Robin pulled himself together and somehow conjured up a smile.
"It's enough for me," he replied. "I'll stick it out till I'm carried off the field on a shutter."
"You'll both be as right as rain," said Dick encouragingly. "I'll look after you, so don't worry."
His reassuring manner masked nervousness, nevertheless. The fellows were inclined to take offence at the watering down of the team by the inclusion of Juniors, and Dick was amazed to find them saying nasty and disheartening things to Osbody and Arkness.
"Give the youngsters a chance, chaps," he said. "Be sportsmen!"
None of them cared to continue baiting the kids after that, for Dick had a straight way with him which made defiance of his will an uncomfortable business. Ennis, who had said nothing at all, had the good grace to go on the opposite tack by cheering the youngsters up, an example which Lyon and some others followed, and the team generally felt lighter in heart when a better feeling prevailed. To start divided amongst themselves would be like making a present of the match to St. Cuthbert's.
Outside the dressing-room Dick was hailed by "Chuck" Smithies, very quietly dressed, for him, in navy blue, and quite obviously relishing an excellent cigar.
"One of the clinking brand which came from your sporting aunt, sonny," he said. "Oh, I guessed it was she! Is she here? No? Sorry—I'd have liked to thank her personally. I don't usually attend these games, laddie, but I determined to come here with clean hands. Haven't booked a single bet on the match. What a crowd! No village idiot or tomfool mascot about on this occasion, I trust? Good! Then go in and chew their ears off."
"Chewing the ears off" St. Cuthbert's would have been easier if they had left Bessingham out of the team. But the Octopus was there again in all his might, heart-and-soul in the game from the kick-off, bringing Fox after Fox within uncomfortable range of his long legs, and brushing aside Robin Arkness's plucky attentions as he would have swept a fly from his forehead.
The great crowd made delighted noises as Bessingham coolly broke up every attack, and they laughed good-naturedly at Osbody's ludicrous attempts to get somewhere near the ball. The wily Cuthbertian forwards made rings round the lad, who, in desperation, lunged blindly at the ball, and kicked it the wrong way. Taken by surprise, Lyon tried to intercept it, but only succeeded in turning it out of the reach of Ennis, who had the mortification of watching it bob into the goal at the top corner. Lyon and Osbody between them had scored for St. Cuthbert's in the first ten minutes of the game, and that one luckless goal might all too probably settle the ownership of the Cup.