“Here is a nice point, which I think an Imperial Conference might be
called upon to determine. General Botha, let us say, has a little dog,
which takes some intelligent interest in the game of golf, as do many
other dogs. He goes out to play a match with Dr. Jameson, and despite
all rule and custom, ‘Bobs,’ as the little dog is called, is permitted
to accompany them. When approaching the fourth hole the Doctor plays a
lovely wrist shot with his iron which sends the ball on to the green,
trickling close up to the pin. In one of his frisky moments that
wretched dog scampers after it, picks it up in his mouth before it (the
ball) had stopped running, and then begins playing about with it. The
dog drops the ball on to the green two or three times, paws at it and
plays with it, and then, seemingly struck by an inspiration, rolls it
into the hole. ‘By Jove! That’s my hole, then, Botha!’ exclaims the
Doctor, although the General has laid his ball dead with his mashie with
the like. ‘How do you make that out? Let us be fair, now that we are
such good friends,’ says Botha. ‘Most certainly,’ replies the Doctor,
‘but you must see that as the ball went into the hole from that last
shot of mine I holed from that shot. Of course it was a pity that your
dog got up to his tricks, but he is an outside agency, and I don’t see
that it makes any difference to the result.’ Botha thinks awhile. Then
he asks, ‘Did you watch “Bobs” closely while he had the ball?’
Dr. Jameson assented. ‘Then,’ Botha says, ‘there may be one
circumstance in which you do not win that hole, my friend, and when we
go to England we will discuss it with the authorities.’ Now what was
passing through Botha’s mind, and is his point a good one anyway?”
“Excellent for you, Colonel,” said the M.P. after a moment’s pause.
“Now, gentlemen, what must we do with Botha, for it is clear that we are
the authority to whom he refers. But then we have a right to know what
it was that Botha had in his mind at the finish of his little argument
with Dr. Jim. You will tell us that, Colonel?”
“Botha urges that he saw ‘Bobs’ let the ball come to rest when pawing it
about.”
“And what does Jameson say to that?” inquired the Author.
“Oh, Jameson does not deny it. He says that he did not see it, but he
thinks it very probable, and he will certainly yield that point if it is
material, as he desires that the case should be settled strictly on its
merits, neither side taking any unfair advantage of the other.”
“It is a pity that they could not settle it on terms of equity,” said
the Parson.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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