The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-12-13
LAST IMAM i

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I'VE must winr' said Margery.
I'VE shall winr' I assured her. Dick
] says So
/ Dick is our brother, and captain OF
j the Middleton Cricket Club. He IS a
! splendid fellow, tail and broad-shoulder-
/ ed, with a profile like Grecian god. As
a cricketer ne is superb. II You once
saw him hit the gardeners slow lobs to
I leg, you would wonder, as we 90, why
/ he never got into the Oxford eleven.
+ He says he didn't have a fair chance;
/ and Jack Hammond. who is an old col
/ lege chum. and a particular friend Of
mine, says the same You would like
I Jack Immensely. He is So But never
mind, this is ali about Margy's affair,
not mine.
] think the county championship rather
/ exciting. but it. is nothing compared
with the annual match between Middle
ton and Cragdale. For ten consecutive
I years the match has been PLAYED, AID
1 each club has won five times On this,
/ the eleventh occasion. the interest was
( terrific. Even the dear old rector, who
/ loves to watch a game of cricket as wei
/ as any one, forgot a portion of his ser
mon the Sunday before and substitutes
/ a few kindly hints upon the subject Of
/ temperance training. The old grounds
man, who also acts as umpire for Mud
/ dleton, slept in the pavilion for two
weeks before the eyentful day, and
watched every blade of grass grow upon
| the pitch he had marked Off
I OF course, we hated Cragdale If ever
a body Of men were contemplate, they
/ were the payers who constituted the
! Cragdale cricket eleven. Both pa and
ma insisted that Harry Davenport. who
/ captained the team, was a good fellow
enough. He was the Squire Of Crag-
/ dale-young, rich, and good lookng-but
/ the girls and Dick would have none Of
/ him. Occasionally he called at our place.
and once was impairment enough to
1 bring Marcy a basket of roses. which
very properly went into the dustnole.
| While he acknowledged allegiance 10
! Cragdale, he must hold no communica-
ton with US. Dick said so, I said so.
and Marcy was satisfied.
The great day arrived, and I thought
we could never exist until Z o'clock,
when the match began. The gardener,
who is a good lOb-bowler, would have
tired himself out climbing up the FIR
| tree to see if Cragdale were coming had
I not sent for his wife to keep him at
home. And, to crown all, about Il
| o'clock Dick rushed into the morning
room, followed by Jack Hammond, flung
down his cigarette, and, throwing him
self on the couch gasped: ITS all
uni"
What's all up?" exclaimed Marcy and
I together, jumping up in dismay.
Were beaten he said, calmly.
''Boggins can't play"
I looked to Jack for an explanation
'sprained his ankle" he signed, falling
into an armchair in despair.
Marcy gave a little scream, and ran
out and down to Boggins house for Off
cal information
Mrs Boggins was at the door, telling
the news to half the village. Yes, it was
too true. Poor John had been a teeto-
taller and on strict training diet for two
| weeks past. The night before the
match, however, the excitement had
! been so intense that, by mistake, he
had gone to the Red Lion and imbibed.
He was sent home in wheelbarrow,
and in getting him upstairs he had slip
ped and sprained his ankle. AT the
present time" said Mrs. Boggtns. ''he
was crying his eyes out-partly through
pain and partly on account of the mis-
fortune that had stricken Middleton"
I walked home with a heavy load at
my heart. Marcy ran to meet me in the
garden.
"oh, cis. can't I play?" she half
sobbed.
"You?' excIaimed-'.go Why,
you
Then I stopped. for that idea had
gone straight to my mind. and had
shown me a way out of the difficulty.
Marcy was a splendid cricketer for a
girl We both Of US had had a lot Of
practice with Dick In the orchard. and
ne had taught US how to play straight
bat, how to time a ball, and other
lodges. I never could master it prop
erly, but Marcy just reveled in it. She
is 50 tall. too, and has such strength,
that she can hit a ball almost as hard
as Dick himself