quarter to five
Again and again the cloud of their players-up gathers before our goal , and comes threatening on , and Warner or Hedge , with young Brooke and the relics of the bull-dogs , break through and carry the ball back ; and old Brooke ranges the field like Job 's war-horse , the thickest scrummage parts asunder before his rush , like the waves before a clipper 's bows ; his cheery voice rings over the field , and his eye is everywhere . And if these miss the ball , and it rolls dangerously in front of our goal , Crab Jones and his men have seized it and sent it away towards the sides with the unerring drop-kick . This is worth living for ; the whole sum of school-boy existence gathered up into one straining , struggling half-hour , a half-hour worth a year of common life . The quarter to five has struck , and the play slackens for a minute before goal ; but there is Crew , the artful dodger , driving the ball in behind our goal , on the island side , where our quarters are weakest . Is there no one to meet him ? Yes ! look at little East !