id-wicket, and shouting
"Come on!" he galloped up the pitch. Charles came on gingerly,
expecting to be sent back, but Eric duly passed him; he then turned
round and just raced Charles back to the wicket-keeper's end. Charles
was only a Soccer Blue (and a goal-keeper at that), and Eric won.

"After that," said Eric with his usual modesty, "it was easy."
Eyewitnesses, however, have told me more. Juno dealt with the Caramel
bowlers, but Eric had to compete with Charles. And Charles resorted to
every kind of devilish expedient. Nearly all the Balbus batsmen were
bribed to run Eric out, and whenever he hit a boundary Eric had to
stop and reason with them in the middle of the pitch. Sometimes he
tried to outbid Charles, but he usually found that he couldn't afford
it. So he collared the bowling as much as possible and tried not to
hit anything but boundaries. Juno helped him a good bit in that way.

When he had made seventy he got a ball on the knee. Charles ran out
and offered to run for him, but Eric said he could manage, thank you.
Then Charles went and walked rapidly up and down in front of the
screen; but Eric wasn't the sort of batsman who minded that.

At about ninety, Eric's knee was pretty bad, so he called out for
somebody to run for him--_not_ Charles. Five of Charles's hirelings
rushed out of the pavilion, but the captain said he would go himself,
as that wasn't fair. Besides, he had money on Eric himself.

At this point I gather that Pallas Athene must have deserted Charles
altogether, for he seems to have entertained for a moment or two the
ignoble notion of tampering with the scorer. I am glad to be able to
say that even the members of the Balbus College "K." Team, eaten up
as they were by this time with commercialism, declined to be parties
to that particular wickedness. With every circumstance of popular
excitement Eric's hundredth run--a mis-cue through the slips--was
finally made, scored and added up. In fact, he carried his bat.

"So you were all square," I said, not without admiration.

"By no means," said Eric. "It cost me forty shillings."

"And Charles?"

"It cost him seven pounds."

A. P. H.

* * * * *

"SUGGESTIONS."

A WARNING.

Entering as we are upon the season of games, it might be well to
utter an urgent appeal to hostesses not to play "Suggestions." For
"Suggestions," though it may begin as a game, is really a wrangle.
Under the guise of a light-h