CHAPTER V.
THE CRICKET-MATCH.
I had been of late so absorbed in the affairs of the Fixed Period,that I had altogether forgotten the cricket-match and the noblestrangers who were about to come to our shores. Of course I had heardof it before, and had been informed that Lord Marylebone was to beour guest. I had probably also been told that Sir Lords Longstop andSir Kennington Oval were to be entertained at Little Christchurch.But when I was reminded of this by Jack a few days later, it hadquite gone out of my head. But I now at once began to recognise theimportance of the occasion, and to see that for the next two monthsCrasweller, the college, and the Fixed Period must be banished, ifnot from my thoughts, at any rate from my tongue. Better could not bedone in the matter than to have them banished from the tongue of allthe world, as I certainly should not be anxious to have the subjectventilated within hearing and speaking of the crowd of thoroughlyold-fashioned, prejudiced, aristocratic young Englishmen who werecoming to us. The cricket-match sprang to the front so suddenly, thatJack seemed to have forgotten all his energy respecting the college,and to have transferred his entire attention to the various weapons,offensive and defensive, wherewith the London club was, if possible,to be beaten. We are never short of money in Britannula; but itseemed, as I watched the various preparations made for carryingon two or three days' play at Little Christchurch, that Englandmust be sending out another army to take another Sebastopol. Moreparaphernalia were required to enable these thirty-two lads toplay their game with propriety than would have been needed for thedepositing of half Gladstonopolis. Every man from England had hisattendant to look after his bats and balls, and shoes and greaves;and it was necessary, of course, that our boys should be equally wellserved. Each of them had two bicycles for his own use, and as theywere all constructed with the new double-acting levers, they passedbackwards and forwards along the bicycle track between the city andCrasweller's house with astonishing rapidity. I used to hear thatthe six miles had been done in fifteen minutes. Then there camea struggle with the English and the Britannulists, as to whichwould get the nearest to fourteen minutes; till it seemed thatbicycle-racing and not cricket had been the purpose for which theEnglish had sent out the 4000-ton steam-yacht at the expense of allthe cricketers of the nation. It was on this occasion that the trackwas first divided for comers and goers, and that volunteers were setto prevent stragglers from crossing except by the regular bridges. Ifound that I, the President of the Republic, was actually forbiddento go down in my tricycle to my old friend's house, unless I woulddo so before noon. "You'd be run over and made mince-meat of," saidJack, speaking of such a catastrophe with less horror than I thoughtit ought to have engendered in his youthful mind. Poor Sir Lords wasrun down by our Jack,--collided as Jack called it. "He hadn't quiteimpetus enough on to make the turning sharp as he ought," said Jack,without the slightest apparent regret at what had occurred. "Anotherinch and a half would have saved him. If he can touch a ball from oursteam-bowler when I send it, I shall think more of his arms than Ido of his legs, and more of his eyes than I do of his lungs. What afellow to send out! Why, he's thirty, and has been eating soup, theytell me, all through the journey." These young men had brought adoctor with them, Dr MacNuffery, to prescribe to them what to eat anddrink at each meal; and the unfortunate baronet whom Jack had nearlyslaughtered, had encountered the ill-will of the entire club becausehe had called for mutton-broth when he was sea-sick.
They were to be a month in Britannula before they would begin thematch, so necessary was it that each man should be in the bestpossible physical condition. They had brought their Dr MacNuffery,and our lads immediately found the need of having a doctor of theirown. There was, I think, a little pretence in this, as though DrBobbs had been a long-established officer of the Southern Crosscricket club, they had not in truth thought of it, and Bobbs was onlyappointed the night after MacNuffery's position and duties had beenmade known. Bobbs was a young man just getting into practice inGladstonopolis, and understood measles, I fancy, better than thetraining of athletes. MacNuffery was the most disagreeable man ofthe English party, and soon began to turn up his nose at Bobbs. ButBobbs, I think, got the better of him. "Do you allow coffee to yourclub;--coffee?" asked MacNuffery, in a voice mingling ridicule andreproof with a touch of satire, as he had begun to guess that Bobbshad not been long attending to his present work. "You'll find," saidBobbs, "that young men in our air do not need the restraints whichare necessary to you English. Their fathers and mothers were not softand flabby before them, as was the case with yours, I think." LordMarylebone looked across the table, I am told, at Sir KenningtonOval, and nothing afterwards was said about diet.
But a great trouble arose, which, however, rather assisted Jack inhis own prospects in the long-run,--though for a time it seemed tohave another effect. Sir Kennington Oval was much struck by Eva'sbeauty, and, living as he did in Crasweller's house, soon had anopportunity of so telling her. Abraham Grundle was one of thecricketers, and, as such, was frequently on the ground at LittleChristchurch; but he did not at present go into Crasweller's house,and the whole fashionable community of Gladstonopolis was beginningto entertain the opinion that that match was off. Grundle hadbeen heard to declare most authoritatively that when the day cameCrasweller should be deposited, and had given it as his opinion thatthe power did not exist which could withstand the law of Britannula.Whether in this he preferred the law to Eva, or acted in angeragainst Crasweller for interfering with his prospects, or had an ideathat it would not be worth his while to marry the girl while thegirl's father should be left alive, or had gradually fallen into thisbitterness of spirit from the opposition shown to him, I could notquite tell. And he was quite as hostile to Jack as to Crasweller. Buthe seemed to entertain no aversion at all to Sir Kennington Oval;nor, I was informed, did Eva. I had known that for the last monthJack's mother had been instant with him to induce him to speak outto Eva; but he, who hardly allowed me, his father, to open my mouthwithout contradicting me, and who in our house ordered everythingabout just as though he were the master, was so bashful in the girl'spresence that he had never as yet asked her to be his wife. NowSir Kennington had come in his way, and he by no means carriedhis modesty so far as to abstain from quarrelling with him. SirKennington was a good-looking young aristocrat, with plenty of words,but nothing special to say for himself. He was conspicuous for hiscricketing finery, and when got up to take his place at the wicket,looked like a diver with his diving-armour all on; but Jack said thathe was very little good at the game. Indeed, for mere cricket Jackswore that the English would be "nowhere" but for eight professionalplayers whom they had brought out with them. It must be explainedthat our club had no professionals. We had not come to thatyet,--that a man should earn his bread by playing cricket. LordMarylebone and his friend had brought with them eight professional"slaves," as our young men came to call them,--most ungraciously.But each "slave" required as much looking after as did the masters,and they thought a great deal more of themselves than did thenon-professionals.
Jack had in truth been attempting to pass Sir Kennington on thebicycle track when he had upset poor Sir Lords Longstop; and,according to his own showing, he had more than once allowed SirKennington to start in advance, and had run into Little Christchurchbicycle quay before him. This had not given rise to the best feeling,and I feared lest there might be an absolute quarrel before the matchshould have been played. "I'll punch that fellow's head some ofthese days," Jack said one evening when he came back from LittleChristchurch.
"What's the matter now?" I asked.
"Impudent puppy! He thinks because he has got an unmeaning handle tohis name, that everybody is to come to his whistle. They tell me thathis father was made what they call a baronet because he set a brokenarm for one of those twenty royal dukes that England has to pay for."
"Who has had to come to his whistle now?" asked his mother.
"He went over with his steam curricle, and sent to ask Eva whethershe would not take a drive with him on
the cliffs."
"She needn't have gone unless she wished it," I said.
"But she did go; and there she was with him for a couple of hours.He's the most unmeaning upstart of a puppy I ever met. He has notthree ideas in the world. I shall tell Eva what I think about him."
The quarrel went on during the whole period of preparation, till itseemed as though Gladstonopolis had nothing else to talk about. Eva'sname was in every one's mouth, till my wife was nearly beside herselfwith anger. "A girl," said she, "shouldn't get herself talked aboutin that way by every one all round. I don't suppose the man intendsto marry her."
"I can't see why he shouldn't," I replied.
"She's nothing more to him than a pretty provincial lass. What wouldshe be in London?"
"Why should not Mr Crasweller's daughter be as much admired in Londonas here?" I answered. "Beauty is the same all the world over, and hermoney will be thought of quite as much there as here."
"But she will have such a spot upon her."
"Spot! What spot?"
"As the daughter of the first deposited of the Fixed Periodpeople,--if ever that comes off. Or if it don't, she'll be talkedabout as her who was to be. I don't suppose any Englishman will thinkof marrying her."
This made me very angry. "What!" I said. "Do you, a Britannulistand my wife, intend to turn the special glory of Britannula to thedisgrace of her people? That which we should be ready to claim asthe highest honour,--as being an advance in progress and generalcivilisation never hitherto even thought of among other people,--tohave conceived that, and to have prepared it, in every detail forperfect consummation,--that is to be accounted as an opprobrium toour children, by you, the Lady President of the Republic! Have youno love of country, no patriotism, no feeling at any rate of whathas been done for the world's welfare by your own family?" I ownI did feel vexed when she spoke of Eva as having been as it werecontaminated by being a Britannulist, because of the law enacting theFixed Period.
"She'd better face it out at home than go across the world to hearwhat other people say of us. It may be all very well as far as statewisdom goes; but the world isn't ripe for it, and we shall only belaughed at."
There was truth in this, and a certain amount of concession had alsobeen made. I can fancy that an easy-going butterfly should laughat the painful industry of the ant; and I should think much of thebutterfly who should own that he was only a butterfly because it wasthe age of butterflies. "The few wise," said I, "have ever been thelaughing-stock of silly crowds."
"But Eva isn't one of the wise," she replied, "and would be laughedat without having any of your philosophy to support her. However, Idon't suppose the man is thinking of it."
But the young man was thinking of it; and had so far made up his mindbefore he went as to ask Eva to marry him out of hand and return withhim to England. We heard of it when the time came, and heard alsothat Eva had declared that she could not make up her mind so quickly.That was what was said when the time drew near for the departureof the yacht. But we did not hear it direct from Eva, nor yet fromCrasweller. All these tidings came to us from Jack, and Jack was inthis instance somewhat led astray.
Time passed on, and the practice on the Little Christchurch groundwas continued. Several accidents happened, but the cricketers tookvery little account of these. Jack had his cheek cut open by a ballrunning off his bat on to his face; and Eva, who saw the accident,was carried fainting into the house. Sir Kennington behavedadmirably, and himself brought him home in his curricle. We weretold afterwards that this was done at Eva's directions, because oldCrasweller would have been uncomfortable with the boy in his house,seeing that he could not in his present circumstances receive me ormy wife. Mrs Neverbend swore a solemn oath that Jack should be madeto abandon his cricket; but Jack was playing again the next day, withhis face strapped up athwart and across with republican black-silkadhesive. When I saw Bobbs at work over him I thought that one sideof his face was gone, and that his eye would be dreadfully out ofplace. "All his chance of marrying Eva is gone," said I to my wife."The nasty little selfish slut!" said Mrs Neverbend. But at twothe next day Jack had been patched up, and nothing could keep himfrom Little Christchurch. Bobbs was with him the whole morning, andassured his mother that if he could go out and take exercise hiseye would be all right. His mother offered to take a walk with himin the city park; but Bobbs declared that violent exercise wouldbe necessary to keep the eye in its right place, and Jack was atLittle Christchurch manipulating his steam-bowler in the afternoon.Afterwards Littlebat, one of the English professionals, had his legbroken, and was necessarily laid on one side; and young Grundle washurt on the lower part of the back, and never showed himself againon the scene of danger. "My life is too precious in the Assemblyjust at present," he said to me, excusing himself. He alluded tothe Fixed Period debate, which he knew would be renewed as soon asthe cricketers were gone. I no doubt depended very much on AbrahamGrundle, and assented. The match was afterwards carried on withfifteen on each side; for though each party had spare players, theycould not agree as to the use of them. Our next man was better thantheirs, they said, and they were anxious that we should take oursecond best, to which our men would not agree. Therefore the game wasultimately played with thirty combatants.
"So one of our lot is to come back for a wife, almost immediately,"said Lord Marylebone at our table the day before the match was to beplayed.
"Oh, indeed, my lord!" said Mrs Neverbend. "I am glad to find that aBritannulan young lady has been so effective. Who is the gentleman?"It was easy to see by my wife's face, and to know by her tone ofvoice, that she was much disturbed by the news.
"Sir Kennington," said Lord Marylebone. "I supposed you had all heardof it." Of course we had all heard of it; but Lord Marylebone did notknow what had been Mrs Neverbend's wishes for her own son.
"We did know that Sir Kennington had been very attentive, but thereis no knowing what that means from you foreign gentlemen. It's a pitythat poor Eva, who is a good girl in her way, should have her headturned." This came from my wife.
"It's Oval's head that is turned," continued his lordship; "I neversaw a man so bowled over in my life. He's awfully in love with her."
"What will his friends say at home?" asked Mrs Neverbend.
"We understand that Miss Crasweller is to have a large fortune;eight or ten thousand a-year at the least. I should imagine thatshe will be received with open arms by all the Ovals; and as for aforeigner,--we don't call you foreigners."
"Why not?" said I, rather anxious to prove that we were foreigners."What makes a foreigner but a different allegiance? Do we not callthe Americans foreigners?" Great Britain and France had been foryears engaged in the great maritime contest with the united fleetsof Russia and America, and had only just made that glorious peace bywhich, as politicians said, all the world was to be governed for thefuture; and after that, it need not be doubted but that the Americanswere foreign to the English;--and if the Americans, why not theBritannulists? We had separated ourselves from Great Britain, withoutcoming to blows indeed; but still our own flag, the Southern Cross,flew as proudly to our gentle breezes as ever had done the Union-jackamidst the inclemency of a British winter. It was the flag ofBritannula, with which Great Britain had no concern. At the presentmoment I was specially anxious to hear a distinguished Englishmanlike Lord Marylebone acknowledge that we were foreigners. "If we benot foreigners, what are we, my lord?"
"Englishmen, of course," said he. "What else? Don't you talkEnglish?"
"So do the Americans, my lord," said I, with a smile that wasintended to be gracious. "Our language is spreading itself over theworld, and is no sign of nationality."
"What laws do you obey?"
"English,--till we choose to repeal them. You are aware that we havealready freed ourselves from the stain of capital punishment."
"Those coins pass in your market-places?" Then he brought out a goldpiece from his waistcoat-pocket, and slapped it down on the table.It was one of those pounds which the p
eople will continue to callsovereigns, although the name has been made actually illegal for therendering of all accounts. "Whose is this image and superscription?"he asked. "And yet this was paid to me to-day at one of your banks,and the lady cashier asked me whether I would take sovereigns. Howwill you get over that, Mr President?"
A small people,--numerically small,--cannot of course do everythingat once. We have been a little slack perhaps in instituting anational mint. In fact there was a difficulty about the utensil bywhich we would have clapped a Southern Cross over the British arms,and put the portrait of the Britannulan President of the day,--minefor instance,--in the place where the face of the British monarch hashitherto held its own. I have never pushed the question much, lestI should seem, as have done some presidents, over anxious to exhibitmyself. I have ever thought more of the glory of our race than ofputting forward my own individual self,--as may be seen by the wholehistory of the college. "I will not attempt to get over it," I said;"but according to my ideas, a nation does not depend on the smallexternal accidents of its coin or its language."
"But on the flag which it flies. After all, a bit of bunting iseasy."
"Nor on its flag, Lord Marylebone, but on the hearts of its people.We separated from the old mother country with no quarrel, with noill-will; but with the mutual friendly wishes of both. If there bea trace of the feeling of antagonism in the word foreigners, I willnot use it; but British subjects we are not, and never can be again."This I said because I felt that there was creeping up, as it were inthe very atmosphere, a feeling that England should be again askedto annex us, so as to save our old people from the wise decision towhich our own Assembly had come. Oh for an adamantine law to protectthe human race from the imbecility, the weakness, the discontent,and the extravagance of old age! Lord Marylebone, who saw that Iwas in earnest, and who was the most courteous of gentlemen, changedthe conversation. I had already observed that he never spoke aboutthe Fixed Period in our house, though, in the condition in which thecommunity then was, he must have heard it discussed elsewhere.
The day for the match had come. Jack's face was so nearly healed thatMrs Neverbend had been brought to believe entirely in the efficacy ofviolent exercise for cuts and bruises. Grundle's back was still bad,and the poor fellow with the broken leg could only be wheeled out infront of the verandah to look at the proceedings through one of thosewonderful little glasses which enable the critic to see every motionof the players at half-a-mile's distance. He assured me that theprecision with which Jack set his steam-bowler was equal to that ofone of those Shoeburyness gunners who can hit a sparrow as far asthey can see him, on condition only that they know the precise age ofthe bird. I gave Jack great credit in my own mind, because I feltthat at the moment he was much down at heart. On the preceding daySir Kennington had been driving Eva about in his curricle, and Jackhad returned home tearing his hair. "They do it on purpose to put himoff his play," said his mother. But if so, they hadn't known Jack.Nor indeed had I quite known him up to this time.
I was bound myself to see the game, because a special tent and aspecial glass had been prepared for the President. Crasweller walkedby as I took my place, but he only shook his head sadly and wassilent. It now wanted but four months to his deposition. Though therewas a strong party in his favour, I do not know that he meddled muchwith it. I did hear from different sources that he still continued toassert that he was only nine years my senior, by which he intended togain the favour of a postponement of his term by twelve poor months;but I do not think that he ever lent himself to the other party.Under my auspices he had always voted for the Fixed Period, and hecould hardly oppose it now in theory. They tossed for the firstinnings, and the English club won it. It was all England againstBritannula! Think of the population of the two countries. We had,however, been taught to believe that no community ever played cricketas did the Britannulans. The English went in first, with the twobaronets at the wickets. They looked like two stout Minervas withhuge wicker helmets. I know a picture of the goddess, all helmet,spear, and petticoats, carrying her spear over her shoulder as sheflies through the air over the cities of the earth. Sir Kenningtondid not fly, but in other respects he was very like the goddess,so completely enveloped was he in his india-rubber guards, and sowonderful was the machine upon his head, by which his brain andfeatures were to be protected.
As he took his place upon the ground there was great cheering. Thenthe steam-bowler was ridden into its place by the attendant engineer,and Jack began his work. I could see the colour come and go in hisface as he carefully placed the ball and peeped down to get itsbearing. It seemed to me as though he were taking infinite care tolevel it straight and even at Sir Kennington's head. I was toldafterwards that he never looked at Sir Kennington, but that, havingcalculated his distance by means of a quicksilver levelling-glass,his object was to throw the ball on a certain inch of turf, fromwhich it might shoot into the wicket at such a degree as to makeit very difficult for Sir Kennington to know what to do with it.It seemed to me to take a long time, during which the fourteen menaround all looked as though each man were intending to hop off tosome other spot than that on which he was standing. There used, I amtold, to be only eleven of these men; but now, in a great match, thelong-offs, and the long-ons, and the rest of them, are all doubled.The double long-off was at such a distance that, he being a smallman, I could only just see him through the field-glass which I keptin my waistcoat-pocket. When I had been looking hard at them forwhat seemed to be a quarter of an hour, and the men were apparentlybecoming tired of their continual hop, and when Jack had stoopedand kneeled and sprawled, with one eye shut, in every conceivableattitude, on a sudden there came a sharp snap, a little smoke, andlo, Sir Kennington Oval was--out!
There was no doubt about it. I myself saw the two bails fly awayinto infinite space, and at once there was a sound of kettle-drums,trumpets, fifes, and clarionets. It seemed as though all the loudmusic of the town band had struck up at the moment with theirshrillest notes. And a huge gun was let off.
"And let the kettle to the trumpet speak, The trumpet to the cannoneer without, The cannons to the heavens, the heavens to earth. Now drinks the king to Hamlet."
I could not but fancy, at these great signs of success, that I wasHamlet's father.
Sir Kennington Oval was out,--out at the very first ball. Therecould be no doubt about it, and Jack's triumph was complete. It wasmelancholy to see the English Minerva, as he again shouldered hisspear and walked back to his tent. In spite of Jack's good play, andthe success on the part of my own countrymen, I could not but besorry to think that the young baronet had come half round the worldto be put out at the first ball. There was a cruelty in it,--aninhospitality,--which, in spite of the exigencies of the game, wentagainst the grain. Then, when the shouting, and the holloaing, andthe flinging up of the ball were still going on, I remembered that,after it, he would have his consolation with Eva. And poor Jack,when his short triumph was over, would have to reflect that, thoughfortunate in his cricket, he was unhappy in his love. As thisoccurred to me, I looked back towards the house, and there, from alittle lattice window at the end of the verandah, I saw a lady'shandkerchief waving. Could it be that Eva was waving it so as tocomfort her vanquished British lover? In the meantime Minerva wentto his tent, and hid himself among sympathetic friends; and I wastold afterwards that he was allowed half a pint of bitter beer byDr MacNuffery.
After twenty minutes spent in what seemed to me the very ostentationof success, another man was got to the wickets. This was Stumps,one of the professionals, who was not quite so much like a Minerva,though he, too, was prodigiously greaved. Jack again set his ball,snap went the machine, and Stumps wriggled his bat. He touched theball, and away it flew behind the wicket. Five republican Minervasran after it as fast as their legs could carry them; and I was toldby a gentleman who sat next to me scoring, that a dozen runs had beenmade. He spent a great deal of time in explaining how, in the oldtimes, more than six at a time were never scored. N
ow all this wasaltered. A slight tip counted ever so much more than a good forwardblow, because the ball went behind the wicket. Up flew on all sidesof the ground figures to show that Stumps had made a dozen, and twoBritish clarionets were blown with a great deal of vigour. Stumps wasa thick-set, solid, solemn-looking man, who had been ridiculed by ourside as being much too old for the game; but he seemed to think verylittle of Jack's precise machine. He kept chopping at the ball, whichalways went behind, till he had made a great score. It was two hoursbefore Jack had sorely lamed him in the hip, and the umpire had givenit leg-before-wicket. Indeed it was leg-before-wicket, as the poorman felt when he was assisted back to his tent. However, he hadscored 150. Sir Lords Longstop, too, had run up a good score beforehe was caught out by the middle long-off,--a marvellous catch theyall said it was,--and our trumpets were blown for fully five minutes.But the big gun was only fired when a ball was hurled from themachine directly into the wicket.
At the end of three days the Britishers were all out, and the runswere numbered in four figures. I had my doubts, as I looked at thecontest, whether any of them would be left to play out the match. Iwas informed that I was expected to take the President's seat everyday; but when I heard that there were to be two innings for each set,I positively declined. But Crasweller took my place; and I was toldthat a gleam of joy shot across his worn, sorrowful face when SirKennington began the second innings with ten runs. Could he reallywish, in his condition, to send his daughter away to England simplythat she might be a baronet's wife?
When the Britannulists went in for the second time, they had 1500runs to get; and it was said afterwards that Grundle had bet four toone against his own side. This was thought to be very shabby on hispart, though if such was the betting, I don't see why he should losehis money by backing his friends. Jack declared in my hearing thathe would not put a shilling on. He did not wish either to lose hismoney or to bet against himself. But he was considerably disheartenedwhen he told me that he was not going in on the first day of theirsecond innings. He had not done much when the Britannulists were inbefore,--had only made some thirty or forty runs; and, worse thanthat, Sir Kennington Oval had scored up to 300. They told me thathis Pallas helmet was shaken with tremendous energy as he made hisrunning. And again, that man Stumps had seemed to be invincible,though still lame, and had carried out his bat with a tremendousscore. He trudged away without any sign of triumph; but Jack saidthat the professional was the best man they had.
On the second day of our party's second innings,--the last day butone of the match,--Jack went in. They had only made 150 runs on theprevious day, and three wickets were down. Our kettle-drums had hadbut little opportunity for making themselves heard. Jack was verydespondent, and had had some tiff with Eva. He had asked Eva whethershe were not going to England, and Eva had said that perhaps shemight do so if some Britannulists did not do their duty. Jack hadchosen to take this as a bit of genuine impertinence, and had beenvery sore about it. Stumps was bowling from the British catapult,and very nearly gave Jack his quietus during the first over. He hitwildly, and four balls passed him without touching his wicket. Thencame his turn again, and he caught the first ball with his Neverbendspring-bat,--for he had invented it himself,--such a swipe, as hecalled it, that nobody has ever yet been able to find the ball. Thestory goes that it went right up to the verandah, and that Eva pickedit up, and has treasured it ever since.
Be that as it may, during the whole of that day, and the next,nobody was able to get him out. There was a continual banging of thekettle-drum, which seemed to give him renewed spirits. Every ball asit came to him was sent away into infinite space. All the Englishmenwere made to retire to further distances from the wickets, and tostand about almost at the extremity of the ground. The management ofthe catapults was intrusted to one man after another,--but in vain.Then they sent the catapults away, and tried the old-fashioned slowbowling. It was all the same to Jack. He would not be tempted out ofhis ground, but stood there awaiting the ball, let it come ever soslowly. Through the first of the two days he stood before his wicket,hitting to the right and the left, till hope seemed to spring upagain in the bosom of the Britannulists. And I could see that theEnglishmen were becoming nervous and uneasy, although the odds werestill much in their favour.
At the end of the first day Jack had scored above 500;--but elevenwickets had gone down, and only three of the most inferior playerswere left to stand up with him. It was considered that Jack muststill make another 500 before the game would be won. This would allowonly twenty each to the other three players. "But," said Eva to methat evening, "they'll never get the twenty each."
"And on which side are you, Eva?" I inquired with a smile. For intruth I did believe at that moment that she was engaged to thebaronet.
"How dare you ask, Mr Neverbend?" she demanded, with indignation. "Amnot I a Britannulist as well as you?" And as she walked away I couldsee that there was a tear in her eye.
On the last day feelings were carried to a pitch which was morebefitting the last battle of a great war,--some Waterloo of otherages,--than the finishing of a prolonged game of cricket. Men looked,and moved, and talked as though their all were at stake. I cannotsay that the Englishmen seemed to hate us, or we them; but that theaffair was too serious to admit of playful words between the parties.And those unfortunates who had to stand up with Jack were so afraidof themselves that they were like young country orators about to maketheir first speeches. Jack was silent, determined, and yet inwardlyproud of himself, feeling that the whole future success of therepublic was on his shoulders. He ordered himself to be called at acertain hour, and the assistants in our household listened to hiswords as though feeling that everything depended on their obedience.He would not go out on his bicycle, as fearing that some accidentmight occur. "Although, ought I not to wish that I might be struckdead?" he said; "as then all the world would know that thoughbeaten, it had been by the hand of God, and not by our default."It astonished me to find that the boy was quite as eager about hiscricket as I was about my Fixed Period.
At eleven o'clock I was in my seat, and on looking round, I couldsee that all the rank and fashion of Britannula were at the ground.But all the rank and fashion were there for nothing, unless they hadcome armed with glasses. The spaces required by the cricketers wereso enormous that otherwise they could not see anything of the play.Under my canopy there was room for five, of which I was supposedto be able to fill the middle thrones. On the two others sat thosewho officially scored the game. One seat had been demanded for MrsNeverbend. "I will see his fate,--whether it be his glory or hisfall,"--said his mother, with true Roman feeling. For the other Evahad asked, and of course it had been awarded to her. When the playbegan, Sir Kennington was at the catapult and Jack at the oppositewicket, and I could hardly say for which she felt the extremeinterest which she certainly did exhibit. I, as the day went on,found myself worked up to such excitement that I could hardly keep myhat on my head or behave myself with becoming presidential dignity.At one period, as I shall have to tell, I altogether disgracedmyself.
There seemed to be an opinion that Jack would either show himselfat once unequal to the occasion, and immediately be put out,--whichopinion I think that all Gladstonopolis was inclined to hold,--orelse that he would get his "eye in" as he called it, and go on aslong as the three others could keep their bats. I know that his ownopinion was the same as that general in the city, and I feared thathis very caution at the outset would be detrimental to him. The greatobject on our side was that Jack should, as nearly as possible, bealways opposite to the bowler. He was to take the four first balls,making but one run off the last, and then beginning another over atthe opposite end do the same thing again. It was impossible to managethis exactly; but something might be done towards effecting it.There were the three men with whom to work during the day. The firstunfortunately was soon made to retire; but Jack, who had walked up tomy chair during the time allowed for fetching down the next man, toldme that he had "got his eye," and I co
uld see a settled look of fixedpurpose in his face. He bowed most gracefully to Eva, who was sostirred by emotion that she could not allow herself to speak a word."Oh Jack, I pray for you; I pray for you," said his mother. Jack, Ifancy, thought more of Eva's silence than of his mother's prayer.
Jack went back to his place, and hit the first ball with such energythat he drove it into the other stumps and smashed them to pieces.Everybody declared that such a thing had never been before achievedat cricket,--and the ball passed on, and eight or ten runs werescored. After that Jack seemed to be mad with cricketing power. Hetook off his greaves, declaring that they impeded his running, andthrew away altogether his helmet. "Oh, Eva, is he not handsome?"said his mother, in ecstasy, hanging across my chair. Eva sat quietwithout a sign. It did not become me to say a word, but I did thinkthat he was very handsome;--and I thought also how uncommonly hardit would be to hold him if he should chance to win the game. Lethim make what orations he might against the Fixed Period, allGladstonopolis would follow him if he won this game of cricket forthem.
I cannot pretend to describe all the scenes of that day, nor thegrowing anxiety of the Englishmen as Jack went on with one hundredafter another. He had already scored nearly 1000 when young Grabbewas caught out. Young Grabbe was very popular, because he was soaltogether unlike his partner Grundle. He was a fine frank fellow,and was Jack's great friend. "I don't mean to say that he can reallyplay cricket," Jack had said that morning, speaking with greatauthority; "but he is the best fellow in the world, and will doexactly what you ask him." But he was out now; and Jack, with over200 still to make, declared that he gave up the battle almost aslost.
"Don't say that, Mr Neverbend," whispered Eva.
"Ah yes; we're gone coons. Even your sympathy cannot bring us roundnow. If anything could do it that would!"
"In my opinion," continued Eva, "Britannula will never be beaten aslong as Mr Neverbend is at the wicket."
"Sir Kennington has been too much for us, I fear," said Jack, with aforced smile, as he retired.
There was now but the one hope left. Mr Brittlereed remained, buthe was all. Mr Brittlereed was a gentleman who had advanced nearerto his Fixed Period than any other of the cricketers. He was nearlythirty-five years of age, and was regarded by them all as quite anold man. He was supposed to know all the rules of the game, and tobe rather quick in keeping the wicket. But Jack had declared thatmorning that he could not hit a ball in a week of Sundays, "Heoughtn't to be here," Jack had whispered; "but you know how thosethings are managed." I did not know how those things were managed,but I was sorry that he should be there, as Jack did not seem to wanthim.
Mr Brittlereed now went to his wicket, and was bound to receive thefirst ball. This he did; made one run, whereas he might have madetwo, and then had to begin the war over. It certainly seemed asthough he had done it on purpose. Jack in his passion broke thehandle of his spring-bat, and then had half-a-dozen brought to him inorder that he might choose another. "It was his favourite bat," saidhis mother, and buried her face in her handkerchief.
I never understood how it was that Mr Brittlereed lived through thatover; but he did live, although he never once touched the ball. Thenit came to be Jack's turn, and he at once scored thirty-nine duringthe over, leaving himself at the proper wicket for re-commencingthe operation. I think that this gave him new life. It added, atany rate, new fire to every Britannulist on the ground, and I mustsay that after that Mr Brittlereed managed the matter altogether toJack's satisfaction. Over after over Jack went on, and received everyball that was bowled. They tried their catapult with single, double,and even treble action. Sir Kennington did his best, flinging theball with his most tremendous impetus, and then just rolling it upwith what seemed to me the most provoking languor. It was all thesame to Jack. He had in truth got his "eye in," and as surely as theball came to him, it was sent away to some most distant part of theground. The Britishers were mad with dismay as Jack worked his way onthrough the last hundred. It was piteous to see the exertions whichpoor Mr Brittlereed made in running backwards and forwards across theground. They tried, I think, to bustle him by the rapid succession oftheir bowling. But the only result was that the ball was sent stillfurther off when it reached Jack's wicket. At last, just as everyclock upon the ground struck six with that wonderful unanimity whichour clocks have attained since they were all regulated by wiresfrom Greenwich, Jack sent a ball flying up into the air, perfectlyregardless whether it might be caught or not, knowing well that theone now needed would be scored before it could come down from theheavens into the hands of any Englishman. It did come down, and wascaught by Stumps, but by that time Britannula had won her victory.Jack's total score during that innings was 1275. I doubt whether inthe annals of cricket any record is made of a better innings thanthat. Then it was that, with an absence of that presence of mindwhich the President of a republic should always remember, I took offmy hat and flung it into the air.
Jack's triumph would have been complete, only that it was ludicrousto those who could not but think, as I did, of the very little matteras to which the contest had been raised;--just a game of cricketwhich two sets of boys had been playing, and which should have beenregarded as no more than an amusement,--as a pastime, by which torefresh themselves between their work. But they regarded it as thougha great national combat had been fought, and the Britannulists lookedupon themselves as though they had been victorious against England.It was absurd to see Jack as he was carried back to Gladstonopolis asthe hero of the occasion, and to hear him, as he made his speechesat the dinner which was given on the day, and at which he was calledupon to take the chair. I was glad to see, however, that he was notquite so glib with his tongue as he had been when addressing thepeople. He hesitated a good deal, nay, almost broke down, when hegave the health of Sir Kennington Oval and the British sixteen; and Iwas quite pleased to hear Lord Marylebone declare to his mother thathe was "a wonderfully nice boy." I think the English did try to turnit off a little, as though they had only come out there just for theamusement of the voyage. But Grundle, who had now become quite proudof his country, and who lamented loudly that he should have receivedso severe an injury in preparing for the game, would not let thispass. "My lord," he said, "what is your population?" Lord Marylebonenamed sixty million. "We are but two hundred and fifty thousand,"said Grundle, "and see what we have done." "We are cocks fightingon our own dunghill," said Jack, "and that does make a deal ofdifference."
But I was told that Jack had spoken a word to Eva in quite adifferent spirit before he had left Little Christchurch. "After all,Eva, Sir Kennington has not quite trampled us under his feet," hesaid.
"Who thought that he would?" said Eva. "My heart has never fainted,whatever some others may have done."