"Good! I don't feel so bad at having turned them out, then. It's great
here!"
"Rather! On the whole, I feel thoroughly grateful to Joyce."
From the girls' point of view there really was matter for
congratulation. None of them was ill, and all were having a most
delightful and quite unexpected three weeks' holiday in idyllic
surroundings. Their arms, to be sure, had "taken," and were more or less
sore, but that was a trifling inconvenience compared with the pleasures
of living in Camp. There was no anxiety to be felt about Joyce, she had
the disease very slightly, and was being treated with such extreme care
that her face would not be marked afterwards. It was ascertained that
she had caught the infection from some Belgians who had come over lately
from Holland, and who were now isolated by Dr. Barnes in a Cottage
Hospital. The Seaton High School was undergoing elaborate disinfection,
and as June was well advanced, the Governors had decided not to re-open
until September, when all possibility of contagion would have passed
away. This was the only part of the proceedings that did not please the
girls.
"It's rather sickening to have no end to the term," groaned Marjorie.
"Our matches are all off, and no swimming display or sports. It's rough
on Margaret and Kirsty particularly. Do you realize that when we go back
in September they'll both have left? All the prefects are leaving."
"Oh, hard luck! Who'll take their places?"
"Some of our noble selves, I suppose, if we're promoted to the Sixth."
"Who'll be General and Games Captain?"
"Ah! Ask me a harder, my intelligent child."
"I think I could put my finger on one of them, at any rate."
"So could I, perhaps, but I don't care to prophesy too soon," sighed
Bessie.
Whoever might be destined to wear future laurels at school, Winona, as
Captain of the V.a. team, assumed direction of the games at the
Camp. Part of the pasture was sufficiently level to make quite a fair
cricket pitch, while a piece in the opposite corner served as a tennis
court. An old man from the farm was bribed to come and cut the grass
with a scythe, but as no lawn-mower or roller was available, the result
was decidedly rough. The tennis enthusiasts rigged up a tape in lieu of
a net, and marked some courts with lime begged from the farmer. Their
games, owing to the general bumpiness of the ground, had at least the
charm of variety and excitement, and four umpires had to keep careful
and continual watch in order to decide whether the balls went over or
under the tape, which indeed collapsed occasionally, as the poles were
only sticks cut from the hedge.
If the tennis was funny, the cricket was even funnier. Many of the girls
could not use their left arms at all, consequently the batting was
extraordinary, and sometimes the easiest catches were missed. It was
very amusing, however, and perhaps for that reason provided more
entertainment than the most strict and orthodox play under the critical
eye of Kirsty might have done.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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