four o'clock in the morning
John Strong , a nice youth -- everybody likes John Strong -- was the next candidate , but he is so tall and limp that we were all afraid his strength , in spite of his name , would never hold out . So the eve of the match arrived and the post was still vacant , when a little boy of fifteen , David Willis , brother to Harry , admitted by accident to the last practice , saw eight of them out , and was voted in by acclamation . Morning dawned . On calling over our roll , Brown was missing ; and it transpired that he had set off at four o'clock in the morning to play in a cricket match at M -- , a little town twelve miles off , which had been his last residence . Here was desertion ! Here was treachery ! How we cried him down !