_First A.B._ Not they. Why, look yonder! There's one of 'em in full fig. Lady-Cricketer from cap to shoes--short skirt, knickers, belt, blouse, gloves, and all the rest of it. D'ye think that sort means volunteer scouting only? Not a bit of it. Mean playing the game, Sir, and having regular teams of their own. _Second A.B._ Look at her! She's a speaking to the Grand Old Champion himself! _First A.B._ Giving him a bit of her mind, you bet. What's that she's saying? _Second A.B._ Why, that she admires his style immensely, and doesn't want to spoil his game; but that, _after_ the next great All England Match, if not sooner, they mean to have a team of their own and go in for the game all round! _First A.B._ Ah, what did I say? * * * * * [Illustration: THE POLITICAL LADY-CRICKETERS. _Lady Cricketer._ "A TEAM OF OUR OWN? I SHOULD THINK SO! IF WE'RE GOOD ENOUGH TO SCOUT FOR YOU, WHY SHOULDN'T WE TAKE A TURN AT THE BAT?"] * * * * * CONFESSIONS OF A DUFFER. NO. X.--THE DUFFER ON THE TURF. "A horse for a protection is a deceitful thing," as the Scotch translator of KING DAVID has it, and I entirely agree with him. I rather wish to be protected from a horse, than expect any succour from a creature so large, muscular and irrational. Far from being "courageous," as his friends say, the horse (I am not speaking of the war-horse) is afraid of almost everything, that is why I am afraid of him. He is a most nervous animal, and I am a nervous rider. He is afraid of a bicycle or a wheel-barrow, which do not alarm the most timid bipeds, and when he is afraid he shies, and when he shies I no longer remain. Irrational he is, or he would not let people ride him, however, I never met a horse that would let _me_ do so. It is with the horse as an instrument of gambling that I am concerned. In that sense I have "backed" him, in no other sense to any satisfactory result. With all his four legs he stumbles more than one does with only a pair, an extraordinary proof of his want of harmony with his environment.