"Will you come? Osborne, you fool! Yes. Yes. YES! No, no. YE-E-ES! No—go back, you fool. All right, come. No-no-no. O, Osborne, why didn't you run that? It was an easy one."
"Silly ass, Osborne," roared Cover-point, quite gratuitously, for no one had addressed him for the last twenty minutes.
The batsman ran wildly out to the next ball and missed it. The wicket-keeper successfully stumped him. It was a clear case of "out," and a shout went up: "How's that?"
"That," said Penny, who had been in a dream and seen nothing, "is Not Out."
I was disheartened to learn on this occasion that little boys could be so rude to those who were sacrificing their spare time to teach them cricket.
"Really," sighed Penny, adjusting his tie, "unless you treat me with due respect, I will not come and coach you again."
This was greeted with an unmannerly cheer.
"Resume your play," commanded Pennybet. "It was Not Out."
"Why?" loudly demanded the bowler.
Penny seized the only escape from his sensational error.