THE SLOCUM TENNIS TOURNAMENT.

Star (Christchurch), 30 September 1893, Page 2

THE SLOCUM TENNIS TOURNAMENT.

(St James' Budget.) The Slocum Tournament wa3 almost more than a local event. The prizes were very handsome, especially for • the. principal competition, the Open Handicap; and alarge number of visitors, of gieater or less fame in the tennis world, were accustomed to put up at the White Hart Hotel and take part in the play every year. As a consequence the standard was tolerably high, and duffers (as the Secretary put it with natural pride) at a discount. All this wa3 hinted. as delicately as possible to S|r Bayle, who, on his "arrival two ! days before, hnd announced his intention ,of **i tering . for the Handicap. - , The , hipts were iHsfiectual. Mr Bayle seemed oblivious of his. w. .ght "of -y^ara . (he looked* full ; three-score), and w*. firmly determined to jjlay. The Committee "shrv^ged their shoulders, •• ipok his entrance-tee, andyvave hitn a handicap jabxtost .onterhptttbus in it* Aiberality. By the irony of fate, it tfell to the Secretary himself \V> be drawn -agains. dd Mr Bayle in tho firat round. He had to g_V_i th? stranger thirty : and to il___j day he does not care to dwell upon the game.' Mr Bayle's activity and. accuracy were, as the) reporters justly vremarked, " phenomenal " for his age. He wag, said the disgusted Secretary, like a bit of livar in diarußber : the Curate himself observed to D_t_9y Smiles that the old man was V« a demop " (ho usfrd thd tson, of course, in the i.enso in whicli "cricketing i__telli« genco "is apt to employ it). Xhe Secretary grew terribly warm— vn body and speech; but he never won a game: and Mr Bayle staolled back to the pavilion, g«n tly. stroking his gray beardcool as a cucumbt _•• The Secretary was only the . first victim ; fhe Doctor, wh\. fancied his game very much, wns shown up \"n a fashion almost ludicrous ; and!, the great Mr Crocker, from Xondon (who thought he had the aup in his pocket from the beginning), could not' do more than put old Mr Bayle'on his mettle — a,nd when he was thus on his mettle the old man was wonderful. Finally he defeated Mr Cocker by j three sets to two, and was proclaimed "the Winner j amid a sce ( r e of enthusiasm from the (ladiea (Daisy Smiles called, him an old dear to hi^ very nose) and tolerable politeness on the part of the men. " Oh, you flatter me," said old Mr Bayje. " Tou should see my son Tom play ; he gives ztie" half-forty." y " Oh, Mr Bay!e," cried J^iisy, "why didn't he come?" " I wish he could have, but he was detained \ iv town by business. If he'd come you maybe sure I shouldn't have carried off this lovely prize; " and Mr Bayle fondled tha silver cup which had just been presented to him. It had co9t thirty guineas (wholesale, price and trade discount). "We should hardly have given him so good a handicap as we gave you, sir," the Secretary reminded the old gentleman. "Eh? "What? I never thought of that. No, to be sure— l suppose not," rejoinec- Mr Bayle, who-eeemed quite taken by surprise at _his new idea; Sure enough, in the evening of the last doy ofthe tournameot, young Mr Bayle arrived. Has father went offin a fly to the station— a cloae fly, for fear of a chill after his exertions— to meet his son, and the two drove back to the hotel together. Daisy Smiles sat nest the new-comer at table d'hote, and, while condoling with him on his lost opportunity, expressed the highest admiration for his father's play. " But how tired he looks!" she exclaimed sympathetically. " Ho suffers a re-action after an effort like that," rejoined Tom Bayle; and certainly the old gentleman struck every one as being very feeble and exhausted, quite another man from what he had been in the morning. ." He's a wonder," said the Doctor emphatically; " bathe oughtn't to be allowed to do such things." >:•.-•. • "I often remonstrate with him," said Tom; but he's naturally fond- of his game,, and he won't be persuaded to give up playing." Tom's concern for his father created a very favourable impression ; and as the defeated com- ' petitors had had time to recover their tempers, general regrets w. ro ..expressed when it became known that the Bayles were going to move on the next • morning. However, they could not be turned from their decision, and Daisy Smiles packed up the handsome silver cup veiy carefully, and the secretary expressed the hope that the Bayles would both come next year. "Butwewon'tpromisdyouthesatnehandicap," he added with a significant smile. The next morning the omnibus came round directly after breakfast to take the Bayles to the station. Almost everybody came out to see them off, and Boots, carrying the wooden box containing the cup, brought up the rear ofthe procession. Old Mr Bayle was shaking hands all round. Toung Mr Bayle was promising to bring bis father next year, and come himself also, when suddenly two gentlemen, who had just walked up to the hotel rushed forward asd warmly greeted M_*Bayle senior. "So you took our advice after all," cried one, " and stayed a night here ? " " Iknew you'd find good quarters,'* added the other. Apparently the landlord knew the strangers, for he advanced andbade them welcome with much cordiality. " We recommended your house to this gentleman when we met him in the train, yesterday," said one, pointing to Mr Bayle. " Teaterday ? Not yesterday, eir, 'said the landlord courteously. " The gentleman was here all day yesterday." " Not a bit of it. We came dpwn from town with him, and left him in the train at;five o'clock. We meant not to . come here, but the hotel at Bunnyside proved abominably crowded." ■ The Secretary, who was standing by, cut into the conversation. , " Toil seem to have a double, M? Bayle," said he. ' ■■-■■-■■ " It looks like it," rejoined Mr Bayle with a nervous laugh. " Oh, come," said the stranger, "we recognize the gentleman peisec tly ; you're making fun of us." The misunderstanding was curious : Mr Bayle seemed to take it seriously. "I declare on my honour," he said, ." that I wasn't in the train." "Of course not, Mr Bayle," said Daisy Smiles; "fifty people can swear to your being here." "Mr Bayle played in the tournament yesterday," added tie Secretary, " and won it too. So you see you mu6t be mistaken." The strangers looked bewildered. "I suppose so," said one; "but I could have sworn to him." "Father, we shall miss the train," cried Tom Bayle, and,, seising his parent hy the arm, he began to hurry him towards the omnibus. "Come along with that thing," he added to Boots, who still stood in waiting with the trophy. The strangers were neglected, and their queer mistake forgotten, as people flocked round to see the last of the Bayles. .Boots was just handing the important box to Tom, and Tom was just pressing Daisy Smiles' hand in farewell, when a cry was heard in a feminine voice, "Mr Bayle, sir! Please, sir •!" Everybody looked round. A chambermaid was hurrying downstairs. She held something white in her hand. "Give me the box," cried Tom Bayle, "we shall miss the train ;" and he made a snatch at the box. By a sudden instinct the Secretary interposed hia hand. " Wait a bit," he said. "What's the girl got?" The girl was close by now. She went up to Tom Bayle and said : -' Please, sir, I fbund this in your room, Birr— behind tho bed, sir. I suppose you overlooked it in packing, sii 1 ." Tom, with a smothered oath, clutched at what the maid held towards him. The Secretary waa too quick; he seized it first, and, amid a deep , murmur of astonishment, held up a long gray J beard. »

' After a moment's dramatic pau : o it h roe _v i'»ur member aof tbe Club advanced. They took Tom Bayle by his shoulders and held him. The Secretary then fitted on the beard with loving caro : it fitted magnificently. " The dear boy has a look of his father in it," observed tho Secretary. He remembered that fearful game. They led Tom, arrayed in his beard, up to the . trangers. "Is this anything like your friend?" asked the Secretary. "All right," said Tom sulkily— "l chuck!' And the Secretary chuckled. " We needn't trouble you to take that box," said he. " Boots, take it to my room." Tom, still firmly held, was escorted back to the omnibus. And there the Secretary lifted his foot and with a hearty good»will assisted poor Tom into'tbe furthest recesses ofthe vehicle. " Well I never knew such a thing in all my life ! " cii/jd Daisy Smiles. A Very neat game," commented the Doctor. .'.' But for these gentlemen " — — _..., -.- •>-",' " And the beard "—added Daisy. , "It would have come off pat." . " The next elderly stranger who comes to play iv our tournament," observed the Secretary grimly, " will start scratch." Aad m the omnibus old Mr Bayle said sadly to his son, "-We should have got a pony for it at uncle's." Tom shifted uneasily on the bench and softly swore. ■