hing
in, before first volley!"

"And no holding the balls under the drip of the
kitchen roof!" said Hugh John, who had suffered
from certain Toady Lionish practices which
personally he scorned.

"Well, then," said I, "out you go in your jerseys
for one hot half-hour. But no standing about,
mind!"

Sweetheart and Maid Margaret looked exceedingly
wistful.

"Of course," I said, "Sweetheart will want to go on
with her knitting, but if she likes, the Maid can
watch them from the window."

"Oo-oh!" said Maid Margaret, "I _should_ like to go
too!"

"And I should not mind going either," admitted
Sweetheart, "just to see that they did not hurt the
Maid. They are such rough boys!"

So it was arranged, as I had known it would be from
the first. The snow was still falling, but the wind
had gone down. There was to be no standing still,
and afterward they were to change immediately for
dinner. These were the conditions of permitted
civil strife.

"Please, is rolling in the snow permitted?" said
Hugh John, to whom this was a condition of
importance.

"Why, yes," said I, "that is, if you catch the
enemy out of his intrenchments."

"Um-m-m-m!" said Hugh John, grimly rubbing his
hands, "I'll catch him." In a lower tone he added,
"And I'll teach him to put snowballs in the drip!"

As he spoke, he mimicked the motions of one who
shoves snow down inside the collar of his
adversary.

The cover of a deal box, with a soap advertisement
on it, made a very fair intrenching tool, and soon
formidable snow-works could be seen rising rapidly
on the slopes of the clothes' drying ground,
making a semicircle about that corner which
contained the big iron swing, erect on its two tall
posts. Hugh John and Maid Margaret, the attacking
party, were still invisible, probably concocting a
plan. But Sweetheart and Sir Toady, laughing and
jesting as at some supreme stratagem, were busily
employed throwing up the snow till it was nearly
breast-high. The formation of the ground was in
their favour. It fell away rapidly on all sides,
except to the north, where the position was made
impregnable by a huge prickly hedge.

Nominally they were supposed to be enacting _The
Antiquary_, but actually I could not see that the
scene witho