"
Cunning Joe! he thus gets rid of Willum and the shepherd, who is quite
fresh again.
No one seems to like the offer, and the umpire is just coming down,
when a queer old hat, something like a doctor of divinity's shovel, is
chucked on to the stage and an elderly, quiet man steps out, who has
been watching the play, saying he should like to cross a stick wi' the
prodigalish young chap.
The crowd cheer, and begin to chaff Joe, who turns up his nose and
swaggers across to the sticks. "Imp'dent old wosbird!" says he; "I'll
break the bald head on un to the truth."
The old boy is very bald, certainly, and the blood will show fast enough
if you can touch him, Joe.
He takes off his long-flapped coat, and stands up in a long-flapped
waistcoat, which Sir Roger de Coverley might have worn when it was new,
picks out a stick, and is ready for Master Joe, who loses no time, but
begins his old game, whack, whack, whack, trying to break down the old
man's guard by sheer strength. But it won't do; he catches every blow
close by the basket, and though he is rather stiff in his returns,
after a minute walks Joe about the stage, and is clearly a stanch old
gamester. Joe now comes in, and making the most of his height, tries to
get over the old man's guard at half-stick, by which he takes a smart
blow in the ribs and another on the elbow, and nothing more.
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