English fiction -- 20th century; Humorous stories, English; Short stories, English
If you had been in Berlin in 1916, you would have seen Peter; for he had
been persuaded, much against his will, to uphold the honour of Great
Britain in the middle-weights at the Olympic Games. He got a position in
the papers as "P. Riley, disqualified"--the result, he could only
suppose, of his folly in allowing his opponent to butt him in the
stomach. He was both annoyed and amused about it; offered to fight his
vanquisher any time in England; and privately thanked Heaven that he
could now get back to London in time for his favourite sister's wedding.
But he didn't. The English trainer, who had been sent, at the public
expense, to America for a year, to study the proper methods, got hold of
him.
"I've been watching you, young man," he said. "You'll have to give
yourself up to me now. You're the coming champion."
"I'm sorry," said Peter politely, "but I shan't be fighting again."
"Fighting!" said the trainer scornfully. "Don't you worry; I'll take
good care that you don't fight any more. The event _you're_ going to win
is 'Pushing the Chisel.' I've been watching you, and you've got the most
perfect neck and calf-muscles for it I've ever seen. No more fighting
for you, my boy; nor cricket, nor anything else. I'm not going to let
you spoil those muscles."
"I don't think I've ever pushed the Chisel," said Peter. "Besides, it's
over, isn't it?"
"Over? Of course it's over, and that confounded American won. 'Poor old
England,' as all the papers said."
"Then it's too late to begin to practise," said Peter thankfully.
"Well, it's too late for the 1920 games. But we can do a lot in eight
years, and I think I can get you fit for the 1924 games at Pekin."
Peter stared at him in amazement.
"My good man," he said at last, "in 1924 I shall be in London; and I
hope in the House of Commons."
"And what about the honour of your country? Do you want to read the
jeers in the American papers when we lose 'Pushing the Chisel' in 1924?"
"I don't care a curse what the American papers say," said Peter angrily.
"Then you're very different from other Englishmen," said the trainer
sternly.
. . . . .
Of course, Peter was persuaded; he couldn't let England be the
laughing-stock of the world. So for eight years he lived under the eye
of the trainer, rising at five and retiring to bed at seven-thirty. This
prevented him from taking much part in the ordinary social activities of
the evening; and even his luncheon and garden-party invitations had to
be declined in some such words as "Mr. Peter Riley regrets that he is
unable to accept Lady Vavasour's kind invitation for Monday the 13th, as
he will be hopping round the garden on one leg then." His career, too,
had to be abandoned; for it was plain that, even if he had the leisure
to get into Parliament, the early hours he kept would not allow him to
take part in any important divisions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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