ace in the School Eleven.

CHAPTER NINE.

A ROD IN PICKLE.

Loman, who had arrived at the same conclusion respecting Oliver's
bravery as the majority in the Fifth, did not allow his conscience to
trouble him as to his share of the morning's business. He never had
liked Oliver, and lately especially he had come to dislike him. He was
therefore glad to have made him smart; and now, since the blunder in the
cricket match, he felt greatly inclined to repeat the blow, particularly
as there did not seem much to fear if he did so.

He was quick, too, to see that Oliver had lost favour with his comrades,
and had no hesitation in availing himself of every opportunity of
widening the breach. He affected to be sorry for the poor fellow, and
to feel that he had been too hard on him, and so on, in a manner which,
while it offended the Fifth, as applied to one of their set, exasperated
them all the more against Oliver. And so matters went on, getting more
and more unsatisfactory.

Loman, however, had other things to think of than his rival's cowardice,
and foremost among these was his new fishing-rod--or rather, the rod
which he coveted for his own. Until the day after the Alphabet Match he
had not even had time to examine his treasure. Three pounds ten was an
appalling figure to pay for a rod; "But then," thought Loman, "if it's
really a good one, and worth half as much again, it would be a pity to
miss such a bargain;" and every one knew the Crippses, father and son,
were authorities on all matters pertaining to the piscatorial art.
Loman, too, was never badly off for pocket-money, and could easily raise
the amount, he felt sure, when he represented the case at home. So he
took the rod out of its canvas bag, and began to put it together.

Now, a boy's study is hardly the place in which to flourish a
fishing-rod, and Loman found that with the butt down in one bottom
corner of the room, the top joint would have to be put on up in the
opposite top corner. When this complicated operation was over, there
was no room to move it from its position, still less to judge of its
weight and spring, or attach the winch and line. Happy thought! the
window! He would have any amount of scope there. So, taking it to
pieces, and putting it together again in this new direction, he had the
satisfaction of testing it at its full length. He was pleased with the
rod, on the whole. He attached the line, with a fly at the end, in
ord