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As to Halfdan Long-leg himself, in fierce memory of his own murdered father, Turf-Einar "cut an eagle on his back," that is to say, hewed the ribs from each side of the spine and turned them out like the wings of a spread-eagle: a mode of Norse vengeance fashionable at that time in extremely aggravated cases!
But it never reached them; it stuck in Teddy's left glove instead, and none of us knew it till we saw him staggering towards long-leg, and tossing up the ball as he recovered balance. "That's the worst ball that ever took a wicket in this match!" vowed a reverend veteran as the din died down. "And the best catch!" cried Raffles. "Come on, Bunny; that's my nunc dimittis for the day.
The next was frightfully swift, and dead on, but it broke a bit to the leg, and I was just in time to get at it and send it right away between long-leg and long-stop in the elms a safe five if we'd been running. And old Bloomfield laughed and said he couldn't wait till the ball was sent up, and said I could turn up at the second-eleven Big practice to-morrow and see how I got on there.
She left off and blushed, directly he saw her. He blushed too, and touched his cap to her, with an air half manly, half sheepish, but did not speak to her. This was the last ball of the over, and, as the ball was now to be delivered from the other wicket, Compton took the place of long-leg.
The eleven positions on a cricket team are called bowler, wicket-keeper, long stop, slip, point cover-slip, cover-point, mid-off, long-leg, square-leg, mid-on. The one at bat is, as in baseball, called the batsman. The two lines between which the batsmen stand while batting are called "popping creases" and "bowling creases." A game played with wooden balls and mallets, on a flat piece of ground.
More correctly speaking, the field arranged itself. Indeed, our team hardly proved as amenable as might have been wished. The Doctor insisted on taking long-leg and long-oft. "Why?" asked his Captain, looking rather distrustfully at a buggy with some red parasols in it, which would be extremely close to the Doctor at long-leg.
"I set while Aunty's washin' on my little long-leg stool, An' watch the little boys an' girls a-skippin' by to school; An' I peck on the winder, an' holler out an' say: 'Who wants to fight The Little Man at dares you all to-day? An' nen the boys climbs on the fence, an' little girls peeks through, An' they all says: 'Cause you're so big, you think we're 'feard o' you! An' nen they yell, an' shake their fist at me, like I shake mine They're thist in fun, you know, 'cause I got 'Curv'ture of the Spine'!"
At last he actually did do so, but instead of breaking in and taking a wicket, as we, who were in the secret, hoped, the batsman got hold of it, and hit it high and hard to long-leg. All eyes turned to see if the Doctor's estimate of his own powers at a catch was justified. But he had disappeared entirely. He had not even left a substitute.
And as Lane says I ain't to have any birds unless I field at long-leg, I am going to field at long-leg." "Splendid!" cried Claudia, clapping her hands; "Sir Roderick Ayre at a rustic cricket-match! Mr. Morewood shall sketch you." "I've had enough of sketching just now," said Morewood. Ayre and Eugene looked up. Morewood nodded slightly. "Where's Stafford?" asked Ayre.
The score, amid terrific cheering, went up to fifty-two before a separation could be effected. Then Coates was caught at long-leg, and retired, covered with glory, in favour of Tipper. Alas for Parrett's! Tipper, in whom their forlorn hopes rested, was run out during his first over, while attempting to snatch a bye! It was an anxious moment while Bloomfield was deciding whom next to send in.
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