nobtrusive, circuitous route back to the white parasols.

John Smith himself and another negro, who was said to be related to him
by marriage, came in first. They were padded up to the eyes, and
evidently felt the importance of their position. Then a black umpire
said: "Play, gem'men," and our Fourth Officer started with his
world-famed, natural leg-break. He bowled three wides in succession as a
preliminary. It is not easy to bowl wides underhand, but that Fourth
Officer managed it; and I began to understand why, after all, his county
had determined to struggle along without him.

"What's the matter, old man?" asked our Captain, who was fielding at
short-slip.

"It's all right, old chap; you wait," answered the Fourth Officer, full
of confidence.

"Yes, quite so, but they count one against us every time. I didn't know
whether you knew it," explained the Model Man.

Meantime the bowler made further futile attempts to drop the ball upon
the mound he had discovered. At last he actually did do so, but instead
of breaking in and taking a wicket, as we, who were in the secret,
hoped, the batsman got hold of it, and hit it high and hard to long-leg.
All eyes turned to see if the Doctor's estimate of his own powers at a
catch was justified. But he had disappeared entirely. He had not even
left a substitute. Everybody shouted with dismay, and then the Doctor
suddenly bounded on to the field. He distinctly came out of the buggy,
from between the red parasols. If he had not actually known those girls,
he must have introduced himself, or prevailed upon somebody else to do
so. He tore into the scene of action, looking for the ball.

"It's in the air, you fool," yelled a dozen voices. Then it fell within
a yard of the Doctor. A child could have caught it. We were all quite
unsettled. The Model Man said:

"I'm not a bit surprised--it's just what I expected."

And the Fourth Officer said:

"I don't really see what good it is my bowling for catches at long-leg
if there's no long-leg."

And the Doctor said:

"Wouldn't have done it for money. Hadn't the faintest idea you'd
started. I saw you bowling balls all over the place, miles away from the
wicket, and I thought you were merely practising." Which was rather an
unpleasant thing for the Fourth Officer to hear.

[Illustration: "A BLACK UMPIRE."]

Then the game steadied down and proceeded. Our Captain took the ball,
after the underhand expert had got a few within sight of