le, kicked out three
or four times, and Lutyens laughed. The reins were caught up anyhow in
the tips of his strapped left hand, and he never pretended to rely on
them. He knew The Cat would answer to the least pressure of the leg, and
by way of showing off--for his shoulder hurt him very much--he bent
the little fellow in a close figure-of-eight in and out between the
goal-posts. There was a roar from the native officers and men, who
dearly loved a piece of dugabashi (horse-trick work), as they called it,
and the pipes very quietly and scornfully droned out the first bars of
a common bazaar tune called "Freshly Fresh and Newly New," just as
a warning to the other regiments that the Skidars were fit. All the
natives laughed.

"And now," said The Maltese Cat, as they took their place, "remember
that this is the last quarter, and follow the ball!"

"Don't need to be told," said Who's Who.

"Let me go on. All those people on all four sides will begin to crowd
in--just as they did at Malta. You'll hear people calling out, and
moving forward and being pushed back; and that is going to make the
Archangel ponies very unhappy. But if a ball is struck to the boundary,
you go after it, and let the people get out of your way. I went over the
pole of a four-in-hand once, and picked a game out of the dust by it.
Back me up when I run, and follow the ball."

There was a sort of an all-round sound of sympathy and wonder as the
last quarter opened, and then there began exactly what The Maltese
Cat had foreseen. People crowded in close to the boundaries, and the
Archangels' ponies kept looking sideways at the narrowing space. If you
know how a man feels to be cramped at tennis--not because he wants to
run out of the court, but because he likes to know that he can at a
pinch--you will guess how ponies must feel when they are playing in a
box of human beings.

"I'll bend some of those men if I can get away," said Who's Who, as he
rocketed behind the ball; and Bamboo nodded without speaking. They were
playing the last ounce in them, and The Maltese Cat had left the goal
undefended to join them. Lutyens gave him every order that he could
to bring him back, but this was the first time in his career that the
little wise grey had ever played polo on his own responsibility, and he
was going to make the most of it.

"What are you doing here?" said Hughes, as The Cat crossed in front of
him and rode off an Archangel.

"The Cat's in charge