86 A Sportsman at Large 



Having me now under his hand, he was not keen on re- 

 linquishing the hold ; so I had to stay two terms in his form ; 

 the first check to my meteoric rise in the scholastic firmament. 

 Thence, through the Removes and the Fifths I progressed, 

 finally coming to a standstill in "The Second Fifth " 

 ("Vanity" Watson's). 



So much for my more erudite education. Now about my 

 exploits ' ' out of school. " ' ' Villainous saltpetre, ' ' as you know, 

 had an irresistible attraction for me, so I elected to join the 

 School Cadet Corps and take up rifle shooting. 



The weapon served out to us was the " Long Sneider ; " 

 rather cumbersome, but very accurate. In those days, in the 

 recruits' classes, one had to fire standing, at the shorter ranges. 

 The rifle was considerably longer than myself, so it was a good 

 thing that I was strong in the arm, or I should have failed to 

 bring it to shoulder and keep it steady ; but I successfully 

 overcame such physical difficulties, and scored quite respectably 

 in all my classes, finally achieving the honour of the marksman's 

 badge. What is more, I was tried for " The XI " and shot 

 in the preliminary matches with quite consistent success. 

 The time came when the final selection of Harrow representa- 

 tives for Wimbledon had to be made. I was on tenterhooks, 

 for it came to my ears that the two masters (Messrs. Holmes 

 and Bull), who represented the staff, were dubious about 

 including such a microscopic lad as myself ; for they feared 

 that when it came to the contest for the Ashburton Shield, 

 I might be overcome with " stage fright," or afflicted with 

 one of my " knock-out " headaches. But there was no getting 

 away from my average, which stood second on the list. I 

 had a staunch friend in our C. 0., Capt. " Cherry " Trench, 

 who insisted on my being given my " blue." I shall never 

 forget my elation when, calling at the office of The Harrovian 

 (then edited by my now club friend, Walter Sichel), I was 

 shown by him the list of selections. I was high up therein. 

 Glory be ! 



Came the great day, and it was a scorcher ! 



Among my comrades were Trench, Harrison, Cunliffe, 

 Apcar, Todd, Hayward, Porteous, Bailie-Hamilton and 

 Blewitt (Bill of that ilk). 



