s,
and as soft as possible, So we're playing a man short."

"I wish they'd give you Murty back!" said Norah, with feminine
ignorance.

"Much hope!" returned her brother. "Anyway, Murty's not over good in
the field; he's too much in the saddle to be a quick man on his feet. I
wouldn't mind you as substitute, Nor."--which remark, though futile,
pleased Norah exceedingly.

She was rather more hopeful when the Cunjee team at length took the
field, with Boone and the blacksmith bowling against Billings and
another noted Mulgoa warrior. But her hopes were rapidly put to flight,
and the spirits of the Cunjee "barrackers" went down to zero as it
became distressingly apparent that Mr. Billings and his partner were
there to stay. Alike they treated the bowling with indifference,
hitting the Billabong stockman with especial success--which soon
demoralized Dave, who appealed to be taken off, and devoted his
energies to short slip fielding. Here he had his revenge presently, for
the second Mulgoa man hit a ball almost into his hands, and Dave clung
to it as a drowning man to a straw--one wicket for thirty-five.

Then the score mounted with alarming steadiness, and the wickets fell
all too slowly for the home team. Dan Billings appeared as comfortable
at the wickets as though on the box of his couch, and smote the bowling
all round the ground with impartiality. The heat became more and more
oppressive, and several of the Cunjee men were tiring, including plump
little Dr. Anderson, who stuck to his work as wicket-keeper pluckily--to
the unconcealed anxiety of his wife. His reward came when a hot return
from the field by Wally gave him a chance of stumping one of the Mulgoa
cracks. But the enthusiasm was only momentary; the game was considered,
even by the most sanguine small boy of Cunjee, to be "all over bar
shouting."

Jim had been bowling for some time from one end with fair results. The
batsmen certainly took fewer liberties with him, and he managed to
account for three of them for a comparatively low average. He had
allowed himself to become anxious, which is a bad thing for a bowler
when the score is creeping up and the batsmen are well set. Wally
watched his chum with some anxiety--there was none of the fire in his
bowling that had so often brought down the ground in a School match.

"Wish he's wake up," said Wally to himself. "I'd like a chance to talk
to him."

The chance came when the field crossed over, disposed an