"It was almost impossible to say what I wanted to say grammatically," I answered, and I hit my ball very hard up the table at the white.
"It's working across," said Archie, after the second bounce; "it must hit the red soon. I give it three more laps."
"It's going much more slowly now," said Miss Blair.
"Probably it's keeping a bit of a sprint for the finish. Wait till it gets its second wind. No, I'm afraid it's no good; it ought to have started sooner. Hallo, yes, it's—— Got him!"
"It hasn't finished yet," I said calmly. "Look—there!"
"Jove!" said Archie, shaking my hand, "that's the longest loser I've ever seen. My dear old man, what a performer. The practice you must have had. The years you must have devoted to the game. I wonder—could you possibly spare an hour or two to-morrow to play cricket for us?"
CHAPTER IV
A FEW WIRES
A hundred and eighty for none. The umpire waved his lily hand, and the scorer entered one more "four" in his book. Seeing that the ball had gone right through a bicycle which was leaning up against the pavilion, many people (the owner of the bicycle, anyhow) must have felt that the actual signalling of a boundary was unnecessary; but our umpire is a stickler for the etiquette of the game. Once when—— But no, on second thoughts, I sha'n't tell you that story. You would say it was a lie—as indeed it is.
"Rotten," said Archie to me, as we crossed over. (A good captain always confides in his wicket-keeper.)
"Don't take Simpson off," I said. "I like watching him."