cricket match against Chippenfield's. The whole school, which consisted
of forty boys, with the exception of the eleven who were playing in the
match, were gathered together near the pavilion on the steep, grassy
bank which faced the cricket ground. It was a swelteringly hot day. One
of the masters was scoring in the pavilion; two of the boys sat under
the post and board where the score was recorded in big white figures
painted on the black squares. Most of the boys were sitting on the grass
in front of the pavilion.

St. James's won the toss and went in first. After scoring 5 for the
first wicket they collapsed; in an hour and five minutes their last
wicket fell. They had only made 27 runs. Fortune was against St. James's
that day. Hitchens, their captain, in whom the school confidently
trusted, was caught out in his first over. And Wormald and Bell minor,
their two best men, both failed to score.

Then Chippenfield's went in. St. James's fast bowlers, Blundell and
Anderson minor, seemed unable to do anything against the Chippenfield's
batsmen. The first wicket went down at 70.

The boys who were looking on grew listless: three of them, Gordon,
Smith, and Hart minor, wandered off from the pavilion further up the
slope of the hill, where there was a kind of wooden scaffolding raised
for letting off fireworks on the 5th of November. The headmaster, who
was a fanatical Conservative, used to burn on that anniversary effigies
of Liberal politicians such as Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Chamberlain,
who was at that time a Radical; while the boys whose politics were
Conservative, and who formed the vast majority, cheered, and kicked the
Liberals, of whom there were only eight.