"
"When you say 'their heroes' you mean also mine," said H. "But they are not
confined to the Oval. I have some at Lord's too; in fact, all over the
country. It has been, all the best critics say, an H year." He ticked them
off on his fingers. "For Surrey, HOBBS and HITCH; for Middlesex, HENDREN
and HEARNE; for Yorkshire, HIRST and HOLMES; for Notts, HARDSTAFF; for
Kent, HARDINGE and HUBBLE; for Worcestershire, HOWELL. And four of them,"
he added, "are going to play for England in Australia. It's a feather in my
cap, I can tell you," H went on. "And I needed the encouragement too. No
one is treated so badly as I am, especially in London, where I'm being
dropped all day long or forced into company which I don't care about. Isn't
that true?"
"Not 'arf!" said C, who is a good deal of a Cockney.
"There!" said H with a sigh, "I told you so."
"There's no doubt that our friend the aspirate has done it this year," said
T; "but some of us are not downhearted. Look at all my TYLDESLEYS."
"We're quite willing to look at them," said C, "but don't ask us to count
them. Meanwhile what about my COOK in the same county? And good old
hard-working COE and COX?"
"Yes," said L, "and what about Lancashire itself--almost at the top of the
tree? And LEE of Middlesex? H may have the greatest number of heroes, but
we're not to be sneezed at. And even his wonderful HOBBS couldn't win the
championship. It rested between M and me.
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