caused the noble band of conquering heroes to be seen all grovelling in
a mixed heap upon the gravel.

But it is not for the simple purpose of recording the victory over
Horace House that a description of the match has been introduced into
our story; and although the important part played by Diggory in
goal and Jack Vance in the "fighting line" caused it to be an occasion
when the Triple Alliance was decidedly in evidence and won fresh
laurels, yet there are other reasons which make an account of it
necessary, as the reader will discover in following the course of
subsequent events. If Jack Vance had kicked the ball a yard over the
bar instead of under it, the probability is that the following chapter
would never have been written; while the public disgrace of young Noaks
was destined to cause our three comrades more trouble than they ever
expected to encounter, at all events on this side of their leaving
school.

If the result of the match made such a great impression on the minds of
the victors, it is only natural that it should have had a similar effect
on the hearts of their opponents. Most of the Philistines would have
been content to take their defeat as a sportsman should, but neither
Noaks nor his two cronies, Hogson and Bernard, had any of this manly
spirit about them; and smarting under the disappointment of not having
won, and the knowledge that at least one of them had reaped shame and
contempt instead of glory, they determined to seek a speedy revenge.
As the three biggest boys in the school, they had little difficulty in
inducing their companions to join in the crusade which they preached
against The Birches, and the consequence was that the two schools were
soon exchanging open hostilities with greater vigour than ever.