ching. . . . But I make no promises,
no offers, just now.

"He tells me that at the Club House he found a Golf Major of
sorts--or, as he puts it, 'a compatriot, a military gentleman,
retired, with a remarkable knowledge of India'--and seduced him
into playing a round. I should gather that Farrell plays an
indifferent game. At all events, the Golf Major was averse from
a second round, and retiring to a table in the Club veranda
allowed Farrell to call for--catch hold of your French, Roddy--
'_Deux bieres, complet_.' The waiter understood it to mean
liquid refreshment and not a double funeral. . . . Over the
drink the Golf Major, who had known Biarritz for twenty years,
explained the difference between its old and its new
golf-course, and informed Farrell that in the old one there had
used to be the most sporting hole anywhere--for a beginner.
You drove slap across a chasm of the sea: if you didn't land
your ball neatly you were in the devil of a hole, and if you
foozled you saw your ball dropping down, down, to the beach and
the Atlantic. 'Too expensive for duffers altogether, especially
when the price of balls rose. Only the caddies thrived on it,
at the risk of their necks. . . . After this tiffin we'll stroll
over and have a look at it.'

"So thither they strolled, and by and by started to amuse
themselves with pot-shot drives from the old tee. The Major
whacked his ball across to a neat lie time after time.
Farrell muffed and foozled, wasting his substance in riotous
slogging. The height of the cliff, maybe, dizzied his head.

"In this way I suppose he expended all his ammunition. At any
rate there came a pause, and a small Basque boy in a blue
_beret_ began to descend the slope very cautiously, searching
for lost balls in the scree. At the foot of the gully, where it
funnelled to a sheer drop, I stepped from under my shelter and
met the youngster, holding out a golf-ball. 'Here is one more,'
said I--'Where are the two gentlemen gone?' He told me that
they had gone back to the Club House. 'Then here is a franc for
you,' said I, 'and here is a card which you will take with the
ball and my compliments to the gentleman who cannot play golf so
well as the other gentleman.'

"The lad grinned. We climbed the cliff together