to much, sergeant. Suppose you
take the ball for an over or two; I should like to see how that young
fellow would stand up to your bowling."

The sergeant, who was one of the regimental bowlers, took the ball.
Edgar, who had been driving the previous bowler in all directions, at
once played carefully, and for an over or two contented himself with
blocking the balls, then one came a little wide and he cut it to leg for
four.

Captain Moffat took off his coat and waistcoat and took the end facing
the sergeant, and began to bowl some slow twisting balls, that were in
strong contrast to the fast delivery of the sergeant. Edgar felt now
that he was being tried, and played very cautiously. There were no runs
to be made off such bowling until the bowler became careless or tired.
At last a ball came rather farther than usual. Edgar stepped out to meet
it, and drove it nearly straight forward and scored four, and it was not
until his score ran up to thirty that he was at last caught.

"You will do, Smith," Captain Moffat said approvingly. "Where did you
learn to play cricket?"

"I learned at school, sir."

"Ah! well, they taught you that well if they taught you nothing else.
You go on practising, and I will give you a chance to play for the
regiment the first time that there is a vacancy."

Two or three matches were played before the chance came. Then Sergeant
Stokes, the bowler, hurt his hand the day before they were going to play
the Rifle Brigade, which was considered the strongest team in camp.

"This is an unlucky business, sergeant," Captain Moffat said to him as
they were talking over next day's play. "I thought if we had luck we
might make a good fight with the Rifles. Bowling is never our strongest
point, and now you are out of it we shall make a very poor show. Are
there any of the men outside the eleven who show any bowling talent?"

The sergeant shook his head.

"Not one of them, sir. I hoped Corporal Holland would have made a
bowler, but he seems to have gone off rather than come on. No; we must
trust to the bowlers we have got. There are four or five of them who are
not bad, though except yourself, sir, there is nothing, so to speak, to
depend on."

"You cannot depend on me, sergeant; there is no certainty about my
bowling. Sometimes I do pretty fairly, at other times I get hit all over
the field. No; my proper place is wicket-keeping. I should never leave
that if we had two or three bowlers we could d