When Yorke repeated this disagreeable conversation to his friends later on, they pulled long faces.
“I suppose he means they don’t intend to play up,” said Dalton.
“If that’s so,” said Fisher major, “why not cut them all out and make up the fifteen of fellows you can depend on?”
“That wouldn’t do,” said Yorke. “I expect when the time comes they’ll play up all right. After all, Clapperton and Fullerton are two of our best men.”
“But what about the vacant place?”
“I’ve four or five names all better than Corder,” said the captain, “but none of them as good as Brinkman.”
The company generally, it is to be feared, did not lament as honestly as Yorke did, the accident to their rival. They did not profess to rejoice, of course; still they bore the blow with equanimity.
Next morning, to the astonishment of everybody, the notice board contained an abrupt announcement in the captain’s hand, that in consequence of Brinkman’s inability to play, Rollitt would take his place in the fifteen.
Yorke himself could not account for this sudden act of patriotism. Rollitt, he said, had looked into his room last night at bedtime and said—
“I’ll play on Saturday,” and vanished.