Aislabie and several of the Lord's men, accompanied them; while the rest
of the eleven looked on from under the Three Trees with admiring eyes,
and asked one another the names of the illustrious strangers, and
recounted how many runs each of them had made in the late matches in
Bell's Life. They looked such hard-bitten, wiry, whiskered fellows that
their young adversaries felt rather desponding as to the result of the
morrow's match. The ground was at last chosen, and two men set to work
upon it to water and roll; and then, there being yet some half-hour of
daylight, some one had suggested a dance on the turf. The close was
half full of citizens and their families, and the idea was hailed
with enthusiasm. The cornopean player was still on the ground. In five
minutes the eleven and half a dozen of the Wellesburn and Marylebone men
got partners somehow or another, and a merry country-dance was going on,
to which every one flocked, and new couples joined in every minute, till
there were a hundred of them going down the middle and up again; and the
long line of school buildings looked gravely down on them, every window
glowing with the last rays of the western sun; and the rooks clanged
about in the tops of the old elms, greatly excited, and resolved on
having their country-dance too; and the great flag flapped lazily in the
gentle western breeze.
Pages:
346
347
348
349
350
351
352
353
354
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370