Monk had—perhaps not unnaturally—not forgotten the incident, and now that public opinion ran strongly against Gethryn on account of his M.C.C. match manoeuvres, he acted. A mass meeting of the Mob was called in his study, and it was unanimously voted that field-outs in the morning were undesirable, and that it would be judicious if the team were to strike. Now, as the Mob included in their numbers eight of the House Eleven, their opinions on the subject carried weight.
'Look here,' said Waterford, struck with a brilliant idea, 'I tell you what we'll do. Let's sign a round-robin refusing to play in the House matches unless Gethryn resigns the captaincy and the field-outs stop.'
'We may as well sign in alphabetical order,' said Monk prudently. 'It'll make it safer.'
The idea took the Mob's fancy. The round-robin was drawn up and signed.
'Now, if we could only get Reece,' suggested Danvers. 'It's no good asking Marriott, but Reece might sign.'
'Let's have a shot at any rate,' said Monk.
And a deputation, consisting of Danvers, Waterford, and Monk, duly waited upon Reece in his study, and broached the project to him.