With the utmost steadiness he made his stroke, scoring two points.

Then there fell a tremendous silence.

The choice of two strokes now lay before him.

One was to pocket his adversary's ball; the other a long shot which required considerable skill.

He chose the second without hesitation, hung a moment or two, made his stroke--and failed.
A howl of delight went up from the watchers, their hot partisanship of Warden amounting almost to open animosity against his opponent.