Mike

It was a situation which exactly suited his frame of mind; he stood alone in direct opposition to the community into which Fate had pitchforked him so abruptly.  He liked the feeling; for the first time since his father had given him his views upon school reports that morning in the Easter holidays, he felt satisfied with life.  He hoped, outnumbered as he was, that the enemy would come on again and not give the thing up in disgust; he wanted more.

On an occasion like this there is rarely anything approaching concerted action on the part of the aggressors.  When the attack came, it was not a combined attack; Stone, who was nearest to the door, made a sudden dash forward, and Mike hit him under the chin.

Stone drew back, and there was another interval for rest and reflection.

It was interrupted by the reappearance of Psmith, who strolled back along the passage swinging his dressing-gown cord as if it were some clouded cane.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, Comrade Jackson,” he said politely.  “Duty called me elsewhere.  With the kindly aid of a guide who knows the lie of the land, I have been making a short tour of the dormitories.  I have poured divers jugfuls of water over Comrade Spiller’s bed, Comrade Robinson’s bed, Comrade Stone’s—­Spiller, Spiller, these are harsh words; where you pick them up I can’t think—­not from me.  Well, well, I suppose there must be an end to the pleasantest of functions.  Good-night, good-night.”

The door closed behind Mike and himself.  For ten minutes shufflings and whisperings went on in the corridor, but nobody touched the handle.

Then there was a sound of retreating footsteps, and silence reigned.

On the following morning there was a notice on the house-board.  It ran:

CHAPTER XXXVI ADAIR

On the same morning Mike met Adair for the first time.

He was going across to school with Psmith and Jellicoe, when a group of three came out of the gate of the house next door.

“That’s Adair,” said Jellicoe, “in the middle.”

His voice had assumed a tone almost of awe.

“Who’s Adair?” asked Mike.

“Captain of cricket, and lots of other things.”

Mike could only see the celebrity’s back.  He had broad shoulders and wiry, light hair, almost white.  He walked well, as if he were used to running.  Altogether a fit-looking sort of man.  Even Mike’s jaundiced eye saw that.

As a matter of fact, Adair deserved more than a casual glance.  He was that rare type, the natural leader.  Many boys and men, if accident, or the passage of time, places them in a position where they are expected to lead, can handle the job without disaster; but that is a very different thing from being a born leader.  Adair was of the sort that comes to the top by sheer force of character and determination.  He was not naturally clever at work, but he had gone at it with a dogged resolution which had carried him up the school, and landed him high in the Sixth.  As a cricketer he was almost entirely self-taught.  Nature had given him a good eye, and left the thing at that.  Adair’s doggedness had triumphed over her failure to do her work thoroughly.  At the cost of more trouble than most people give to their life-work he had made himself into a bowler.  He read the authorities, and watched first-class players, and thought the thing out on his own account, and he divided the art of bowling into three sections.  First, and most important—­pitch.  Second on the list—­break.  Third—­pace.  He set himself to acquire pitch.  He acquired it.  Bowling at his own pace and without any attempt at break, he could now drop the ball on an envelope seven times out of ten.

Break was a more uncertain quantity.  Sometimes he could get it at the expense of pitch, sometimes at the expense of pace.  Some days he could get all three, and then he was an uncommonly bad man to face on anything but a plumb wicket.

Running he had acquired in a similar manner.  He had nothing approaching style, but he had twice won the mile and half-mile at the Sports off elegant runners, who knew all about stride and the correct timing of the sprints and all the rest of it.

Briefly, he was a worker.  He had heart.