All the rest of that evening he pondered over the matter, deeply perplexed. It would be nothing less than cruel to let Sheen enter the ring at Aldershot if he were incompetent. Boxing in the Public Schools Boxing Competition is not a pastime for the incompetent. But he wished very much that Wrykyn should be represented, and also he sympathised with Sheen's eagerness to wipe out the stain on his honour, and the honour of the house. But, like Drummond, he could not help harbouring a suspicion that this was a pose. He felt that Sheen was intoxicated by his imagination. Every one likes to picture himself doing dashing things in the limelight, with an appreciative multitude to applaud. Would this mood stand the test of action? Against this there was the evidence of Joe Bevan. Joe had said that Sheen was worthy to fight for his school, and Joe knew. Mr Spence went to bed still in a state of doubt. Next morning he hit upon a solution of the difficulty. Wandering in the grounds before school, he came upon O'Hara, who, as has been stated before, had won the Light-Weights at Aldershot in the previous year. He had come to Wrykyn for the Sports. Here was the man to help him. O'Hara should put on the gloves with Sheen and report. "I'm in rather a difficulty, O'Hara," he said, "and you can help me." "What's that?" inquired O'Hara. "You know both our light-weights are on the sick list? I had just resigned myself to going down to Aldershot without any one to box, when a boy in Seymour's volunteered for the vacant place. I don't know if you knew him at school? Sheen. Do you remember him?" "Sheen?" cried O'Hara in amazement. "Not _Sheen_!"... His recollections of Sheen were not conducive to a picture of him as a public-school boxer. "Yes. I had never heard of him as a boxer. Still, he seems very anxious to go down, and he certainly has one remarkable testimonial, and as there's no one else--" "And what shall I do?" asked O'Hara. "I want you, if you will, to give him a trial in the dinner-hour. Just see if he's any good at all. If he isn't, of course, don't hit him about a great deal. But if he shows signs of being a useful man, extend him. See what he can do." "Very well, sir," said O'Hara. "And you might look in at my house at tea-time, if you have nothing better to do, and tell me what you think of him." At five o'clock, when he entered Mr Spence's study, O'Hara's face wore the awe-struck look of one who had seen visions. "Well?" said Mr Spence. "Did you find him any good?" "Good?" said O'Hara. "He'll beat them all. He's a champion. There's no stopping him." "What an extraordinary thing!" said Mr Spence. XX SHEEN GOES TO ALDERSHOT