“I asked Burgess afterwards what he thought of your batting, and he said, ‘Not bad.’  But he says that about everything.  It’s his highest form of praise.  He says it when he wants to let himself go and simply butter up a thing.  If you took him to see N. A. Knox bowl, he’d say he wasn’t bad.  What he meant was that he was jolly struck with your batting, and is going to play you for the Under Sixteen.”

“I hope so,” said Mike.

The prophecy was fulfilled.  On the following Wednesday there was a match between the Under Sixteen and a scratch side.  Mike’s name was among the Under Sixteen.  And on the Saturday he was playing for the third eleven in a trial game.

“This place is ripping,” he said to himself, as he saw his name on the list.  “Thought I should like it.”

And that night he wrote a letter to his father, notifying him of the fact.

CHAPTER V 

REVELRY BY NIGHT

A succession of events combined to upset Mike during his first fortnight at school.  He was far more successful than he had any right to be at his age.  There is nothing more heady than success, and if it comes before we are prepared for it, it is apt to throw us off our balance.  As a rule, at school, years of wholesome obscurity make us ready for any small triumphs we may achieve at the end of our time there.  Mike had skipped these years.  He was older than the average new boy, and his batting was undeniable.  He knew quite well that he was regarded as a find by the cricket authorities; and the knowledge was not particularly good for him.  It did not make him conceited, for his was not a nature at all addicted to conceit.  The effect it had on him was to make him excessively pleased with life.  And when Mike was pleased with life he always found a difficulty in obeying Authority and its rules.  His state of mind was not improved by an interview with Bob.

Some evil genius put it into Bob’s mind that it was his duty to be, if only for one performance, the Heavy Elder Brother to Mike; to give him good advice.  It is never the smallest use for an elder brother to attempt to do anything for the good of a younger brother at school, for the latter rebels automatically against such interference in his concerns; but Bob did not know this.  He only knew that he had received a letter from home, in which his mother had assumed without evidence that he was leading Mike by the hand round the pitfalls of life at Wrykyn; and his conscience smote him.  Beyond asking him occasionally, when they met, how he was getting on (a question to which Mike invariably replied, “Oh, all right"), he was not aware of having done anything brotherly towards the youngster.  So he asked Mike to tea in his study one afternoon before going to the nets.

Mike arrived, sidling into the study in the half-sheepish, half-defiant manner peculiar to small brothers in the presence of their elders, and stared in silence at the photographs on the walls.  Bob was changing into his cricket things.  The atmosphere was one of constraint and awkwardness.

The arrival of tea was the cue for conversation.

“Well, how are you getting on?” asked Bob.

“Oh, all right,” said Mike.

Silence.

“Sugar?” asked Bob.

“Thanks,” said Mike.

“How many lumps?”

“Two, please.”

“Cake?”

“Thanks.”

Silence.

Bob pulled himself together.

“Like Wain’s?”

“Ripping.”

“I asked Firby-Smith to keep an eye on you,” said Bob.

“What!” said Mike.

The mere idea of a worm like the Gazeka being told to keep an eye on him was degrading.

“He said he’d look after you,” added Bob, making things worse.

Look after him!  Him!!  M. Jackson, of the third eleven!!!

Mike helped himself to another chunk of cake, and spoke crushingly.

“He needn’t trouble,” he said.  “I can look after myself all right, thanks.”

Bob saw an opening for the entry of the Heavy Elder Brother.

“Look here, Mike,” he said, “I’m only saying it for your good——­”

I should like to state here that it was not Bob’s habit to go about the world telling people things solely for their good.  He was only doing it now to ease his conscience.

“Yes?” said Mike coldly.

“It’s only this.  You know, I should keep an eye on myself if I were you.  There’s nothing that gets a chap so barred here as side.”

“What do you mean?” said Mike, outraged.

“Oh, I’m not saying anything against you so far,” said Bob.  “You’ve been all right up to now.  What I mean to say is, you’ve got on so well at cricket, in the third and so on, there’s just a chance you might start to side about a bit soon, if you don’t watch yourself.  I’m not saying a word against you so far, of course.  Only you see what I mean.”

Mike’s feelings were too deep for words.  In sombre silence he reached out for the jam; while Bob, satisfied that he had delivered his message in a pleasant and tactful manner, filled his cup, and cast about him for further words of wisdom.

“Seen you about with Wyatt a good deal,” he said at length.

“Yes,” said Mike.

“Like him?”

“Yes,” said Mike cautiously.