But the sixth was of a different kind. Faster than the rest and of a perfect length, it all but got through Mike’s defence. As it was, he stopped it. But he did not score. The umpire called “Over!” and there was Grant at the batting end, with de Freece smiling pleasantly as he walked back to begin his run with the comfortable reflection that at last he had got somebody except Mike to bowl at. That over was an experience Mike never forgot. Grant pursued the Fabian policy of keeping his bat almost immovable and trusting to luck. Point and the slips crowded round. Mid-off and mid-on moved half-way down the pitch. Grant looked embarrassed, but determined. For four balls he baffled the attack, though once nearly caught by point a yard from the wicket. The fifth curled round his bat, and touched the off-stump. A bail fell silently to the ground. Devenish came in to take the last ball of the over. It was an awe-inspiring moment. A great stillness was over all the ground. Mike’s knees trembled. Devenish’s face was a delicate grey. The only person unmoved seemed to be de Freece. His smile was even more amiable than usual as he began his run. The next moment the crisis was past. The ball hit the very centre of Devenish’s bat, and rolled back down the pitch. The school broke into one great howl of joy. There were still seven runs between them and victory, but nobody appeared to recognise this fact as important. Mike had got the bowling, and the bowling was not de Freece’s. It seemed almost an anti-climax when a four to leg and two two’s through the slips settled the thing. * * * * * Devenish was caught and bowled in de Freece’s next over; but the Wrykyn total was one hundred and seventy-two. * * * * * “Good game,” said Maclaine, meeting Burgess in the pavilion. “Who was the man who made all the runs? How many, by the way?” “Eighty-three. It was young Jackson. Brother of the other one.” “That family! How many more of them are you going to have here?” “He’s the last. I say, rough luck on de Freece. He bowled rippingly.” Politeness to a beaten foe caused Burgess to change his usual “not bad.” “The funny part of it is,” continued he, “that young Jackson was only playing as a sub.” “You’ve got a rum idea of what’s funny,” said Maclaine. CHAPTER XXIX WYATT AGAIN