204

XXVIII. ACTON'S LAST MOVE 209

XXIX. WHY BIFFEN'S LOST 215

XXX. THE END OF THE FEUD 225

ACTON'S CHRISTMAS

I. SNOWED UP 237

II. OVER THE FELLS 248

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

ACTON DROPPED TO THE GROUND LIKE A BLUDGEONED DOG Frontispiece

PHIL WALKED DOWN THE STEPS WITHOUT A FRIENDLY CHEER 40

ACTON JUST REACHED IT WITH HIS HEAD 50

AS THE TRAIN MOVED, GRIM SAID, "THREE CHEERS!" 74

ACTON THREW HIM INTO THE SNOW-HEAP 78

A LITTLE YELLOW, EAR-TORN DOG BUSTLED OUT OF SOME SHED 94

"I'M GOING TO HAVE THE SEVEN TEN, OR SHOW YOU UP" 128

THE GREEN POWDER UNDERWENT SOME WEIRD EXPERIMENTS 142

HE PUSHED UP HIS WINDOW AND CRAWLED THROUGH 160

"CUT, YOU MISERABLE PUPPY" 172

HE GAVE ME A LONG, STEADY LOOK OF HATRED 204

AS THE HORSES WHIRLED PAST, HE CLUTCHED MADLY AT THE LOOSE REINS 226

CHAPTER I

THE FOUL

Shannon, the old Blue, had brought down a rattling eleven--two
Internationals among them--to give the school the first of its annual
"Socker" matches. We have a particular code of football of our own, which
the school has played time out of mind; but, ten years ago, the
Association game was introduced, despite the murmuring of some of the
masters, many of the parents--all old Amorians--and of Moore, the Head,
who had yielded to varied pressures, but in his heart thought "Socker"
vastly inferior to the old game. Association had flourished exceedingly;
so much so that the Head made it a law that, on each Thursday in the
Michaelmas term, the old game, and nothing but the old game, should be
played, and woe betide any unauthorized "cutters" thereof. This was almost
the only rule that Corker never swerved a hair's breadth from, and bitter
were the regrets when Shannon had sent word to Bourne, our captain, that
he could bring down a really clinking team to put our eleven through their
paces, if the match were played on Thursday. Saturday, on account of big
club fixtures, was almost impossible. Corker consented to the eleven
playing the upstart code for this occasion only, but for the school
generally the old game was to be