those massacres whichdo so much towards crushing all the football out of the members of thebeaten team; and it kept the winning team from getting slack, by urgingthem on to score their thirty points before half-time. There were somehouses--notoriously slack--which would go for a couple of seasonswithout ever playing the second half of a match.

  Having polished off the men of Appleby, the Donaldson team trooped offto the other game to see how Seymour's were getting on with Day's. Itwas evidently an exciting match. The first half had been played to theaccompaniment of much shouting from the ropes. Though coming so earlyin the competition, it was really the semi-final, for whichever teamwon would be almost certain to get into the final. The school hadturned up in large numbers to watch.

  "Seymour's looking tired of life," said Clowes. "That would seem as ifhis fellows weren't doing well."

  "What's been happening here?" asked Trevor of an enthusiast in aSeymour's house cap whose face was crimson with yelling.

  "One goal all," replied the enthusiast huskily. "Did you beatAppleby's?"

  "Yes. Thirty points before half-time. Who's been doing the scoringhere?"

  "Milton got in for us. He barged through out of touch. We've beenpressing the whole time. Barry got over once, but he was held up.Hullo, they're beginning again. Buck up, Sey-_mour's_."

  His voice cracking on the high note, he took an immense slab of vanillachocolate as a remedy for hoarseness.

  "Who scored for Day's?" asked Clowes.

  "Strachan. Rand-Brown let him through from their twenty-five. You neversaw anything so rotten as Rand-Brown. He doesn't take his passes, andStrachan gets past him every time."

  "Is Strachan playing on the wing?"

  Strachan was the first fifteen full-back.

  "Yes. They've put young Bassett back instead of him. Sey-_mour's_.Buck up, Seymour's. We-ell played! There, did you ever see anythinglike it?" he broke off disgustedly.

  The Seymourite playing centre next to Rand-Brown had run through to theback and passed out to his wing, as a good centre should. It was aperfect pass, except that it came at his head instead of his chest.Nobody with any pretensions to decent play should have missed it.Rand-Brown, however, achieved that feat. The ball struck his handsand bounded forward. The referee blew his whistle for a scrum, and acertain try was lost.

  From the scrum the Seymour's forwards broke away to the goal-line,where they were pulled up by Bassett. The next minute the defence hadbeen pierced, and Drummond was lying on the ball a yard across theline. The enthusiast standing by Clowes expended the last relics of hisvoice in commemorating the fact that his side had the lead.

  "Drummond'll be good next year," said Trevor. And he made a mental noteto tell Allardyce, who would succeed him in the command of the schoolfootball, to keep an eye on the player in question.

  The triumph of the Seymourites was not long lived. Milton failed toconvert Drummond's try. From the drop-out from the twenty-five lineBarry got the ball, and punted into touch. The throw-out was notstraight, and a scrum was formed. The ball came out to the Day'shalves, and went across to Strachan. Rand-Brown hesitated, and thenmade a futile spring at the first fifteen man's neck. Strachan handedhim off easily, and ran. The Seymour's full-back, who was a poorplayer, failed to get across in time. Strachan ran round behind theposts, the kick succeeded, and Day's now led by two points.

  After this the game continued in Day's half. Five minutes before timewas up, Drummond got the ball from a scrum nearly on the line, passedit to Barry on the wing instead of opening up the game by passing tohis centres, and Barry slipped through in the corner. This putSeymour's just one point ahead, and there they stayed till the whistleblew for no-side.

  Milton walked over to the boarding-houses with Clowes and Trevor. Hewas full of the match, particularly of the iniquity of Rand-Brown. "Islanged him on the field," he said. "It's a thing I don't often do, bu
twhat else _can_ you do when a man plays like that? He lost usthree certain tries."

  "When did you administer your rebuke?" inquired Clowes.

  "When he had let Strachan through that second time, in the second half.I asked him why on earth he tried to play footer at all. I told him agood kiss-in-the-ring club was about his form. It was rather cheap, butI felt so frightfully sick about it. It's sickening to be let down likethat when you've been pressing the whole time, and ought to be scoringevery other minute."

  "What had he to say on the subject?" asked Clowes.

  "Oh, he gassed a bit until I told him I'd kick him if he said anotherword. That shut him up."

  "You ought to have kicked him. You want all the kicking practice youcan get. I never saw anything feebler than that shot of yours afterDrummond's try."

  "I'd like to see _you_ take a kick like that. It was nearly on thetouch-line. Still, when we play you, we shan't need to convert any ofour tries. We'll get our thirty points without that. Perhaps you'd liketo scratch?"

  "As a matter of fact," said Clowes confidentially, "I am going to scoreseven tries against you off my own bat. You'll be sorry you ever turnedout when we've finished with you."