"When we get licked tomorrow by half-a-dozen wickets," said JimmySilver, lilting his chair until the back touched the wall, "don't sayI didn't warn you. If you fellows take down what I say from time totime in note-books, as you ought to do, you'll remember that I offeredto give anyone odds that Kay's would out us in the final. I alwayssaid that a really hot man like Fenn was more good to a side thanhalf-a-dozen ordinary men. He can do all the bowling and all thebatting. All the fielding, too, in the slips."Tea was just over at Blackburn's, and the bulk of the house had goneacross to preparation in the school buildings. The prefects, as wastheir custom, lingered on to finish the meal at their leisure. Theseafter-tea conversations were quite an institution at Blackburn's. Thelabours of the day were over, and the time for preparation for themorrow had not yet come. It would be time to be thinking of that inanother hour. Meanwhile, a little relaxation might be enjoyed.

　　Especially so as this was the last day but two of the summer term, andall necessity for working after tea had ceased with the arrival of thelast lap of the examinations.

　　Silver was head of the house, and captain of its cricket team, whichwas nearing the end of its last match, the final for the inter-housecup, and--on paper--getting decidedly the worst of it. After riding intriumph over the School House, Bedell's, and Mulholland's, Blackburn'shad met its next door neighbour, Kay's, in the final, and, to thesurprise of the great majority of the school, was showing up badly.

　　The match was affording one more example of how a team of averagemerit all through may sometimes fall before a one-man side.

　　Blackburn's had the three last men on the list of the first eleven,Silver, Kennedy, and Challis, and at least nine of its representativeshad the reputation of being able to knock up a useful twenty or thirtyat any time. Kay's, on the other hand, had one man, Fenn. After himthe tail started. But Fenn was such an exceptional all-round man that,as Silver had said, he was as good as half-a-dozen of the Blackburn'steam, equally formidable whether batting or bowling--he headed theschool averages at both. He was one of those batsmen who seem to knowexactly what sort of ball you are going to bowl before it leaves yourhand, and he could hit like another Jessop. As for his bowling, hebowled left hand--always a puzzling eccentricity to an undevelopedbatsman--and could send them down very fast or very slow, as hethought best, and it was hard to see which particular brand he wasgoing to serve up before it was actually in mid-air.

　　But it is not necessary to enlarge on his abilities. The figuresagainst his name in _Wisden_ prove a good deal. The fact that hehad steered Kay's through into the last round of the house-matchesproves still more. It was perfectly obvious to everyone that, if onlyyou could get Fenn out for under ten, Kay's total for that inningswould be nearer twenty than forty. They were an appalling side. Butthen no house bowler had as yet succeeded in getting Fenn out forunder ten. In the six innings he had played in the competition up todate, he had made four centuries, an eighty, and a seventy.