should prefer quoits; and Williamson, who always followed his lead,
agreed to play with him.

"Now," Mr. Porson said, "do you, Ripon, choose an eleven. I will
take the ten next best. The little ones who are over can play at
trap bat, or bowls, as they like."

There was a general approval of the plan. Ripon chose an eleven of
the likeliest boys, selecting the biggest and most active; for as
there had been no room for cricket in the yard their aptitude for
the game was a matter of guesswork, though most of them had played
during the holidays. Mr. Porson chose the next ten and after tossing
for innings, which Ripon won, they set to work. Mr. Porson played
for a time as long stop, putting on two of the strongest of his
team as bowlers, and changing them from time to time to test their
capacity. None of them turned out brilliant, and the runs came
fast, and the wickets were taken were few and far between, until
at last Mr. Porson himself took the ball.

"I am not going to bowl fast," he said, "just straight easy lobs;"
but the boys found that the straight lobs were not so easy after
all, and the wickets of the boys who had made a long score soon fell.
Most of those who followed managed to make a few runs as well off
Mr. Porson's bowling as from that at the other end; for the master
did not wish to discourage them, and for a few overs after each
batsman came to the wicket aimed well off it so as to give them a
chance of scoring.

The last wicket fell for the respectable score of fifty-four.
The junior eleven then went in, the master not going in until the