"Friend of yours!--My dear sir, how are you?--Friend of my friend's--give me your hand, sir"--and the stranger grasped Mr.Wardle's hand with all the fervour of a close intimacy of many years, and then stepped back a pace or two as if to take a full survey of his face and figure, and then shook hands with him again, if possible, more warmly than before.
"Well; and how came you here?" said Mr.Pickwick, with a smile in which benevolence struggled with surprise.
"Come," replied the stranger--"stopping at Crown--Crown at Muggleton--met a party--flannel jackets--white trousers--anchovy sandwiches--devilled kidneys--splendid fellows--glorious."Mr.Pickwick was sufficiently versed in the stranger's system of stenography to infer from this rapid and disjointed communication that he had, somehow or other, contracted an acquaintance with the All-Muggletons, which he had converted, by a process peculiar to himself, into that extent of good fellowship on which a general invitation may be easily founded.His curiosity was therefore satisfied, and putting on his spectacles he prepared himself to watch the play which was just commencing.
All-Muggleton had the first innings; and the interest became intense when Mr.Dumpkins and Mr.Podder, two of the most renowned members of that most distinguished club, walked, bat in hand, to their respective wickets.
Mr.Luffey, the highest ornament of Dingley Dell, was pitched to bowl against the redoubtable Dumkins, and Mr.Struggles was selected to do the same kind office for the hitherto unconquered Podder.Several players were stationed, to "look out," in different parts of the field, and each fixed himself into the proper attitude by placing one hand on each knee, and stooping very much as if he were "making a back" for some beginner at leap-frog.
All the regular players do this sort of thing;--indeed it's generally supposed that it is quite impossible to look out properly in any other position.
The umpires were stationed behind the wickets; the scorers were prepared to notch the runs; a breathless silence ensued.Mr.Luffey retired a few paces behind the wicket of the passive Podder, and applied the ball to his right eye for several seconds.Dumkins confidently awaited its coming with his eyes fixed on the motions of Luffey.
"Play!" suddenly cried the bowler.The ball flew from his hand straight and swift towards the centre stump of the wicket.The wary Dumkins was on the alert; it fell upon the tip of the bat, and bounded far away over the heads of the scouts, who had just stooped low enough to let it fly over them.
"Run--run--another.--Now, then, throw her up--up with her--stop there--another--no--yes--no--throw her up, throw her up!"--Such were the shouts which followed the stroke;and, at the conclusion of which All-Muggleton had scored two.Nor was Podder behindhand in earning laurels wherewith to garnish himself and Muggleton.
He blocked the doubtful balls, missed the bad ones, took the good ones, and sent them flying to all parts of the field.The scouts were hot and tired; the bowlers were changed and bowled till their arms ached; but Dumkins and Podder remained unconquered.Did an elderly gentleman essay to stop the progress of the ball, it rolled between his legs or slipped between his fingers.Did a slim gentleman try to catch it, it struck him on the nose, and bounded pleasantly off with redoubled violence, while the slim gentleman's eye filled with water, and his form writhed with anguish.Was it thrown straight up to the wicket, Dumkins had reached it before the ball.In short, when Dumkins was caught out, and Podder stumped out, All-Muggleton had notched some fifty-four, while the score of the Dingley Dellers was as blank as their faces.The advantage was too great to be recovered.In vain did the eager Luffey, and the enthusiastic Struggles, do all that skill and experience could suggest, to regain the ground Dingley Dell had lost in the contest;--it was of no avail; and in an early period of the winning game Dingley Dell gave in, and allowed the superior prowess of All-Muggleton.
The stranger, meanwhile, had been eating, drinking, and talking, without cessation.At every good stroke he expressed his satisfaction and approval of the player in a most condescending and patronising manner, which could not fail to have been highly gratifying to the party concerned; while at every bad attempt at a catch, and every failure to stop the ball, he launched his personal displeasure at the head of the devoted individual in such denunciations--as "Ah, ah!--stupid"--"Now, butter-fingers"--"Muff"--"Humbug"--and so forth--ejaculations which seemed to establish him in the opinion of all around, as a most excellent and undeniable judge of the whole art and mystery of the noble game of cricket.
"Capital game--well played--some strokes admirable," said the stranger, as both sides crowded into the tent, at the conclusion of the game.
"You have played it, sir?" inquired Mr.Wardle, who had been much amused by his loquacity.
"Played it! Think I have--thousands of times--not here--West Indies--exciting thing--hot work--very.""It must be rather a warm pursuit in such a climate," observed Mr.Pickwick.