Part 3 (1/2)

”Oh, I know!” said Tom, but his father stopped him.

”If you say that to me again I shall not let you go to your uncle's. If you know so well, you ought to practise what you know, and give less anxiety to your mother and me.”

At last the day came. His father saw him off at the station; and, after a journey of two hours, Tom arrived at the Felford station, and found his uncle's wagon had come to meet him, and Allan was in it. The boys had much to say to each other; for they had not met for some months, and were always good friends, Allan being only eight months younger than Tom. Allan had much to tell of their plans for enjoyment while Tom was at Felford, and among other pleasant things, there was to be a village cricket match, in which Allan was to play.

”And you, too, Tom,” he said, for he never doubted his cousin's powers.

”It won't be a very grand match, you see, but it will be capital fun, and the boys play”--

”Oh, I know!” said Tom.

”All right: that will be capital,” said Allan; and Tom, who had never held a bat in his life, found himself engaged to play in the match.

”But I shall find it quite easy,” he thought. ”I've seen it played, and the boys at school seem to find it simple enough.”

His uncle was out riding when Tom reached Felford, having had business to attend to, so the boys at once went out into the garden and inspected the scene of the future cricket match.

Tom looked at it a moment, then visions of Lords came before him, and he said decidedly, ”It wants rolling dreadfully!”

”Father said it was too dry to roll,” said Allan, in rather a melancholy tone. ”You see, if”--

”Oh, I know!” interrupted Tom; ”but we might try to roll it ourselves, don't you know. That would be fun, and it would surprise him. Is there a roller anywhere?”

”Yes, the small garden-roller; but Father said”--

”Oh, I know!” said Tom impatiently. ”Let us fetch it.”

Allan said no more. It was clear that Tom did not intend to listen to anything he had to say.

”Do you know how to use the roller?” asked Allan.

”I should hope so! Any one must know that,” said Tom; and away they went to fetch it.

Now, there is a right way and a wrong way to do everything, and a garden-roller should be _pulled_ and not _pushed_, but this Tom did not understand; therefore, he set to work with Allan to push the roller through the garden towards the field, while Twinkle, the fox-terrier, followed at their heels.

A garden-roller is an awkward thing to manage if you don't understand it. The iron handle is heavily weighted, and if pressed down and then released it springs up with great force, owing to the weight with which it is balanced.

Tom knew nothing of this; and Allan had never been allowed to touch the roller, so he was as ignorant as Tom. They had paused to draw breath, when Twinkle's bark of delight made Allan exclaim, ”There's Father!”

At that moment Tom took his arms off the iron handle on which they had been resting, and the handle sprang up. There was a cry from Allan, and Tom saw to his horror that one end of the iron bar had struck the boy just above the eye. It was a painful blow, and the bruise began at once to discolor and swell, so that by the time his father came up poor Allan was a piteous object.

It was a most unfortunate beginning to Tom's visit. Of course his uncle was angry, for the garden-roller was quite useless for the purpose of rolling the field, and the ground was so hard and dry that no rolling, even with the heaviest horse-roller, would have done any good. Allan was very sorry for Tom, and took more than a fair share of the blame, saying he ought to have been more careful; but he was rather distressed when he found that he had a black eye, and that it could not be well before the cricket match, when the boys would be sure to chaff him.

This exploit of Tom's and his uncle's anger made the boy more careful; and all went well until the day before the cricket match, when Tom and Allan went out for a private practice in the field.

”You aren't standing right. Your leg's before the wicket,” said Allan, as Tom stood ready, bat in hand, to receive the ball.

”Oh, I know! but it's only for practice,” said Tom quickly. ”Send me the ball.”

Allan bowled, Tom hit, the ball spun straight up in the air and came down almost at Tom's feet.