156 THE COMPLETE SPORTSMAN 



unless he chanced to be mnning. The look of 

 concentrated loathing which he cast upon a 

 more fortunate rival was enough to spoil the 

 pleasure of any game, and as soon as he became 

 " two down," he would adopt an attitude of 

 mute melancholia that rendered him the least 

 desirable golfing companion in the world. At 

 Hoylake, indeed. Colonel Waters was very 

 generally known as " Siloam " — he had, they 

 flippantly said, such a troubled face ! 



In one respect alone is it fair to say that golf 

 is a selfish pastime; it is perhaps the only game 

 that a man can pleasurably and profitably play 

 all by himself. 



An attempt to play lawn-tennis all alone is 

 seldom satisfactory; indeed, my uncle, Horace 

 Biffin, is one of the few men I ever heard of who 

 seems to have derived any amusement from 

 this form of entertainment. Even so the result 

 was often more interesting for spectators than 

 for the single player. You see, Uncle Horace 

 was compelled by the exigencies of the situation 

 to lob his service very high into the air, in 

 order that he might be able to run round to the 

 other side of the net in time to return the ball; 

 and he never dared to send it back with any 

 violence if he wished to sprint round again in 

 time to take his return. At the back of his 

 mind, therefore, there lay the perpetual con- 



