"Thank you," I said haughtily, "I will have ten." It is true that he
beat me last time, but then owing to bad management on my part I had
nine bisques left at the moment of defeat simply eating their heads off.
Henry teed up and drove a "Pink Spot" out of sight. Henry swears by the
"Pink Spot" if there is anything of a wind. I use either a "Quo Vadis,"
which is splendid for going out of bounds, or an "Ostrich," which has a
wonderful way of burying itself in the sand. I followed him to the green
at my leisure.
"Five," said Henry.
"Seven," said I; "and if I take three bisques it's my hole."
"You must only take one at a time," protested Henry.
"Why? There's nothing in Baedeker about it. Besides, I will only take
one at a time if it makes it easier for you. I take one, and that brings
me down to six, and then another one and that brings me down to five,
and then another one and that brings me down to four. There! And as you
did the hole in five, I win."
"Well, of course, if you like to waste them all at the start----"
"I'm not wasting them, I'm creating a moral effect. Behold, I have won
the first hole; let us be photographed together."
Henry went to the next tee slightly ruffled and topped his ball into the
road. I had kept mine well this side of it and won in four to five.
"I shan't take any bisques here," I said. "Two up."
At the third tee my "Quo Vadis" darted off suddenly to the left and
tried to climb the hill. I headed it off and gave it a nasty dent from
behind when it wasn't looking, and with my next shot started it rolling
down the mountains with ever-increasing velocity. Not until it was
within a foot of the pin did it condescend to stop. Henry, who had
reached the green with his drive and had taken one putt too many, halved
the hole in four. I took a bisque and was three up.
The fourth hole was prettily played by both of us, and with two bisques
I had it absolutely stiff. Unnerved by this, Henry went all out at the
fifth and tried to carry the stream in two. Unfortunately (I mean
unfortunately for him) the stream was six inches too broad in the
particular place at which he tried to carry it. My own view is that he
should either have chosen another place or else have got a narrower
stream from somewhere. As it was I won in an uneventful six, and took
with a bisque the short hole which followed.
"Six up," I pointed out to Henry, "and three bisques left. They're jolly
little things, bisques, but you want to use them quickly. _Bisque dat
qui cito dat._ Doesn't the sea look ripping to-day?"
"Go on," growled Henry.
"I once did a two at this hole," I said, as I teed my ball. "If I did a
two now and took a bisque, you'd have to do it in nothing in order to
win. A solemn thought."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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