A Prefect's Uncle

know his way after the first two miles, and the hedges at the roadsi

raight, but after that it was unexplored country. The Bishop, being in both cricket and football teams,

er two equally gently to the left. He dismounted and the feelings of gratitude which he had borne towards his informant for his lucid directions vanished suddenly. He gazed searchingly at the three roads, but to single out one of them as straighter than the other two was a task that baffled him completely. A sign-post informed him of three things. By following road one he might get to Bri

. He waited a considerable time, and at last, just as he was about to trust to luck, and make for Much Middlefold-on-the-Hill, a figure loo

way to Anfield, please?' s

glassy but determined stare from head to foot. Then he looked earnestly at t

said at

l me the way

fie

w do I g

replied did so after the style

ving a hand down the road by whi

I know,' sa

ject. 'Lived there fifty-five years, I have. Yeou go straight down t

ed from rending the s

e said desperately. 'Where I want to get is A

ligence illumined his countenance. 'Whoy, Anfield be sam

shot off in the direction indicated. A quarter of a mile farther he looked ove

destination. The notice had changed to three miles and again to two, when suddenly he felt that jarring sensation which every cyclist knows. His back tyre was punctured. It was impo

to have avoided his species, men seemed to spring up from nowhere, and every man of them had a remark to make

nversation on the subject. At last one, more

oice. Gethryn turned. A man was

ived p

p?' said

the man, pointing an accusin

g the brute. Probably he was

s let the air out when I'm riding. It looks so much bette

e after this outburst, he wheeled hi

ng. He left his machine out in the road and went on to the platform. The first thing that caught his eye was the station clock with its hands pointing to five past fou

a youth. And a further scrutiny convinced the Bishop of the fact that the youth was none other than Master Reginald Farnie, late of Beckfor

is the only creditable thing about them--call themselves comic. He did not

omewhat, but his feelings on that occasion were not to be compared with what he felt on seeing the one person whom

ed, if he had waited for Farnie to brea

e said. Far

n.' Far

'Hurry up. And now you will jolly well

n's back wheel to be mended. This took time. I

about to mount, 'there's that mon

from the study. Six was all he was able to

to Monk,' s

nd, the mere mention of Monk was suffi

u do that for? What's M

sacked if I didn't pa

d not said. He had hinted. And he h

ishop. 'What had you

d aside and let the thing go on. Against the extreme penalty of School law he felt bound as a matter of family duty to shield his relative. And he saw a bad time coming for himself in the very near future. Either he must expose Farnie, which he had resolved not to do, or he must refuse to explain his absence from the

had trains to catch. Evidently this had happened today. It might mean that the School had won easily--they had looked like making a big score when he had left the ground--in wh

tudy. Several boys, as he passed them, look

l in flannels, and looked as if he had begun to change

e the dickens have you been all the afternoon

e Bishop, 'I can't tell you. I

ool licked in the M.C.C. match, and that we haven't beaten the M.C.C. for about a dozen years, and

they

ts, I mean. We made 213. Your b

yn sa

said blankly,

ot. You can't do a thing like this, and then refuse to offer

's going to be a row, but I can't expl

o put Norris off, I'm afraid. He's most awfully sick about the match. He fielded badly, which always makes him shirty. Jephson, too. You'll have a bad time with Jephson. His one wish after the match was to have your gor

'If Monk gives me any of his beast

asure to the next day, when he would have to meet Norris and the rest. It would have been bad in any