one end, and I bowled " round" at the other.
We bowled all we knew, and our field worked
like tigers. What mischief we meant the telegraph
soon showed—"7 wickets down and 21 runs!"

Just then, at a slight pause in the game when
I went up to Southey he pointed away to a
tent on the far side of the ground, and there,
peering round the corner of the canvas, was our
tall grey colonel, dressed in plain clothes. He
had not relished the crowd of spectators when
the day was going against us; but although,
while confident of our success, he did not care
who saw him or talked to him; he could not
bear to be seen or spoken to while we were
losing; yet he could not resist seeing out the
match, and had taken up his position by the tent,
stealthily, alone, and in plain clothes. Southey
and I didn't bowl any the worse when we knew
who was looking at us from behind the tent.

It fell out that the swell Town eleven, who in
their first innings had kept us hard at it for four
hours, were now disposed of in three-quarters
of an hour, and for 30 runs! The excite-
ment was now intense, the fire of the match
was worked up to its utmost heat. We had 96
runs to get to win, and it was just on the cards
that we might do it. Still, chances and betting
were against us; for the ground was not what
it was when we began: it was much cut up be-
tween wickets; the hot sun and the play had
dried it, and made it lumpy and untrue. Southey
and I sloped over to the colonel. We felt that
he had more interest in the game, than even we
had ourselves. He scarcely spoke: all he said
was, " You couldn't have done more in the bowl-
ing than you did: the match isn't lost yet."
Sergeant-Major McJug, of the Sappers, one of
our best bats, went to the wicket first with
Winterburn, a lieutenant in H.M. Foot. McJug
was bowled out the first ball. It was pain-
ful to see the colonel's expression as the ser-
geant's wicket fell. "Jim," said old Southey,
who was captain of our team, " go in; cut
over the slow bowling; when Winterburn's out,
I'll join you, and if you die first, I'll follow."
I went in. The first ball they bowled me was
slow, overpitched, and to leg. I got hold of
it, and sent it a good way towards the sea.
We ran 4. The telegraph soon showed " 10"
towards the " 96." Winterburn " mopped up"
two or three more, was bowled out, and then
Southey joined me. Presently the telegraph
showed 20, when the other side took off their slow
bowler and made a set to separate us; for they
guessed we meant mischief. Every ball came
straight on the wicket, and their fielding was
first-rate. I think I see old Southey now: he
has a peculiar way of stopping a good ball,
thundering down on it as if he meant to batter
it into little bits. They tried every dodge on
the slate, and puzzled us considerably; they put
on bowler after bowler, till I think every man in
the eleven had his shy at us; but they could not
get us out. At last "60," our old number, showed
itself, and told us that the neck of our work was
broken. Southey and I were happy then. We
were "well in:" we had collared the bowl-
ing: we were strong, and cared for no ball they
could bowl. " Even if we fall," we said, " surely
the fellows to follow, can make the runs now."

It was about this time, in changing ends for
a quiet single, that Southey called over to me
in an Irish whisper, "Look at the colonel!"
There he was, in his staff uniform, in the thickest
of the line of lookers-on, a head taller than
most of them, chatting gaily to everybody who
came in his way. He had been home and had
put on his gayest uniform, now that he saw we
were sure to win.

The rest is easily told. The loose balls we
hit for fours and fives; the good ones we put
away for singles. 70, 80, and 90, followed
on the telegraph in quick succession, and
Southey at length made the winning hit for
"96," and the day was ours. We had made
our 80 runs in less than two hours, and carried
out our bats; so you may guess that H.M.
Rifles were at a premium that day. After the
match was over the colonel walked up to the
wicket where we had fought all day, and looked
it over as cricketers will look. He was as per-
fectly happy as a man may wish to be: his face
literally shone with delight and pride; and I am
sure be would have given a hundred pounds
rather than we had lost the match. Of course
Southey and I were with him, and it did our
hearts good to hear him thank us for " winning
the match for him."

THREE NIGHTS BY ASH-POOL.

i.

"MARY'S late i' coming home, mother."

"So she is, Alice; just put thy apron ower
thy head and run down t' garden to look if she's
i' sight: she suld ha' been home long afore this.
T' clock's upo' t' stroke o' ten."

When Alice opened the house-door her mother
heard the low moaning of the midsummer wind
in the full trees, and, dropping her sewing, fol-
lowed into the porch. It was a deep, shady
porch, garlanded about with roses and honey-
suckle as a rustic porch should be, and with a
narrow path edged with golden St. John's wort
straight down to the gate. There was no open
prospect on either hand, for the hedges were
high and the shrubs thick, but once at the gate,
you could look far over the upland fields, and
trace for nearly a mile across them the footpath
leading to Heckerdyke. The Wards' was a lone
house amongst the fields, with a dense planted
hill rising close behind, and the corn lands and
pasture lands stretching in front. They could
not watch the curl of a neighbour's smoke for
company at any time without mounting up
through the wood, but thence they could see
Heckerdyke in the hollow two miles distant,
and the haze of other smaller villages in the
valley further away. It was now a moonlight
night, very clear, soft, warm, and beautiful, and
the melancholy whusking in the leaves only
seemed to deepen the stillness. When Alice
had stood for some minutes peering steadfastly
at the white road, she said, " I can't make her