Adders on the Heath

the cows. In cross-country running, so different from sub-four-minute miling, five-minute intervals are not long ones and, in open country, over which some of your way surely would have taken you, the pair, if any, behind you must surely have seen something of the fracas, for you and your opponent stopped short, no doubt, in order to settle your differences. I deduce, therefore, that nobody was behind you.'

'Yes, I see.'

'And how did this cross-country competition come about?'

'The fixture was made at their request. Their secretary wrote that they had a vacant date and would like to meet us.'

'Was the unusual nature of the match mentioned in the correspondence?'

'No. Until we met them we had concluded that it would be the ordinary cross-country run, with the usual points system of scoring.'

'And that is?'

'Roughly speaking, the first man home counts as one, the second two, and so on. The team with the smallest number of points is the winner.'

'And what did your team think of the new arrangement?'

'Oh, the blokes didn't mind. In cross-country running you go for the fun of it. At least, I always do. I think everybody thought it was quite an idea. Of course, if it ever became the usual thing, you'd need to seed your runners if both teams were to get the ultimate out of it.'

'The best against the best, the weakest against the weakest, I suppose?'

'That's it. But, as I say, we didn't really mind what the arrangements were. They were the hosts, you see, and I must say they did their stuff nobly afterwards.'

'You imply?'

'The drinks and the supper, and so on.'

'Is the other team based on Winchester?'

'Oh, no. Somewhere near Southampton. I went there-yes, I went there once, I remember, with other of our officials.' His voice tailed off, but Dame Beatrice appeared not to notice this. She went on:

'And your team? Where do all of you come from?'

'We come from all over the place. Berks, Bucks and Oxon mostly. Our secretary lives in Surrey and the treasurer hangs out in Kent. A representative body, one might say, take us all in all.'

'Do you have many outside competitions?'

'As many as we can get. We don't do much on the track, because we haven't got a ground, so it's mostly cross-country. Anyway, most of us like it that way. It's cheaper than golf!'

'How did your club come to be formed?'

'I don't know, really. Chaps knew other chaps, and, before we came down, there was a sort of meeting and some of us agreed to join.'

'It sounds very casual.'

'Oh, yes,' said Richardson earnestly, 'it is. That's the beauty of it. Nobody's bound to turn out. You get the notice-usually at some dashed awkward time when you've already fixed up to do something quite other-and you don't have to answer. You just roll up or not, exactly as you please.'

'And the result of this idyllic arrangement?'

'Curiously enough, quite a lot of people do roll up. There's some sort of psychological explanation, I shouldn't wonder. Oh, dash it! I forgot! You're a psychologist, aren't you?'

Dame Beatrice cackled, and Laura remarked that she herself had noticed that where there was no compulsion there was often a better response than when a press-gang was at work.

'You say that you took care not to be seated near Mr Colnbrook at the supper,' said Dame Beatrice. 'Could you tell whether he still felt animosity towards you?'

'Well, he wasn't very pleased when, on the run-in, I beat him, but I did make the distance between us as narrow as I could. I had to win, of course, because of scoring for the team, otherwise I'd have let him beat me to it.'

'You did not know whether your team really needed your help, I suppose?'

'Yes, as a matter of fact, I did. Those who had finished in front of us were howling their heads off, particularly the opposition, so I thought I'd better pull it off.'

'Well, I should think you're in the clear, all right,' said Laura. 'You couldn't have had any reason at all to wish Colnbrook out of this world. You won the scrap and you won the race. It was for him to wish you to hell, not vice-versa.'

'Exactly my opinion,' said Denis.

'I shall be interested to hear what is said at the inquest,' said Dame Beatrice, 'but, like Laura, I cannot see that you have anything to fear provided that you have related all that you know about Mr Colnbrook.'

'Oh, I say, are you really going to attend the inquest?' said Richardson, ignoring the insinuation. 'That's most awfully good of you. I'm not looking forward to it much. It's rotten in the middle of a holiday. Oh, look! They're taking down the shutters. That means the bar's open. Now, Dame Beatrice, what can I get you?'

Nothing serious was said or done until after lunch, but, when the party left the dining-room, Dame Beatrice took her grand-nephew aside, leaving Richardson to escort Laura.