pastime suitable for pure and
unadulterated lunatics, those, as he put it, "who were too daft to get
into Gartnavel." Fancy that! Woe betide the unfortunate half-back or
forward, who in a weak moment relied on the magnanimity of "Sour Plums,"
as he was called, to let him off to a match, without first consulting
the governor himself. Sometimes M'Nab forgot to do so, and as his club
were frequently in great straits to get him to play, he had to steep his
brains to think on a strategic movement to get free, and succeeded; but
sometimes with the aid of a "crammer."

Brown, for reasons best known to himself, but which will duly come out
as my story advances, was very anxious to be at the "draw," and
accordingly duly appeared at the Marie Stuart Hall, Crosshill. There
were a lot of pale faces in the room when Pate drew the Queen's Park,
Dick Wallace the "Vale," Bill Weldon, Dumbarton, and Sandy M'Bean the
Rangers. A rosy-cheeked, country-looking lad belonging to the Q.P. drew
Cowlairs, and a general titter ran through the august assembly when that
same lad remarked, "he was quite satisfied with his draw, the other
crack clubs notwithstanding." Tom Vincent got Kilmarnock Athletic, Alf.
Grant the Clyde, Blower Fleming drew the Heart of Midlothian, and Bill
Fairfield the Hibernian. I was unlucky enough to secure one of the many
insignificant clubs who never survived the first round, and so my "sov."
was a dead letter.

The entire "sweep" came to a fine round sum, as the subscribers included
a good many of the rank and file of football enthusiasts, and even two
"football-daft" members of the upper strata of the Glasgow Police Force,
and three of the Fire Brigade, went the length of taking a couple of
tickets. There was also Luke Wood, the representative of the "Kick-off,"
who knew a thing or two about the game. He was in for a pair of tickets,
too, and drew the Invincible and Morning Star. He was thoroughly
disgusted at the prospect (more particularly as he had been one of the
leading hands in getting up the "sweep"); but, as the Yankees say, he
gradually "cooled himself down," and got thoroughly reconciled to his
loss.

The Cowlairs had to play the Queen's Park in one of the ties, and a
determined tussle it turned out to be. The "boys" bore a wild look that
afternoon as they emerged from the pavilion at Hampden Park. You could
read the anxious and determined character of their mission on every
face. They had fully made up th