fact he gained vigour to such an
extent that his play in the last games became not merely impetuous, but
frenzied. Had I not possessed an iron nerve, Mr. Gorman Crawl might have
snatched a game or two; and I feel sorry for my opponent when I recall
that he only made five points in the set, one of which was due to a net
cord stroke, and another to my accidentally treading on a ball. The
final scores, as set forth in the "Stop Press" columns of one of the
evening papers, were as follows:--

"Crawl beat Lowly ... 6--0. 6--0. 6--0,"

and if the reader reverses the statement he will know the correct
result. Mr. Gorman Crawl, after an exhibition which stultifies previous
conceptions of what is possible in the way of offensive and defensive
tactics, and which refutes once and for all the leading contentions in
Mr. Wail's monumental work on the game, was beaten by me in three love
sets.

The game opened by my serving a double fault. I then found that I was
using my Thursday's racket instead of Tuesday's. After a brief recess,
during which, as I am informed, Mr. Gorman Crawl took in his belt one
hole, the game proceeded. I served to my opponent's back hand, but,
contrary to all rules laid down by Mr. Wail, he unexpectedly returned
the ball to _my_ back hand. The result was that I failed to reach it. It
then occurred to me that I ought to make sure I had no gravel in my
shoes. I did this without leaving the court. When I had replaced my
footwear and was preparing to serve again, I saw that Mr. Gorman Crawl
was lying on the ground, apparently asleep. He started up, however, on
the score being called a second time, and the game proceeded.

Noticing that my opponent was standing a long way back, I now made a
display of hitting the ball hard and then dropped it just over the net.
Mr. Crawl did not notice what was happening till too late, and I not
only took the ace but had the satisfaction of noticing that my opponent
was breathing hard after his fruitless effort to reach the ball. I had,
so to speak, drawn first blood. I repeated the ruse with my next
service. Mr. Crawl, being now on the alert, reached the ball, but was
unable to stop himself, and charged into the net, and the score was
called "thirty all." A third time I brought off a drop serve; the ball
was returned and I then tossed it with an undercut stroke to the base
line. Mr. Crawl ran back, but the ball bounding high and with a strong
break he lost sight of it, and a