,transcriber's ,note3 ,this version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects4 ,italics are delimited with the #8' character as italic4 ,please consult the note at the end of this text for a discussion of any textual issues encountered in its preparation4 ,,the ,,human ,,boy ,,by ,,eden ,,phillpotts ,,author ,,of 8,,children ,,of ,,the ,,mist0 8,,folly ,,and ,,fresh ,,air0 ,,etc4 ,illustration ,,harper ,,brothers ,,publishers ,,new ,,york ,,and ,,london #aijj ,,to ,,phillpotts 8,,minor0 ,,as ,a ,,trifling ,,tribute ,,of ,,fraternal ,,regard ,,and ,,in ,,green ,,and ,,grateful ,,memory ,,of ,,our ,,happy ,,boyhood ,,contents ,,page ,,the ,,artfulness ,,of ,,steggles #a ,,the ,,protest ,,of ,,the ,,wing ,,dormitory #bc 8,,freckles0 ,,and 8,,frenchy0 #dg ,,concerning ,,corkey ,,minimus #fi ,,the ,,piebald ,,rat #id ,,browne1 ,,bradwell1 ,,and ,,me #aae ,,gideon',s ,,front ,,tooth #acc ,,the ,,chemistry ,,class #aej ,,doctor ,,dunston',s ,,howler #aga ,,morrant',s ,,half-,,sov #bjb ,,the ,,buckeneers #bbf ,the ,human ,boy ,the ,artfulness of ,steggles ,i ,i remember the very evening he came to ,merivale4 8,nubby0 ,tomkins had a cold on his chest1 so ,mathers and ,i stopped in from the half-hour 8kick-about0 in the playground before tea1 being chums of ,nubby's4 ,whenever he gets a cold on the chest he thinks he is going to die1 and this evening1 sitting by the fire in the ,fifth's class-room1 he roasted chestnuts for ,mathers and me1 and took a very gloomy view of his future life4 8,as you know10 he said1 8,i hate being out of doors excepting when ,i can lie about in hay4 ,and to make me go out walking in all weathers1 as they do here1 is simply murder4 ,i know what'll be the end of it4 ,i shall get bacilluses or microbes into some important part of me1 and die4 ,it's like those books the ,doctor reads to the kids on ,sundays1 with choir-boys in them4 ,the little brutes sing like angels1 and their voices go echoing to the top of cathedrals1 and make people blub about in the pews4 ,then they get microbes on the chest1 and kick4 ,you know the only thing ,i can do is to sing2 and ,i shall die as sure as mud40 ,nubby was a corker at singing4 ,he had all the solos in the chapel to himself1 and people came miles to hear him4 8,you won't die10 said ,mathers4 8,you don't give your money away to the poor1 or help blind people across roads1 and all that4 ,your voice'll crack1 and you'll live40 8,i wish it would10 said ,nubby2 8,i should feel a lot safer40 8,mine10 continued ,mathers1 8cracked when my mustache came40 ,we looked at him as he patted it4 ,mathers was going next term4 ,he had more mustache than1 at least1 two of the under-masters1 and once he let ,nubby stroke it1 and ,nubby said he could feel it distinctly under the hand4 8,that's what's done it with ,m410 said ,nubby1 looking at ,mathers and opening another gloomy subject4 ,mathers got redder1 and began peeling a chestnut4 8,i wish ,i was as certain as you10 he said4 8,none of us can be certain10 ,i said2 8but if your voice did go1 ,nubbs1 you'd be out of the hunt for one40 8,i am10 declared ,nubby4 8,last time ,i had a cold in the throat she sent me a little bunch of grapes by ,jane1 and a packet of black currant lozenges2 but this time1 though the attack is on my chest1 and ,i may die1 she hasn't sent a thing40 8,perhaps she doesn't know40 8,she does4 ,i met her going into the library yesterday1 and ,i doubled up and barked like a dog1 and she never even said she was sorry4 ,it lies between you two chaps now40 8,i believe you are going strongest just at present10 said ,mathers1 critically1 to me4 8,you came off last ,wednesday and kicked two goals on your own1 and she said afterwards to ,browne that she never saw you play a bigger game4 ,then that little beast--,browne1 ,i mean--sniggered1 and made that noise in his throat1 like a sprung bat1 and said he was quite glad he hadn't kept you in4 ,that's how he shows ,m4 what a gulf there is even between the ,fifth and masters40 8,the bigger the gulf the better10 ,i said4 8,it would be rough on a decent worm to put it second to ,browne4 ,in my opinion even a ,double-,first would be nothing if he wore salmon-colored ties and elastic-sided boots2 and ,browne isn't a ,double-,first by long chalks4 ,he can only teach the kids1 and his desk is well known to be crammed with cribs of every kind40 ,in the matter of ,m41 ,i may say at once that she was ,milly1 ,doctor ,denham's youngest daughter--twelve and a half1 fair1 blue eyes1 and jolly difficult to please4 ,somehow the ,fifth always drew her most4 ,the ,sixth were feeble beggars at that time4 ,two of the ten wore spectacles1 and one was going out to ,africa as a missionary1 and used to treat the ,fifth's class-room as a sort of training-ground for preaching and doing good4 ,he was called ,fulcher1 and the spirit was willing in him1 but the flesh was flabby4 ,we used to assegai him with stumps1 and pretend to scalp him and boil him and eat him4 ,he said he should glory in martyrdom really2 and ,nubbs1 who knows a good deal about eating1 used to write recipes for cooking ,fulcher1 and post them to imaginary ,african kings4 ,but ,i should think that to be merely eaten is not martyrdom1 properly speaking4 ,if it is1 then everything we eat1 down to periwinkles1 must be martyrs2 which is absurd1 like ,euclid says4 ,well1 it got to be a settled idea at ,merivale that ,m4 cared1 in a sort of vague way1 for either ,nubby1 or ,mathers1 or me1 or all of us4 ,the situation was too uncertain for anything like real jealousy among us2 besides1 we were chums1 and had no objection to going shares in ,m4's regard4 ,at football ,mathers and ,i fought like demons for ,merivale and for ,m4's good word2 but any impression we might make was generally swept away in chapel by ,nubby when ,sunday came4 ,he could sing1 mind you4 ,it was like cold water down your spine1 and all from printed music4 ,besides1 he could be ill1 which gave him a pull over ,mathers and me1 who couldn't4 ,to look at1 ,nubby was nothing4 ,he had big limbs1 but they were soft as sausages4 ,if you punched him he didn't bruise yellow and afterwards black1 but merely turned red and then white again4 ,mathers1 besides being captain of the ,first ,footer eleven1 had nigger hair1 that girls always go dotty about1 and black eyes1 and pretty nearly as much mustache as eyebrow4 ,as for me1 my biceps were the biggest in the lower school1 which isn't much1 of course2 but things like that tell with a girl4 ,then it was that conversation turned on ,steggles4 ,he was a new boy1 due that afternoon4 ,hardly had the name passed my lips when the door opened1 and the ,doctor's head appeared4 ,the next moment a chap followed him4 8,ah6 there are some of the fellows by the fire10 said the ,doctor4 8,is that you1 ,tomkins8 ,but ,i needn't ask40 8,yes1 sir10 said ,nubby1 rising4 8,you are ill-advised1 ,tomkins1 to spend the greater part of your leisure sitting1 as you do1 almost upon the hob4 ,a constitutional weakness is thereby increased4 ,this is ,steggles4 ,you will have time for a little conversation before tea40 ,the ,doctor disappeared1 and ,steggles came slowly down the room with his hands in his pockets4 ,there was nothing to indicate a new boy about him4 ,he had red rims to his eyes and a spot or two on his face1 chiefly near his nose and on his forehead2 his hair was sandy1 and he wore a gold watch-chain4 8,you're called ,steggles1 aren't you80 said ,nubby1 who was an awfully civil chap in his manners4 8,i am40 8,well1 ,i hope you'll like ,merivale40 8,do you80 8,all right in summer-time when there's hay4 ,hate it when ,i'm ill1 which ,i am now40 8,what can you do80 asked ,mathers in his abrupt way4 8,i can draw10 said ,steggles4 8,what80 8,devils40 8,do one10 said ,mathers4 ,he got a piece of ,cambridge demi and a pen and ink4 ,then ,steggles1 evidently anxious to please1 sat down1 and did as good a devil as ever ,i saw4 ,nubby and ,i were greatly pleased4 8,what else can you do80 said ,mathers1 as if such a power to draw devils wasn't as much as you could expect from one chap4 8,i can smoke40 8,cigarettes8 ,so can anybody40 8,no2 a pipe40 8,oh6 where did you learn that80 8,at ,harrow40 ,then ,steggles started like a guilty thing and put his hand over his mouth--too late4 ,a rumor we had heard was proved true4 8,it would have been sure to get out1 and ,i don't care who knows it1 for that matter10 said ,steggles1 defiantly4 8,i had to leave there because ,i didn't know enough1 and couldn't get up higher in the school4 ,i'm rather backward through not being properly taught4 ,the teaching at ,harrow's simply cruel4 ,not but what ,i've taught myself a thing or two1 mind you4 ,i'm fifteen40 ,he looked at us out of his red-rimmed eyes1 and put me in mind of a ferret ,i've got at home4 ,he might have been any age up to twenty1 ,i thought4 8,can you play anything80 asked ,mathers4 8,the piano40 ,mathers shivered and ,nubby grew excited4 8,so can ,i4 ,we'll do duets10 he said4 8,if you like10 said ,steggles4 ,then the tea-bell rang4 ,,ii ,whole books might be written about ,steggles at ,merivale4 ,i heard ,thompson say1 after he had been there a week1 that it wasn't what he didn't know had rendered it necessary for ,steggles to leave ,harrow1 but what he did know4 ,certainly he had a great deal of general information about rum things4 ,he got newspapers by post concerning sporting matters2 he knew an immense deal about dogs and horses2 and ,nubbs1 who was a judge1 said his piano-playing surpassed his devil-drawing for sheer brilliance4 ,yet1 with all these accomplishments1 he only managed to get into the ,fourth4 ,as to his smoking1 it was certainly wonderful4 ,and he ate things afterwards to hide the smell4 ,he had a genius for wriggling out of rows and for getting them up between other fellows4 ,he loved to look on at fighting and knew all the proper rules4 ,on the whole he was rather a beast1 and1 if it hadn't been for ,nubby1 ,mathers and ,i should have barred him4 ,but all ,i'm going to tell about now is the hideous discovery of ,steggles and ,m41 and the thing that happened on the day of the match with ,buckland ,grammar ,school4 ,m4 had been very queer for a fortnight--queer1 ,i mean1 with all three of us--which was unusual4 ,then1 seeing how the cat had taken to jumping1 ,i tackled her one morning going through the hall to the ,doctor's study4 8,how d'you like ,steggles80 ,i said4 8,very well4 ,he's clever10 she said4 8,he's fifteen10 ,i said2 8he ought to know something if he's ever going to4 ,he's only in the ,fourth1 anyway40 8,you're jealous and so is ,mathers10 she said4 8,jealous of a chap with ferret-eyes6 ,not likely10 ,i said4 8,you are1 though40 8,not more than ,nubbs and ,mathers1 anyway10 ,i said4 8,it's off with the old friends and on with the new1 ,i suppose40 8,steggles knows how to treat a girl4 ,you might learn manners from him1 and so might the others10 she said4 8,and also the piano1 perhaps80 8,he plays beautifully40 8,have you seen him play football80 8,no40 8,lucky for you40 8,football isn't everything40 8,no1 not since he came2 ,i've noticed that40 ,this bitter speech stung ,m41 and her eyes jolly well flashed sparks4 8,nor singing either10 ,i went on4 8,nubbs nearly burst himself last ,sunday in chapel2 and all the time you were watching ,steggles making a rabbit with his pocket-handkerchief40 8,i'll thank you not to interest yourself in me any more10 she said1 8either in chapel or out of it40 8,all right4 ,i dare say ,i shall still live10 ,i said4 8,does that remark apply equally to ,mathers and ,nubby1 or only to me80 8,to ,mathers1 yes10 she said4 8,he's as bad as you are4 ,not to ,nubbs40 ,then she went4 ,well1 there it stood4 ,when ,i told them ,mathers seemed to think ,i needn't have dragged him in1 and ,nubbs got clean above himself with hope1 not seeing that he was really just as much out of it as us4 ,of course we chucked ,steggles for good and all then1 and told him what we thought of him4 ,that was when he said something about only the brave deserving the fair1 and ,mathers made him sit down in a puddle for cheeking him in the playground4 ,steggles's eyes looked like one of his own devils while he sat there1 but he took it jolly quietly at the time4 ,that got ,nubby's wool off though1 because he supported ,steggles1 and things were1 in fact1 rather difficult all round till the day of the ,buckland ,grammar ,school match4 ,buckland was two miles from ,merivale1 and most of the team went by train2 but ,mathers and ,i1 the day being fine1 decided to walk2 and at the last moment ,nubbs asked if he might come with ,steggles4 ,out of consideration for ,nubby we agreed1 and the four of us started on a fine bright afternoon just after dinner4 ,mathers and ,i had our football things on1 of course2 ,nubbs was dressed in his usual style1 and ,steggles1 who used to get himself up tremendously on half-holidays1 wore yellow spats over his boots1 and a sort of white thing under his waistcoat1 and gloves4 ,we had rather more than half an hour's walk before us1 and hardly were we out of sight of ,merivale when ,steggles pulled out his pipe and lighted it4 ,,iii ,the artfulness of ,steggles properly begins here4 ,he knew several things we didn't4 ,he knew1 for instance1 that ,m4 was coming to the football match1 that she was going to ride her bicycle over on the road by which we walked1 that only the day before he had quarrelled with her1 and that his position with regard to her was at that hour most risky4 ,all these things ,steggles well knew1 and we didn't4 ,so he lighted his pipe with an air of long practice4 ,the smell was fine1 and he smacked his lips now and then4 8,nice pouch80 he said1 handing me a velveteen pouch with his initials on it in green silk4 8,i'll bet a girl did that10 said ,mathers4 8,it's a secret10 said ,steggles1 smiling to himself4 ,then he asked very civily if we would care to join him1 explaining that he generally kept a few spare pipes about him for friends4 8,i would if it wasn't for the match10 said ,mathers4 8,so would ,i10 ,i said4 8,well1 my baccy might turn you fellows up4 ,perhaps you are wise10 declared ,steggles1 puffing away4 ,then he tried ,nubby with a little cherry-wood pipe1 and ,nubbs thought a whiff or two wouldn't hurt him and began rather nervously1 but gathered courage as he went on4 8,i heard my father say once that life without tobacco would be hell10 said ,steggles2 8and ,i agree with him40 8,so do ,i2 it's very soothing10 said ,nubby4 ,then ,mathers burst out4 ,he had been sulking ever since ,steggles hinted that the contents of his velveteen pouch were too strong for us4 8,if you think ,i funk your tobacco you're wrong10 ,mathers said4 8,i've smoked three parts of a cigar before to-day40 8,a chocolate one1 perhaps80 said ,steggles1 but in such a humble1 inquiring voice that ,mathers couldn't hit him4 8,no1 a tobacco one2 and if you've got another pipe ,i'll show you40 8,so will ,i10 ,i chimed in4 ,mathers's lead was always good enough for me4 ,steggles immediately lugged out two more pipes4 ,he seemed to be stuffed with them4 8,get it well alight at the start10 he explained1 handing a fusee4 8,all right1 all right1 ,i know10 said ,mathers4 ,soon we were at it like four chimneys1 and ,steggles praised us in such a way that we could take no offence4 8,you've all smoked many a time and oft1 ,i can see that10 he said4 ,mathers spat about a good deal1 and fancied tobacco was probably a fine steadier for the nerves before a football match2 and ,nubbs said he thought so too2 and he also thought that after a little smoking one didn't want to talk1 but ought just to keep quiet and think of interesting things4 8,it widens the mind10 said ,steggles4 ,we tramped on rather silently for ten minutes till ,nubbs spoke again4 ,to our surprise his hopeful tone had changed1 and we found he had turned a sort of putty-color1 with blue lips4 ,he said3 8,i'll overtake you fellows4 ,i think ,i've got--,i've got a bit of a sunstroke or something4 ,it'll pass off1 no doubt40 8,better not smoke any more10 said ,steggles4 8,it isn't that1 but ,i won't1 all the same4 ,i'll just dodge through that hole in the hedge and find some wild strawberries or hazel-nuts1 or something40 ,seeing it was a frosty day in ,december ,nubby's statements looked wild4 ,but he went4 ,there was a hole in the hedge1 with tree-roots trailing across it1 and ,nubbs crawled shakily through1 like a wounded rabbit1 into a place where a board was stuck up saying that people would be prosecuted according to law if they went there4 ,but he didn't seem to care1 though it wasn't a thing he would have done in cold blood4 ,i saw ,mathers grow uneasy in his mind4 8,wasn't the pipe--eh80 8,no1 no4 ,this tobacco--why1 a child could smoke it10 said ,steggles4 8,you know what ,nubbs is4 ,it's only an excuse to turn4 ,he hates football and hates walking40 ,we kept on again1 and ,i began to feel a slight perspiration on my forehead and a weird sort of feeling everywhere4 ,i had smoked about half the pipe4 8,i sha'n't go on with this now because of the match10 ,i said1 hastily knocking out the remaining tobacco and handing his loathsome little clay back to ,steggles4 8,why60 he said1 8blessed if you haven't gone the same color as ,nubbs did6 ,don't say you've got a sunstroke too80 ,there was something in the voice of ,steggles ,i didn't much like1 but ,i hardly felt equal to answering him then4 8,you're all right1 anyway1 aren't you1 ,mathers80 he asked4 8,of course ,i am4 ,what the dickens d' you mean80 8,nothing4 ,glad you like my baccy4 ,there's plenty of time for another pipe40 8,no there isn't10 said ,mathers4 8,i very much wish there was40 ,we walked on a few yards farther4 8,d' you drink that rich1 brown cod-liver oil1 the same as ,nubby80 asked ,steggles of ,mathers1 suddenly4 ,mathers looked at him1 and ,i knew how things were in a moment4 ,for a moment my own sufferings were forgotten before the awful spectacle of the ruin of ,mathers4 ,he gave his pipe back quietly1 took great gasps of air1 mopped his forehead1 and rolled his eyes about4 ,then he said3 8,i'm not quite happy about ,nubbs4 ,you push on1 and ,i'll overtake you40 8,hanged if you're not queer too60 exclaimed ,steggles4 8,whoever would have thought that ,three ,castles--0 8,shut up10 said ,mathers1 hoarsely4 8,it was the boi--boiled beef at dinner40 ,he spoke the words with an awful effort4 8,so it was10 ,i said1 feebly4 8,we never could stand it--either of us40 8,a steaming glass of hot grog is what you want10 said ,steggles1 sympathetically4 8,go60 gasped ,mathers1 who really looked horrid now2 8go6 or ,i'll kick you1 if it kills me to do it40 8,blessed if you haven't turned green1 ,mathers10 said ,steggles4 8,you look as if you'd been buried and dug up again4 ,i don't say it unkindly1 but it's jolly curious40 ,at the same moment ting6 ting6 went a bicycle bell2 and there was ,milly1 looking fine4 8,you'll all be late10 she said4 ,we prayed she would hurry on and not observe us too narrowly4 ,then that beast1 ,steggles1 made her stop4 8,look here10 he said1 8it's frightfully serious because of the match--these poor chaps are ill--just cast your eye at the colors they've gone4 ,they worried me to let them try to smoke1 and--0 8,i'll break your neck for this60 interrupted ,mathers4 ,then he turned to ,m4 8,if you're a lady1 if you ever cared an atom about us1 please ride on round that corner4 ,we're ill--can't you see it80 8,yes1 ,i can--anybody could4 ,i'm sorry4 ,but you won't hurt ,steggles if ,i go80 said ,m4 8,no2 ,i promise4 ,say we're on the road and shall be there in ten--ten-- ,go60 ,m4 took the hint and rode off1 with ,steggles frisking beside her1 like the dog he was4 8,thank the ,lord60 said ,mathers4 ,then horrid things happened both to him and me4 ,we crawled to the match more dead than alive and found a crowd waiting1 and ,browne and several of the other masters4 ,we were fully twenty minutes late4 8,this is very unsportsmanlike1 the days being so short too60 ,browne squeaked4 ,then we took off our coats and tottered into the field of play4 ,of course ,buckland ,grammar ,school won4 ,our side would have done a long way better without us4 ,i couldn't take a pass or shoot for the life of me--it occupied all my time wrestling with nature1 let alone the ,bucklanders4 ,and ,mathers1 who played back1 was worse4 ,the roughs 8guyed0 him1 and asked him what he'd been drinking4 ,if they'd asked him what he'd been smoking there might have been some sense in it4 ,he told me afterwards that he often saw three footballs at one time when he tried to kick1 and sometimes four1 and the ball he kicked always turned out to be an apparition4 ,bradwell kept goal grandly too2 but it was no good with ,mathers like that1 and he utterly ruined ,ashby ,major1 the other back4 ,nubbs had gone to bed when we got back1 and the matron1 knowing ,nubbs had a tricky system1 sent for ,doctor ,barnes4 ,nubbs1 therefore1 gave himself away4 ,m4 never looked at any of us again1 and she and ,steggles undoubtedly became frightful pals2 but the next term1 just before ,easter1 ,i had the pleasure of writing a fine letter to ,mathers1 who had left ,merivale1 and was reading for six months with a private tutor before going to ,cambridge4 ,this is part of the letter3 8,dear ,mathers10 ,i wrote1 8you will be interested to know that ,browne has come down on ,steggles at last4 ,i fancy ,browne knew the ,doctor was fairly sick of ,steggles and wanted to be rid of him4 ,in fact1 ,i heard the ,doctor call ,steggles a canker-worm myself4 ,anyway1 ,browne blew up on the smoking1 and ,steggles will soon probably vanish1 like the dew upon the fleece4 ,m4 cried a bit1 ,i fancy1 when she heard it1 but ,nubbs says she smiled at him two mornings afterwards coming out of chapel4 ,nubbs expects to crack 7his voice7 any day1 but he hopes to get a definite understanding with ,m4 before it happens4 ,it'll be too late after4 ,of course she never looks at me4 ,she told ,steggles1 and he told me1 that she could not possibly care for a person she had once seen the hue of a ,liberty ,art ,fabric--meaning me4 ,i scragged ,steggles after he told me4 ,but it is all over now4 ,i believe he is to go into his father's business--,steggles ,stote1 ,wine ,merchants4 ,m4 is more beautiful than ever1 though ,i'm afraid she's got a bad disposition4 ,to reflect on a fellow's color at such a time as that was a bit rough40 ,the ,protest of the ,wing ,dormitory ,i ,this is the story of the most tremendous thing that ever happened at ,dunston's1 or any other school1 ,i should think4 ,though in it luckily1 ,i didn't do any of the big part1 being merely one of those chaps who were flogged and not expelled afterwards4 ,trelawny and ,bradwell carried the thing through1 and all the other fellows in the ,wing ,dormitory followed their lead4 ,and1 mind you1 everybody had the welfare of the school at heart4 ,it seemed a jolly brave sort of thing to do1 and jolly interesting4 ,trelawny arranged the military side of the business1 and ,bradwell1 whose father is known as the 8,whiteley0 of some place in ,yorkshire1 looked to the commissariat1 which means feeding4 ,as to ,trelawny1 who really captained the dormitory1 he was ,cornish1 and a relation of that very chap fifty thousand ,cornish men wanted to know the reason why about long ago4 ,he was going to be a soldier1 read history books for choice1 and already knew many military words4 ,i was ,bradwell's fag at the time1 because ,watson minor had failed in some secret enterprise1 and ,i remember the first conversation which led to everything4 ,happening to take some tuck in to ,bradwell in the ,fifth class-room1 ,i found ,trelawny there and heard him say3 8,the only way4 ,a protest1 and a jolly dignified one1 must be made4 ,it's for the credit of the school1 and if the ,doctor will not see it we must show him4 ,i've thought about it a lot1 and ,i think if a section of chaps could put themselves in a strong1 fortified position they might demand to be heard1 and even be able to offer an--an ultimatum4 ,of course1 doing the thing for the good of the school and not for ourselves makes us morally right40 8,of course10 said ,bradwell4 8,but we must be physically strong4 ,in warfare the relative positions of the sides are always taken into account when the treaties of peace are arranged40 8,what are you staring at80 said ,bradwell to me4 8,you hook it40 ,so ,i hooked4 ,but ,i knew perfectly well what they were talking about4 ,everybody in the ,wing ,dormitory did1 because they often discussed the same question after they thought the rest of the chaps were asleep4 ,it was the new mathematical master1 ,thompson1 who troubled not only ,trelawny and ,bradwell but a lot of the other fellows4 ,trelawny had called him an 8unholy bounder0 the third day he was there1 and that seemed to be a general opinion4 ,yet1 with all his bounderishness1 he was awfully clever1 and meant well4 ,but he didn't know anything about chaps in a general way1 and he left out his h's and stuck them in with awfully rum effects4 ,thompson tried hard to be friendly to everybody1 but only the kids liked him4 ,he couldn't understand somehow1 and insulted chaps in the most frightful way1 not seeing any difference between fellows at the top of the school and mere kids at the bottom4 ,captains of elevens were as nothing to him4 ,he seemed to have read up boys like he read mathematics and stuff--from rotten books4 ,he would say sometimes1 8,now1 you fellows1 let's 'ave a jolly game of leap-frog before the bell rings10 and things like that4 ,boys never do play leap-frog except in books really4 ,once he offered to show ,trelawny how to make a kite1 and he asked ,chambers--,chambers1 mind you1 the ,captain of the ,first ,eleven at ,cricket--whether he knew a shop where there were capital iron hoops for sale at a shilling each4 ,i heard him say it1 and he put it like this3 8,i say1 ,chambers1 do you know those splendid 'oops they sell at ,burford's in ',igh ,street8 ,it's out of bounds1 but if you like ,i'll get you one this evening4 ,they've got iron crooks and everything4 ,i make this offer because you understood a little of what ,i said about ,conic ,sections this afternoon40 ,thompson meant so jolly well that nobody could get in a wax with him personally2 and1 as ,i say1 the kids1 who didn't see the 8unholy bounder0 side of him1 and only knew he stood gallons of ginger-beer on half-holidays in the playing-fields1 liked him better than anybody4 ,but ,trelawny took big views1 and so did ,bradwell1 and they decided to make a definite protest4 ,nothing happened till one day ,thompson said something about ,trelawney's 8,celtic thickness of skull40 ,that stung ,trelawny like nettles1 and he set to work and arranged the great plot of the ,wing ,dormitory4 ,he decided that the fifteen chaps who slept in the isolated ,wing ,dormitory of ,dunston's were to fortify the place1 and hold it before the world and the ,doctor as a protest against ,thompson4 ,every chap in the dormitory1 from ,trelawny and ,bradwell to ,watson minor1 signed their names in their own blood on a paper ,trelawny drew out2 and ,watson minor fainted while he was doing it1 not being able to see his own gore on a pen without going off4 ,we swore by a tremendous swear to obey ,trelawny1 to fortify the ,wing ,dormitory against siege1 to devote every penny of our week's pocket-money to provisions1 and to hold out till we starved1 having first signed another paper for ,doctor ,dunston explaining our united protest against ,thompson1 and hoping for the good of the school that he would be removed4 ,i didn't understand much about it really4 ,in fact1 ,i don't believe anybody did but ,trelawny and ,bradwell4 ,only they said we were acting for the good of the school1 and they also said that if we held the ,wing ,dormitory properly nothing short of cannon or starvation could dislodge us4 ,it was a tremendously tall building1 complete in itself1 with iron fire-proof doors constructed to cut it off from the rest of the school1 and with a bath-room and a lavatory adjoining1 all at a great height above the ground4 ,the windows were barred to keep chaps getting out4 ,the bars would also keep chaps getting in1 as ,trelawny pointed out4 ,he found also that it was possible when the iron doors were closed to pull down some wood-work1 and stick things behind the doors so as they could not be opened again4 ,the only entrance to the ,wing ,dormitory was through these iron doors1 so once shut we were safe against anything but gunpowder2 and ,trelawny said ,doctor ,dunston was not the man to resort to physical means1 especially if it meant knocking the place about4 ,bradwell came out wonderfully about the food1 and knowing jolly well that they would turn the water out of the bath-room when the siege started1 he made every chap fill his basin and jug the night before2 because fresh water is vital to a siege4 ,there were fifteen chaps1 and the time came at last1 and one night we laid the manifesto on the mat outside the iron door1 made everything fast1 and waited to see what would happen4 ,some fellows thought that ,thompson would be sent away at once1 to avoid the affair becoming serious2 others fancied we should be starved out or expelled to a man4 ,trelawny never hazarded any guess at what would be the end of it4 8,we are doing our duty in the interests of the school10 he said1 8and whatever happens we mean well2 and if it gets into print the sympathy of all chaps in public schools will be on our side40 ,,ii ,when the gas was turned out at the meter on the night preceding the siege1 ,trelawny made a short speech4 ,first he lighted two candles and made us sign the protest2 then he explained his military system of night and day watches and guards4 ,each of the four windows had a guard at all hours1 and two chaps were to be stationed at the iron door4 ,this was made doubly strong by beds piled against it1 after the manifesto had been finally signed and left outside4 ,the document ran thus3 8,we1 the undersigned1 thinking that the fame of ,dunston's is tarnished by ,mr4 ,thompson1 ,m4,a41 ,fellow of ,trinity ,college1 ,camb41 hereby protest1 and formally assert themselves to call attention to ,mr4 ,thompson4 ,we1 the undersigned1 have no personal grudge to ,mr4 ,thompson1 but think him unsuited to carry on the great reputation of ,dunston's4 ,we1 the undersigned1 take this important step fully alive to the gravity of it1 for we are prepared to suffer if necessary to call attention to the subject4 ,we do not doubt ,mr4 ,thompson's goodness1 and wish it to be understood that the action is abstract and not personal4 ,a string will be lowered from the third window of the ,wing ,dormitory to-morrow at #h4cj ,a4,m4 ,any answer to the protest will receive instant attention from us the undersigned40 ,then followed the names4 ,of course1 it was all ,greek to the kids1 but they put their trust in ,trelawny and signed to a kid4 ,inside the dormitory we were jolly busy1 too1 because after ,trelawny1 as commander1 had made his rules and regulations clear1 ,bradwell1 as the head of the commissariat1 drew up a list of the total supplies1 and showed what each fellow had contributed to the store4 ,this list ,i copied for ,bradwell at the time1 with notes about the different supplies4 ,it comes in here1 and ,i must give it1 just to show what different ideas different chaps have about the things you ought to eat in a siege4 ,,trelawny4--,two hams1 eight loaves of bread4 ,,bradwell4--,three tins potted salmon1 two seed-cakes 7big71 box of biscuits4 ,,ashby ,,major4--,ten tins sardines4 7,ashby has five shillings a week pocket-money1 his father being rather rich4 ,bradwell said it was rather a pity he spent it all in sardines47 ,,ashby ,,minor4--,three pats of butter1 three tins ,swiss milk1 one tin ,guava jelly4 7,bradwell was awfully pleased about the milk1 because he said it was at once nourishing and pleasant to the taste47 ,,wilson4--,six dried herrings1 two pots veal and ham paste1 one pot marmalade4 7,herrings useless1 unless eaten raw47 ,,west4--,four bottles raspberry vinegar4 7,i am ,west1 and ,i thought raspberry vinegar would be a jolly good thing to break the monotony of a siege4 ,but ,bradwell said it was simply a luxury47 ,,morrant4--,one hamper containing twenty-four apples1 twenty-seven pears1 two pots blackberry jam4 7,morrant has no pocket-money1 but ,bradwell said the fruit was good for a change47 ,,gideon4--,nothing4 7,gideon is a ,jew by birth1 and gets ten shillings a week pocket-money4 ,he pretended he had forgotten4 ,trelawny says he will suffer for it in the course of the siege47 ,,mathers4--,eight pieces of shortbread1 five slabs of toffee1 seven sausage-rolls4 7,the rolls were cut in half to be eaten first thing before they went bad4 ,but ,bradwell said ,mathers had made the selection of a fool1 and so ,mathers was rather vexed with ,bradwell47 ,,newnes4--,ten loaves 7five brown71 one packet of beef tabloids4 7,trelawny congratulated ,newnes47 ,,mcinnes4--,a lot of spring onions and lettuces1 costing one-and-sixpence4 7,mc,innes had been reading a book about chaps getting scurvy on a raft1 and he thought a siege would be just the place for scurvy1 so he bought all green stuff2 and ,bradwell said it was good47 ,,corkey ,,minimus4--,three pounds of mixed sweets4 7,bradwell smacked his head when he heard what ,corkey minimus had got2 but ,trelawny pointed out that a few sweets served out from time to time might distract the mind47 ,,derbyshire4--,a pigeon-pie and thirteen currant buns with saffron in them4 ,,forrest4--,four pots ,bovril1 one bottle cider4 7,bovril can be taken on bread like treacle1 and once saved the lives of several shipwrecked sailors47 ,,watson ,,minor4--,two pounds dog-biscuits1 one pound dried figs1 one box of dates4 7,asked why he took dog-biscuits1 he explained it was because he had seen an advertisement about the goodness of them4 ,it said they had dried buffalo meat in them1 which was a thing you could live for an immense duration of time on4 ,trelawny said that was pretty fair sense for a kid47 99 99 99 99 99 ,all this splendid food was brought out of boxes where it had been hidden and placed in the hands of ,bradwell2 and that night he sat up with a candle and drew out bills of fare and made calculations4 ,we were rather surprised in the morning to hear the rations would not last more than a fortnight1 but ,trelawny said the siege must be over long before that4 ,nobody slept much1 and many had dressed before the first bell rang4 ,when the second bell rang ,trelawny and ,bradwell went to the door to listen4 ,presently ,thompson1 of all people1 came up and tried to get in and couldn't4 ,he shook the door1 then saw the envelope addressed to the ,doctor1 and said3 8,what's the meaning of this1 you fellows8 ,let me in at once60 ,but nobody answered4 ,then he cleared off4 ,at #h4cj the string was lowered from the window1 and ,trelawny went and stood by it to pull up any letter that might be fastened to it4 ,but none was4 ,some of the chaps were prowling about outside looking at the ,wing ,dormitory1 but ,trelawny wouldn't let anybody go to the windows except himself4 ,then1 as nothing happened1 we had breakfast4 ,mc,innes and ,forrest were told off to help ,bradwell1 and each chap's rations were put on his bed after he had made it4 ,we all got the same except ,gideon--a slice of bread1 two sardines1 half one of ,mathers's sausage-rolls1 and half a tumbler of water4 ,so we began at once to see what a jolly serious thing a siege is4 ,and ,gideon saw it more than we did1 because he had no sardines and no sausage-roll4 ,he offered ,trelawny money for a little more food1 but ,trelawny said he shouldn't have as much as one mixed sweet1 though he might pay gold for it4 ,he said1 8,you will have barely enough to keep you alive40 ,and ,gideon turned awfully white when he heard it4 ,breakfast didn't take more than about five minutes1 then there was a tremendous knocking at the iron door1 and ,bradwell said the trouble had begun1 but ,trelawny said it was the summons to a parley4 ,anyway1 we heard the ,doctor's voice1 and it wasn't much of a parley1 strictly speaking1 because he spoke first1 and merely gave us two minutes to be in our places down-stairs4 8,if you don't obey1 one and all of you10 said the ,doctor1 8you must take the consequences4 ,as it is1 they will be sufficiently grave4 ,any further offence ,i shall know how to treat40 8,if you please1 sir10 said ,trelawny1 8the string is out of the window4 ,we are doing this for the good of the school1 and--0 ,then he stopped1 because he had heard the ,doctor go away4 8,he'll try a blacksmith first10 said ,forrest2 8then1 when they find they can't do anything with this iron door1 he'll send for policemen40 ,but nothing was done1 strangely enough1 and ,trelawny made the chaps lie down and sleep if they could in the afternoon1 because he expected a night attack with ladders4 ,to get in it would be necessary to remove the bars from the windows1 and anybody attempting to do so would1 of course1 be at our mercy with the windows open4 ,for dinner that day we had one of ,trelawny's hams cut into fifteen pieces1 with two rather thin slices of bread1 one spring onion1 and three mixed sweets each1 and as much raspberry vinegar as would go into a bullet-mold that ,wilson had4 ,gideon ate the ham like anybody else1 which shows ,jews don't refuse pork in any shape at times of siege1 whatever they say4 ,trelawny wouldn't give him any raspberry vinegar1 but ,ashby minor let him have one of his mixed sweets1 which was green and had arsenic in it1 ,ashby minor thought4 ,it seemed a frightfully long day1 and nothing being done against us made it longer4 ,bradwell tried to cook ,wilson's herrings with stuff out of a pillow-case1 but unfortunately failed4 ,trelawny explained that ,dunston was working out tactics1 and would do something when the moon rose4 ,he said our motto was to be 8,defence1 not ,defiance02 but ,derbyshire said they were going to starve us out like rats1 so as to reduce the glory as much as possible4 ,one or two chaps had private rows that day1 and ,trelawny was pretty short and sharp4 ,he said we were to regard ourselves as under martial law1 and he stopped ,forrest having any tea at all because he looked out of the window and waved his hand to ,steggles in the playground4 ,what made it worse for ,forrest was that we opened one of his pots of ,bovril at that very tea1 and of course he didn't have any4 ,but ,trelawny said it was good discipline1 and wouldn't let ,mathers divide his share with young ,forrest1 though he wanted to4 ,the day dragged out4 ,nothing was done1 and no letter was put on the string4 ,then night came and moonlight1 and ,trelawny set watches at each window and door with directions to wake him instantly if anything happened or anybody assembled outside below4 ,but he didn't sleep really4 ,in fact1 only a few of the kids did4 ,bradwell got a bit down in the mouth after dark1 and ,i heard him say to ,trelawny it wasn't turning out like he thought1 and ,trelawny said3 8,it's always the same when a position is impregnable4 ,i could show you a dozen similar sieges in history4 ,of course1 it's the most uninteresting sort of siege when chaps simply sit and see the enemy get to the end of their food supplies1 but they won't do that with us4 ,the day boys will talk1 and old ,dunston will raise heaven and earth to keep it out of the printed papers4 ,i bet he'll tie something to the string to-morrow40 ,some of us tried to take a bright view like ,trelawny1 but when we heard him tell ,bradwell to run no risks and serve out as little bread as possible1 we felt that he did not really feel as hopeful of a short siege as he seemed4 ,just before dusk ,corkey minimus was caught in the act of flinging a letter out of the window addressed to his mother4 ,it was torn up1 and he was cautioned4 ,that ended the day1 and nothing else happened until a quarter to one o'clock4 ,then ,bradwell1 whose watch it was1 called 8,cave60 and came to ,trelawny with frightful excitement to say that there was the head of a ladder at his window1 and a man climbing up4 ,trelawny was there in a second1 and asked in a loud voice what the man wanted1 and said he'd throw the ladder down if the man came up another rung4 ,but the man said3 8,hush6 you silly fellow2 ,i'm a friend with news from the enemy4 ,the least you can do is to 'ear what ,i've got to say40 8,good ,lord60 said ,trelawny1 8it's ,thompson60 ,and so it was1 and his huge head soon got level with the window1 and looked like a bull's against the moonlight4 ,trelawny made everybody get out of earshot except ,bradwell2 but he didn't happen to see me1 being rolled up in bed near the window1 so ,i heard4 ,first ,thompson said3 8,look 'ere1 you ,cornish boy1 ,i'm sorry to find we 'aven't 'it it off by any means1 and you want me to go1 and you've locked yourself and friends up 'ere as a protest4 ,now1 'ow 'ave ,i 'urt your feelings1 and what have ,i done80 ,which was a bit difficult for ,trelawny2 but he fell back on the manifesto to the ,doctor4 8,it's no personal matter1 sir4 ,we wish it to be understood that the action is abstract40 8,oh4 ,well1 ,i can't say ,i know what the devil you mean by that2 but ,i like you all better than ever1 and ,i understand this much1 that you don't like me4 ,i'm not proud4 ,i'm quite as ready to learn as to teach4 ,tell me what makes you do this1 you queer things40 8,we don't think you are the right man for ,dunston's1 sir10 said ,trelawny1 firmly4 8,well1 but isn't ,doctor ,dunston the best judge8 ,his experience reaches back rather farther than yours4 ,anyway1 ,i'm not going4 ,you'll 'ave to tolerate me4 ,you'll 'ave to like me too4 ,i've disobeyed all orders by climbing up 'ere now to advise you to give in to-morrow4 ,take my advice1 and come out at the first bell1 and with ropes round your necks4 ,measures are in 'and2 and as your protest has utterly failed1 the sooner you give in and take your punishment the better4 ,i've done my best to make it as light as ,i can2 but boys mustn't do this sort of thing in big schools1 you know4 ,it's very naughty indeed40 8,we shall keep up the protest for another day at least1 sir10 said ,trelawny1 with a lot of side in his voice4 8,no1 my lad1 you won't10 answered ,thompson4 8,the ,doctor has taken my advice1 and by very simple means1 with the least possible waste of time1 trouble1 and money1 we shall enter your stronghold to-morrow4 ,i am quite good-tempered to-day4 ,to-morrow ,i shall probably be quite cross and 'ot4 ,the matter is in my 'ands4 ,do be good boys and yield while there is time4 ,the sooner the better40 8,i regret we cannot comply with your terms1 sir10 said ,trelawny4 8,i'm not offering any10 answered ,mr4 ,thompson4 8,i only want to make your foolishness fall as light as possible4 ,your mothers' and fathers' 'earts will ache over this headstrong business40 8,the parley is ended10 said ,trelawney4 8,all right10 said ,mr4 ,thompson1 8,i'm afraid you're a hawful little prig1 ,trelawny40 ,then he went down the ladder1 and looking out1 ,bradwell reported that he saw him taking it back to the gardener's shed in the shrubbery4 ,,iii ,there is not much more to be said about the protest of the ,wing ,dormitory4 ,i suppose ,thompson was better up in tactics really than ,trelawny4 ,anyway1 he found a weak spot that ,trelawny never thought of1 and he ended the siege by half-past seven the following morning4 ,about six ,ashby major1 whose watch it was1 reported that the school fire-escape was coming round the corner4 ,with it appeared ,mr4 ,thompson1 ,mr4 ,mannering1 who is an ,oxford 8,blue0 and not much smaller than ,mr4 ,thompson1 the ,doctor1 the gardener1 and the military agent who drills our volunteer corps and teaches gymnastics4 ,they put the escape against the wall of the ,wing ,dormitory1 between two windows1 where it couldn't be reached by us4 ,then ,thompson and ,mannering went up1 and the sergeant and gardener followed4 ,the ,doctor waited at the foot of the ladder4 8,they'll get through the roof60 said ,trelawny2 8,i never thought of that60 ,trelawny turned awfully rum in the face1 and tried to think out a way of repelling a roof attack2 but there wasn't time4 ,in about ten minutes or so the end of an iron bar came through the ceiling2 then followed a regular avalanche of plaster and dust1 that fell on ,watson minor and jolly nearly smothered him4 ,then came ,thompson1 ,mannering followed1 and the gardener and the sergeant dropped after them as quick as lightning4 ,of course1 we were done1 because only half of us were fighters1 the rest being kids2 and ,trelawny himself being just fifteen and ,bradwell fourteen and ,ashby major twelve and a half1 and ,i only eleven and a half1 it was no good4 8,we surrender10 said ,trelawny4 8,surrender1 you little brute1 ,i should think you did yield60 said ,mannering1 who had cut his hand getting the slates off the roof1 and was in a rare bate4 8,you needn't insult a defeated force1 sir10 said ,trelawny1 keeping his nerve jolly well4 8,we are prepared to pay the penalty of failure1 and having meant well we--we don't care40 ,but whether we meant well or not1 ,i know ,trelawney and ,bradwell both got expelled1 though ,thompson was said to have tried very hard for them4 ,dunston didn't seem to realize what frightfully good motives prompted them to protest against ,thompson in an abstract way4 ,nothing was done to anybody else except ,ashby major and me and ,wilson4 ,we were flogged by ,mr4 ,mannering for the ,doctor2 and he did it as you might expect from a 8,blue40 ,as for ,thompson1 he stayed on1 and the protest never got into print2 and there wasn't much disgrace for ,trelawny or ,bradwell after all1 because the first afterwards got into ,woolwich ten from the top1 through an army crammer's1 and the second joined his father1 who was the ,whiteley of the ,north ,i spoke of4 ,he wrote to me only a week ago to say that he was getting a hundred pounds a year from his governor for doing much less than he had to do at ,dunston's4 ,mind you1 ,thompson is a jolly good sort1 really1 and we know it now2 and1 as ,i heard my uncle say of somebody else1 ,i don't suppose it's a matter of life and death whether or no a chap puts his h's in the wrong places if his heart's in the right one4 8,freckles0 and 8,frenchy0 ,he was the most peculiar chap that ever came to ,merivale1 not excepting even ,mason1 who shot the ,doctor's wife's parrot with a catapult1 and1 after he had been flogged1 offered to stuff it in the face of the whole school1 and nearly got expelled4 ,freckles was so called owing to his skin1 which was simply a complicated pattern much like what you can see in any map of the ,grecian ,archipelago4 ,this arose1 he thought1 from his having been born in ,australia4 ,anyway1 it was rum to see2 and so were his hands1 which had reddish down on the backs4 ,his eyes were1 also reddish--a sort of mixture of red and gray specks1 and they glimmered like a cat's when he was angry1 which was often4 ,his real name was ,maine1 and he had no side4 ,his father had made a big fortune selling wool at ,sydney1 and his grandfather was one of the last people to be transported to ,botany ,bay through no fault of his own4 ,after he had been on a convict ship five years a chap at home confessed on his death-bed that he had done the thing ,maine's grandfather was transported for4 ,so they naturally let ,maine's grandfather go free2 and he was so much annoyed about it that he never came back home again1 but married a farmer's daughter near ,sydney and settled out there for good4 ,maine didn't think great things of ,england1 and was always talking about the ,australian forests of blue gum-trees and bush1 and sneering rather at the size of our forests round ,merivale1 though they were good ones4 ,he never joined in games1 but roamed away alone for miles and miles into the country on half-holidays1 and trespassed with a cheek ,i never saw equalled4 ,he could run like a hare--especially about half a mile or so1 which1 as he explained to me1 is just about a distance to blow a keeper4 ,certainly1 though often chased1 he was never caught and never recognized1 owing to things he did which he had learned in ,australia and copied from famous bushrangers4 ,his great hope some day was to be a bushranger himself1 and he practised in a quiet way every ,saturday afternoon1 making it a rule to go out of bounds always4 ,his get-up was fine4 ,my name is ,tomkins1 called 8,nubby0 because ,i happen to have a rather large sort of nose1 and1 being fond of the country and not keen on games1 ,maine rather took to me1 and after ,i had sworn on crossed knives not to say a word to a soul 7which ,i never did till ,freckles left7 he told me his secrets and showed me his things4 ,if you'd seen ,freckles starting for an excursion you wouldn't have said there was anything remarkable about him2 but really he was armed to the teeth1 and had everything a bushranger would be likely to want in a quiet place like ,merivale4 ,down his leg was the barrel of an air-gun1 strong enough to kill any small thing like a cat at twenty-five yards2 the rest of the gun was arranged inside the lining of his coat1 and the slugs it fired he carried loose in his trousers-pockets4 ,round his waist he had a leather belt he got from a sailor for a pound4 ,inside the leather was human skin1 said to be flayed off a chap by cannibals somewhere1 which was a splendid thing to have for your own1 if it was true2 and in the belt a place had been specially made for a knife4 ,freckles1 of course1 had a knife in it--a 8bowie0 knife that made you cold to see4 ,he never used it1 but kept it ready1 and said if a keeper ever caught him he possibly might have to4 ,in addition to these things he carried in his coat-pockets a little spirit-lamp and a collapsible tin pot and a bag of tea4 ,he said tea was the very life of men in the bush1 and that often after a hard escape1 when he was out of danger1 he would get away behind a woodstack or under banks of a stream1 or some such secret place1 and brew a cup and drink it1 and feel the better for it4 ,lastly1 ,freckles had a flat lead mask with holes for the eyes and mouth1 which he always fitted on when trespassing4 ,he said it was copied from the helmet ,ned ,kelly1 the ,king of the ,bushrangers1 used to wear1 but it was not bullet-proof1 but only used for a disguise4 ,we were in the same dormitory1 and one night1 when all the chaps had gone to sleep1 he dressed up in these things and stood where some moonlight came in1 and certainly looked jolly4 ,once1 as an awful favor--me being smaller than him1 and not fast enough to run away from a man--he let me come and see what he did when bushranging on a half-holiday in winter4 8,i sha'n't run my usual frightful risks with you10 he said1 8because ,i might have to open fire to save you1 and that would be very disagreeable to me2 but we'll trespass a bit1 and ,i'll shoot a few things1 if ,i can4 ,i don't shoot much1 only for food40 ,he made me a mask with tinfoil off chocolate smoothed out and gummed on cardboard2 but ,i had no weapons1 and he said ,i had better not try and get any4 ,we started for the usual walk4 ,chaps were allowed to go through a public pine-wood to ,merivale2 but half through1 by a place where was a board which warned us to keep the path1 ,freckles branched off into some dead bracken1 and squatted down and put on his mask4 ,i also put on mine4 ,then he fastened his air-gun together and loaded it1 and told me to walk six paces behind him and do as he did4 ,his eyes were awfully keen1 and now and then he pointed to a feather on the ground1 or an old nest or a patch of rum fungus or a crab-apple still hanging on the tree1 though all the leaves were off4 ,once he fired at a jay and missed it1 then fell down in the fern as if he was shot himself1 and remained quite motionless for some time4 ,he told me that he always did so after firing1 that he might hear if anybody had been attracted by the sound4 ,it was a well-known bushman's dodge4 ,once we saw a keeper through a clearing1 and ,freckles lay flat on his stomach1 and so did ,i4 ,he knew the keeper well1 and told me that he had many times escaped from him4 ,we waited half an hour1 and turned to go back a different way from that of the keeper4 ,then1 where a glade sloped down to some water and the grass was all dewy and covered with mole-hills1 ,freckles went to inspect a trap he had set a week before4 ,he was collecting skins for a mole-skin waistcoat1 but he said skinning moles was one of the beastliest tasks a hunter ever had4 ,however1 there was a mole caught1 and he skinned it and wrapped up the skin in leaves and put it in his hat4 ,then we had some real sport1 for on the other side of the glade we saw rabbits lopping about1 and ,freckles stalked them through the fern while ,i waited motionless1 and finally he shot a young one4 ,i wanted to take it back and get cook to do it for us1 but he said ,i was a fool4 8,if you want any you must have it now4 ,it's about the time ,i take a meal10 he said1 8and that's a part of my ranging and hunting you haven't seen yet40 ,he knew the country well1 and said we were in one of the most carefully preserved places anywhere about1 which must have been true1 for there were an awful lot of pheasants calling in the glades4 ,but ,freckles got down into a drain and showed me a hollow he had scooped out under a lot of ivy where it fell over a bank4 8,this is one of my caves10 he said1 8and here we can feed and drink in safety2 but you mustn't talk or ,i sha'n't be able to hear if anything is stirring in the woods40 ,he took off his mask1 set down his gun1 and lighted his spirit-stove4 8,skin the rabbit and cut off his hind-legs while ,i make tea10 he said4 ,so ,i did1 and he held them over the lamp till they were slightly cooked outside1 but not right through4 ,he ate and drank with his ears straining for every sound4 ,then he took the rest of the rabbit and removed all traces of eating1 and buried everything we had left4 8,if ,i didn't10 he explained1 8some keeper's dog would find my lair1 and make a row and give it away1 and the keepers would doubtless lie in wait for me and catch me red-handed4 ,you can't be too careful1 because every man's hand's against you2 which1 of course1 is the beauty of it40 ,we got back without anything happening1 and ,i've hated the sight of rabbit pretty well ever since1 but ,freckles said the juices of animals are better for the human frame underdone4 ,well1 that gives you an idea of ,freckles1 and the affair with ,frenchy1 which ,i am going to tell you about1 showed that he really was cut out for bushranging4 ,frenchy1 as we called him1 was ,monsieur ,michel4 ,he didn't belong entirely to ,dunston's1 but lived in ,merivale and came to us three days a week1 and went to a girl's school the other three4 ,he was a rum1 oldish chap1 whose great peculiarities were to make puns in ,english and to appeal to our honor about everything4 ,he would slang a fellow horribly one day1 and wave his arms and pretty nearly jump out of his skin2 and the next day he would bring up a whacking pear for the fellow he'd slanged1 or a new knife or something4 ,he pretty nearly cried sometimes1 and he told us his nerves were frightfully tricky1 and often led him to be harsh when he didn't mean it4 ,he couldn't keep order or make chaps work if they didn't choose2 and ,steggles1 who had an awfully cunning dodge of always rubbing him up the wrong way1 and then looking crushed and broken-hearted so as to get things1 which he did1 said that ,frenchy was like damp fireworks1 because you never knew exactly when he'd go off or how4 ,one day1 dashing out of class with a frightful yell1 ,freckles got sent for1 and went back and found ,monsieur raving mad4 ,it seemed that ,freckles had yelled too soon--before he was out of the class-room1 in fact1 and ,frenchy had got palpitation of the heart from it4 ,he let into ,freckles properly then4 ,he said he was his 8bte noire0 and 8un sot vingt-quatre carats0--which means an eighteen-carat ass in ,english1 but twenty-four carats in ,french--and 8one of the aborigines who ought to be kept on a chain10 and many other such-like things4 ,freckles turned all colors1 and then white1 with a sort of bluish tint to his lips4 ,he didn't say a word1 but looked at ,frenchy with such a frightful expression that ,i felt something would happen later4 ,all that happened at the time was that ,freckles got the eighth book of ,telemachus to write out into ,french from ,english1 and then correct by ,fnelon1 which was a pretty big job if a chap had been fool enough to try and do it2 and ,monsieur ,michel went off to ,merivale with a big card on his coat-tail with 8,ici on parle ,franais0 written upon it in red pencil4 ,this ,i had managed to do myself while ,frenchy was jawing ,freckles4 ,i told ,freckles1 but it didn't comfort him much4 ,he said there were some things no mortal chap could stand2 and to be called 8an aborigine0 because a man was born in ,australia seemed to him about the bitterest insult even an old frog-eating ,frenchman could have invented4 ,happening to him1 of all chaps1 it was especially a thing which would have to be revenged1 seeing what his views were4 ,he said3 8,i couldn't bushrange or anything with a clear conscience in the future if ,i had a thing like this hanging over me unrevenged4 ,it's the frightfulest slur on my character1 and ,i won't sit down under it for fifty ,frenchmen40 ,then he said he should take a week to settle what to do1 and went into the playground alone4 ,next time ,frenchy came up he was just the same as ever--awfully easy-going and jolly1 and let ,freckles off the ,telemachus1 and offered him as classy a knife1 with a corkscrew and other things1 including tweezers1 as ever you saw--just the knife for ,freckles1 considering his ways4 ,but it didn't come off4 ,freckles got white again when he saw the knife1 and said3 8,thank you1 ,monsieur1 ,i don't want your knife2 and the imposition is half done1 and will be finished next time you come40 ,then ,frenchy called him a silly boy1 and tried to make a joke and pinch ,freckles by the ear4 ,but nobody saw the joke1 and ,freckles dodged away4 ,then ,frenchy sighed1 and looked round to see who should have the knife1 and didn't seem to see anybody in particular1 and left it on his desk4 ,he often sighed in class1 and sometimes told us he was without friends1 unless he might call us friends2 and we said he might4 ,when he went1 ,freckles told me he considered the knife was another insult4 ,then he explained what he was going to do4 ,he said3 8,i shall finish the impot first1 so as not to be obliged to him for anything1 and then ,i shall stick him up40 8,stick him up--how80 ,i said4 8,it's a bushranging expression10 he explained4 8,to #8stick up' a man is to make him stand and deliver what he's got4 ,i see my way to do this with ,frenchy4 ,he always goes and comes from ,merivale through the woods1 as you know1 and now he's up here on ,friday nights coaching ,slade and ,betterton for their army exam4 ,afterwards he has supper with ,mr4 ,thompson or the ,doctor4 ,there you are4 ,i wait my time in the wood1 which is jolly lonely by night1 though it is such a potty little place hardly worth calling a wood2 then he comes along1 and ,i stick him up40 8,it's highway robbery10 ,i said4 8,you might get years and years of imprisonment40 8,i might10 he said1 8but ,i sha'n't4 ,you must begin your career some time1 and ,i'm going to next ,friday night4 ,i've often got out of the dormitory and been in that wood by night1 and only the chaps in the dormitory have known it40 ,well1 the night came1 and all that we heard about it till afterwards was that about eleven o'clock1 or possibly even later than that1 there was a fearful pealing at the front door of ,dunston's1 and looking out we could see a stretcher and something on it4 ,that something was actually ,freckles1 though the few chaps who knew what was going to be done felt sure it must be ,frenchy2 because ,freckles is five feet ten and growing1 and ,frenchy isn't more than five feet six at the outside1 and a poor thing at that4 ,but it was ,freckles all right1 and two laboring men had brought him back1 and ,frenchy had come with them4 ,not until five weeks afterwards1 when ,freckles could get up and limp about1 did ,i hear the truth2 and ,i'll tell it in his own words1 because they must be better than a chap's who wasn't there4 ,he seemed frightfully down in the mouth1 and said that he could never look fellows in the eyes again2 but it cheered him telling me1 and when ,i told him he was thundering well out of it he admitted he was4 ,he said3 ,i got off all right1 and the moon was as clear as day1 and everything just ripe for sticking a chap up4 ,then1 like a fool1 having a longish time to wait1 ,i didn't simply stop in shadow behind a tree-trunk or something in the usual way1 but thought ,i'd do a thing ,i'd never heard of bushrangers doing1 though ,indian thugs are pretty good at it4 ,i went and got up a tree which has a branch over the road1 and ,i thought ,i'd drop down almost on top of ,frenchy to start with4 ,and that's just what ,i did do1 only ,i dropped wrong1 and came down pretty nearly on my head owing to slipping somehow at the start4 ,what did exactly happen to me as ,i left the tree ,i never shall know4 ,anyway1 ,frenchy came along sure enough1 and ,i dropped1 and he jumped ,i should think fully a yard in the air2 but that was all1 because in falling ,i hit a big root 7it was a beech-tree71 and went and broke something in my ankle and something in my chest and couldn't stand4 ,consequently1 of course1 ,i couldn't stick him up4 ,the pain was pretty fair1 but feeling what a fool ,i was seemed to make me forget it4 ,anyway1 finding it was useless to think of sticking him up1 ,i tried to hobble into the fern and get out of sight2 and finding ,i couldn't crawl1 ,i rolled4 ,but of course you can't roll away from a chap1 and he came after me1 and my mask fell off while ,i rolled1 and he recognized me4 #8,mon ,dieu6 it is the boy ,maine6' he said4 #8,speak1 child1 what in the wide world was this8' ,i disguised my voice and said ,i wasn't ,maine1 and that he'd better leave me alone or it might be the worse for him yet4 ,but he wouldn't go1 and1 chancing to get queer about the head somehow ,i went off1 ,i suppose1 though it wasn't for long4 ,when ,i came to he was gone1 but he rushed back in a minute with that rotten old top-hat he wears full of water he'd got from the puddle in the stone-pit4 ,he doused my head and made me sit up with my back against a tree4 ,then1 feeling the frightfulness of it1 ,i begged him to clear out and let me alone4 ,i said3 #8,you don't know what you're doing4 ,i'm no friend to you1 but the deadliest enemy you've got in the world1 and if ,i hadn't fallen down at a critical moment and broken myself ,i should have stuck you up1 ,monsieur ,michel4 ,so1 now1 you know4' ,he said to himself1 #8,the poor mad boy--the poor mad boy--,i will run toutes jambes for succor'2 but ,i told him not to4 ,i began to get a rum hot pain in my side then1 but ,i felt ,i would gladly have died there rather than be obliged to him4 ,i said3 #8,you called me an 8aborigine10 which is the most terrible thing you can call an ,australian-born chap1 and you wanted to pass it off with a knife with a corkscrew and tweezers in it4 ,but you couldn't expect me to take it1 feeling as ,i did4 ,now the fortunes of war have given you the victory1 and1 if you please1 ,i wish you'd go4' 8,but he refused4 ,he said he wouldn't have hurt my feelings for anything4 ,he seemed to overlook altogether what ,i was going to do to him1 and asked me where it hurt me4 ,i told him1 and he said it was his fault--fancy that6 and wished he was big enough to carry me back4 ,i kept on asking him to go1 and at last1 after begging my pardon like anything1 for about a week it seemed1 he went4 ,but ,i heard him shouting and yelling ,french yells in the woods1 and after a bit he came back with two men and a hurdle4 ,they presently took me back1 and what ,frenchy's said since to the ,doctor ,i don't know4 ,in fact1 ,i didn't know anything for days4 ,anyway1 ,i've had nothing but a mild rowing and very good grub1 and ,i'm not to be even flogged1 though that's probably because ,i broke a rib or two1 not including the bone in my leg4 ,but ,i'm all right now1 and ,i think it was about the most sporting thing a chap ever did for ,frenchy to treat me like that--eh8 ,i shouldn't have thought it was in a ,frenchman to do it1 especially after ,i told him what ,i was going to do40 8,yes10 ,i said1 8that's all right1 but what about bushranging80 8,it's pretty sickening10 he said1 8but ,i feel as if all the keenness was knocked out of me4 ,if a chap can't so much as fall out of a tree on a wanderer's path at the nick of time without smashing himself1 what's the good of him80 8,besides10 ,i said1 8if it hadn't been ,frenchy1 but somebody else of a different turn of mind1 he might have taken you at a disadvantage and jolly well killed you40 8,in real bushranging that is what would have happened10 admitted ,freckles4 8,as it is1 ,i expect months1 perhaps years1 will have to go by before ,i feel to hanker after it again4 ,and meantime ,i sha'n't rest in peace till ,i've paid ,frenchy40 8,how80 ,i asked4 8,well1 ,i believe it's to be done4 ,he's often come to see me while ,i was on my back in bed1 and he's told me a lot about himself4 ,he's frightfully hard up1 and a ,roman ,catholic1 and hopes to lay his bones in la belle ,france with luck1 but he doesn't think he'll ever be able to manage it4 ,he told me all this1 little knowing my father was extremely rich4 ,well1 you see1 the mater wants somebody ,french for the kids at home1 which are girls1 and1 knowing ,frenchy bars this climate1 ,i think ,australia might do him good4 ,he's fifty-three years old1 and it seems to me if the guv'nor wrote and offered him his passage and a good screw he'd go4 ,i have made it a personal thing to myself1 and told the guv'nor what a good little chap he is1 and what a beautiful accent he's got1 and the thing that happened in the wood40 ,the affair dropped then1 and about six weeks after1 when ,freckles was getting fit again1 he walked with me one half-holiday to see the place where he was smashed up4 ,the bough was a frightful high one to drop from even in daylight1 also it was broken4 ,freckles got awfully excited when he spotted it4 8,there6 there60 he said1 8that's the best thing ,i've seen for twelve weeks60 8,i don't see much to squeak about10 ,i said1 8especially as the beastly tree nearly did for you40 8,but can't you see it's broken8 ,that's what did it6 ,i thought ,i slipped1 and if ,i had ,i shouldn't have been made of the stuff for a bushranger2 but the wretched branch broke1 and that is jolly different4 ,that wasn't my fault4 ,the most hardened old hand must have come down then4 ,in fact1 he couldn't have stopped up4 ,oh1 what a lot of misery ,i'd have been saved through all these weeks if ,i'd known it broke in a natural sort of way60 ,he got an awful deal of comfort out of this1 and said he should return to his old ways again as soon as he could run a mile without stopping4 ,and we found his lead mask1 like ,ned ,kelly's1 just where it had dropped when he had rolled over in the fern1 and he welcomed it like a dog4 ,that's the end1 except that his father did write to ,dunston about ,frenchy2 and ,dunston1 not being very keen about ,frenchy himself1 seemed to think he would be just the chap for the girls of ,freckles's father4 ,anyway1 he went1 and he cried when he said good-bye to the school2 and ,freckles told me that when he said good-bye to him he yelled with crying1 and blessed him both in ,french and ,english1 and said that the sunny atmosphere of ,australia would very likely prolong his life until he had saved enough to get his bones back to ,france4 ,so he went1 and ,freckles went after him much sooner than he ever expected to1 because the keepers finally caught him in the game preserves1 sitting in his hole under the stream bank1 frizzling the leg of a pheasant which he had shot out of a tree with his air-gun and buried seven days before4 ,and ,dunston wrote to his father1 and his father wrote back that ,freckles1 being now fourteen and apparently having less sense than when he left ,australia1 had better return to his native land1 and go into the wool business1 and begin life as an office-boy in his place of business4 ,freckles told me that chaps in his father's office generally got a fortnight's holiday1 but that his mother would probably work up his governor to give him three weeks4 ,then he would get a proper outfit and track away to the boundless scrub1 and fall in with other chaps who had similar ideas1 and begin to take life seriously4 ,he said ,i might see his name in ,australian papers in about a year4 ,but he never wrote to me1 and ,i don't know if he really succeeded well4 ,i'm sure ,i hope he did1 for he was a tidy chap1 though queer4 ,concerning ,corkey ,minimus ,i ,if ,corkey minor had been at school that term the thing would never have come about2 but ,corkey minor was always one of the lucky chaps1 and just when1 in the ordinary course of events1 he would have had to begin fagging for an exam41 something happened to his right lung1 and he had to go on an awful fine trip to ,australia in a sailing ship4 ,that left ,corkey major1 who was a mere learning machine in the ,sixth1 and ,corkey minimus1 who was ten1 and in the ,lower ,fourth4 ,it began like this4 ,after ,bray had licked ,derbyshire and ,bethune1 which he did one after the other on the same half-holiday1 chaps gave him 8best10 as a matter of course1 and he became cock of the lower school4 ,he was solid muscle all through1 and harder than stone1 and he had a brother in ,london who was runner-up in the amateur 8light-weight0 championship two years following4 ,bray fancied himself a bit1 naturally1 and was always roaming about seeking fellows to punch4 ,but once1 out of bounds in a private wood1 a keeper caught him and licked him1 which was seen by two other fellows1 and remembered against ,bray afterwards when he put on too much side4 ,he and ,corkey minimus were in the same class1 because ,bray1 though thirteen1 didn't know much4 ,at first they were great chums1 and ,bray bossed ,corkey and palled with him2 and when ,browne1 the under mathematical master1 told ,corkey minimus that he was 8the least of all the ,corkeys1 and not worthy to be called a ,corkey10 because he couldn't do rule-of-three1 or some rot1 ,bray said a thing that ,browne overheard1 and got sent up4 ,but by degrees the friendship of ,bray and ,corkey minimus cooled off1 and the matter of ,milly settled it4 ,the ,doctor had four daughters1 and ,milly was the youngest4 ,mabel and ,ethel held no dealings with any fellows under the ,sixth1 and ,mary had something wrong with her spine and didn't count4 ,but ,i never cared for any of them myself1 because you couldn't tell what they meant4 ,beatrice1 for instance1 was absolutely engaged to ,morris1 for he told his sister so in the holidays1 and his sister told ,morris minor1 and he told me the next term4 ,morris was the head of the school1 and he had her photograph fixed into a foreign nut which he wore on his watch-chain4 ,but when he left1 and she found out he was gone into a bank at #hj a year1 she dropped him like a spider4 ,mind you1 ,morris had told her he was descended1 on his mother's side1 from a race of old ,irish kings1 which may have unsettled her4 ,anyway1 when she found he came1 on his father's side1 from a race of church curates1 she wrote and said it was off4 ,but there were other things that upset the chumming of ,bray and ,corkey minimus before the ,milly row1 and they ought to be taken in turn4 ,first1 there was the ,old ,testament prize1 which was the only thing ,bray had the ghost of a chance of getting4 ,but ,corkey beat him by twenty-three marks2 and ,bray said afterwards that ,corkey had cribbed a lot of stuff about ,joshua1 and ,corkey said he hadn't1 and even declared he knew as much about ,joshua as ,bray1 and a bit over4 ,then1 on top of that1 came the match with neckties1 which was rather a rum match in its way4 ,both of them used to be awfully swagger about their neckties1 and each fancied his own4 ,so one bet the other half a crown he would wear a different necktie every day for a month4 ,the month being ,june1 that meant thirty different neckties each1 and the chap who wore the best neckties would win4 ,a fellow called ,fowle was judge1 being the son of an artist2 and neither ,bray nor ,corkey was allowed to buy a single new tie or add to the stock he had in his box4 ,at the end of a fortnight they stood about equal1 though ,corkey's ties were rather more artistic than ,bray's1 which were chiefly yellow and spotted4 ,but then came an awful falling away1 and some of the affairs they wore were simply weird4 ,the test for these was if the tie passed in class4 ,then the terms of the match were altered1 and they decided to go on wearing different things till one or other was stopped by a master4 ,any concern not noticed was considered a necktie 8in the ordinary acceptation of that term10 as ,fowle put it4 ,at the end of the third week ,corkey minimus came out in an umbrella cover done in a sailor's knot1 but nobody worth mentioning spotted it2 and the next day ,bray wore a bit of blue ribbon off a chocolate box1 which also passed4 ,they struggled on this sort of way till ,bray got bowled over4 ,i think ,corkey was wearing a yard-measure dipped in red ink that morning1 but it looked rather swagger than not4 ,class was just ended1 when old ,briggs1 of all people--a man who wore two pairs of spectacles at one time very often--said to ,bray3 8,what is that round your neck1 boy80 ,and ,bray said3 8,my tie1 sir40 ,then ,briggs said3 8,is it1 sir8 ,let me see it1 please4 ,i have noticed an increasing disorder about your neck arrangements for a week past4 ,you insult me and you insult the class by appearing here in these ridiculous ties40 8,it sha'n't happen again1 sir10 said ,bray1 trying to edge out of the class-room4 8,no1 ,bray1 it shall not10 said old ,briggs4 8,bring me that thing at once1 please40 ,bray handed it up1 and ,briggs examined it as if it was a botanical specimen or something4 8,this10 he announced1 8is not a necktie at all4 ,you're wearing a piece of ,brussels carpet1 wretched boy--a fragment of the new carpet laid down yesterday in the ,doctor's study4 ,you will kindly take it to him immediately1 say who sent you1 and state the purpose to which you were putting it40 ,so ,bray1 by the terms of the match1 lost1 and ,corkey minimus won with the yard measure4 ,then the feeling between them grew1 especially after ,bray said that he could only pay his half-crown in instalments of a penny a week4 ,now we come to ,milly4 ,you see she was ,corkey minor's great pal the term before1 but now that he was at sea1 and thousands of miles off1 she chucked him and turned to ,corkey minimus4 ,that shows what she was really4 ,anyway1 in a bad moment for young ,corkey1 she told him he had eyes like an eagle's1 and it simply turned his head4 ,as an eagle's eyes are yellow1 ,i couldn't see myself what there was to be so jolly pleased about2 but he was1 and1 to show you what a chap may come to if a girl collars him1 ,i know for a fact that ,corkey minimus tried to paint a picture for her4 ,whether he actually succeeded ,i cannot say1 but he went down four places in class1 and got awfully dropped on by ,browne4 ,then came that attempt of ,bray to cut ,corkey out1 and1 being myself a tremendous personal chum of ,corkey's1 ,i wished he had succeeded2 but he didn't1 and even his fighting didn't take ,milly4 ,after a month of giving her things to eat and so on1 he said it was his red hair that stood between them1 and told ,fowle he didn't care a straw about her2 but from the way he went on to ,corkey minimus1 any fool could see he really cared a lot4 ,the chap called ,fowle comes in here4 ,this 8obscene ,fowle10 as we called him out of ,virgil1 being really a term in a crib applied to harpies1 though he would have run if a mouse had squeaked at him1 was yet responsible for more fights than any fellow in the school4 ,he sneaked about1 asking chaps if they gave one another 8best10 and when at last he found two who didn't funk each other1 though they might be perfectly good friends1 he never rested until there was a fight4 ,he got kicked sometimes1 but not enough4 ,that was owing to the fact that his hampers from home were most extraordinary4 ,they came on ,roman feast days1 because he was a ,roman ,catholic by religion2 and some fellows even said the more you kicked ,fowle the more you were likely to get from the hampers4 ,that was rot1 of course1 and a jolly suspicious thing happened once4 ,newnes--a chap in the lower ,fifth--kicked ,fowle the very morning before a hamper came2 and that same evening1 after prayers1 ,fowle gave ,newnes about half a whacking big melon1 and the next day ,newnes jolly near died4 ,fowle swore he hadn't put anything in the melon1 but it is bosh to say that half a melon1 if it's all right1 is going to do a chap any harm4 ,anyway1 we rather funked ,fowle's hampers afterwards4 ,well1 this wretched1 obscene ,fowle met me one day licking his fat lips and showing great excitement4 ,so ,i knew he'd probably worked up a fight2 but it wasn't that1 though something worse4 ,he said3 8,where's ,corkey minimus8 ,bray wants him40 8,what for80 ,i said4 ,i may mention that ,i am called ,mc,innes4 8,as a matter of fact1 he's heard something1 and he says1 though he's sorry1 he's got to lick ,corkey40 ,fowle smacked his beastly mouth as if he'd got pine-apple drops in it4 8,what's ,corkey done80 ,i said4 8,it's about ,milly ,dunston4 ,young ,corkey talks jolly big with her1 and doesn't even speak civil of his friends4 ,by quite an accident ,i was passing through the shrubbery from ,browne's house to the chapel yesterday1 and ,i went by the summer-house1 which is out of bounds1 and couldn't help overhearing ,milly and ,corkey minimus1 who were there4 ,and ,corkey distinctly said that ,bray was as fiery as his hair1 and that he had no more control of himself than a burning mountain2 and ,milly laughed40 8,and you sneaked off and told ,bray80 8,as his chum ,i had to40 8,ah1 then ,i shall tell ,corkey what you heard1 being his chum40 8,i shouldn't10 said ,fowle4 8,it's only making mischief4 ,besides1 ,bray won't take an apology now4 ,he says he's stood all that flesh and blood can stand4 ,those were his very words4 ,in fact1 ,i'm looking for ,corkey minimus at this moment to tell him that ,bray wants him up in the #8gym4'0 8,to lick him80 ,fowle smacked his lips again4 8,he's brought it on himself40 8,well10 ,i said1 8,i'll give the message4 ,you can go back and tell ,bray you've told me40 8,i'd rather have done it myself10 said ,fowle1 regretfully1 as though he was being robbed of tuck4 8,well1 you won't10 ,i answered him1 being pretty sick with the worm of a chap by that time4 8,you go back and say that ,corkey will turn up in ten minutes40 ,then he cleared out reluctantly1 leaving this tremendous responsibility entirely on my hands4 ,,ii ,i went off there and then for ,corkey4 ,it's a bit of a jar for a chap to get a message like that unexpectedly1 and ,i didn't know what advice to give4 ,corkey major was no good4 ,if ,i'd told him he would have blinked through his goggles and have said some bosh--very likely in ,latin4 ,and ,corkey minor1 being thousands of miles away1 it looked blue1 because you can't ask anybody but a chap's own brothers to take up a matter like this4 ,i couldn't lick ,bray myself1 or ,i would have4 ,the next minute ,i met ,corkey himself1 and1 from an awful rum look about him1 ,i thought for a moment he'd had the licking already4 ,but he hadn't1 and before ,i could speak he said3 8,mc,innes1 ,i've got to fight ,bray40 8,my dear chap1 you couldn't10 ,i began4 8,i know10 he answered1 8but ,i've got to4 ,things have happened4 ,listen to this4 ,i've just left ,milly1 and she's in a frightful bate4 ,i shouldn't have thought a girl could have got in such a rage without hurting herself4 ,bray told ,fowle that there were as good fish in the sea as ever came out of it--meaning ,milly2 and ,fowle wrote it on a bit of paper and dropped it where ,milly was bound to see it4 ,he didn't put his name1 but she knows his writing4 ,now she's pretty well mad1 and says it's a disgrace that a thick-necked1 speckly1 stumpy chap like ,bray should be cock of the lower school4 ,well1 ,i said1 very likely it was1 but ,i didn't see how it could be helped1 him being such a fighter4 ,then she tossed her hair about1 and said1 #8,i won't have anything more to do with the lower school at all while he's cock of it4' ,of course1 ,i didn't think she included me1 being--well1 her greatest pal alive since ,corkey minor went4 ,so ,i said1 #8,quite right2 ,i shouldn't look at them4' ,then she turned round rather suddenly and said ,i was included4 ,so ,i said1 #8,i should be only too glad to fight him if there was a ghost of a chance1 but there isn't4 ,it's no good pretending4 ,he's four inches taller1 and miles more round the chest and round the arms1 and ages older4 ,in fact1 he could lick me with one hand tied behind him4' ,then she said1 #8,the days of chivalry are dead1' which she'd got out of a book1 of course2 and she added that she was tired of all boys1 and that a chap with eyes like mine ought to have more #8devil' in him4 ,yes1 she used that word4 ,i said1 #8,what do you want me to do8' ,and she said1 #8,oh1 nothing4 ,i wouldn't have a hair of your head singed for the world2 only ,i thought that it might interest you more than other people to know ,i'd been insulted4 ,of course1 if it's nothing to you--' ,then she stopped and marched away1 and ,i went after her and asked her to explain1 and she answered that the explanation ought to come from me4 ,she said1 #8,d' you ever read dragon stories8' ,and ,i said1 #8,yes4' ,then she went on1 #8,well1 in all the ones ,i've read1 if a lady asked anybody to kill a dragon1 the person didn't say that the dragon could beat him with one paw tied behind it1 even though he thought so2 but he jolly well went and did the best he could4' ,naturally1 after that ,i saw what she meant1 and ,i said1 #8,oh1 all right1 ,milly2 of course1 if you've been insulted1 ,i must make the beggar apologize--or try to4' #8,yes1' she said1 cheering up like anything2 #8you are my own precious champion1 and ,i love you4' ,i tell you all this because you're my chum1 and you'll have to be my second4 ,and if ,i can even black his eye before he settles me1 it will be something40 8,well1 ,i call it a chouse10 ,i said4 8,she might as well have asked you to fight ,blanchard or ,sims4 ,look at your arms1 not to mention anything else2 they're like cabbage-stalks40 8,yes1 ,i know all that10 said ,corkey minimus1 8and it'll be rather rotten for her if he kills me4 ,but the thing's got to be done1 and the sooner it's over the better40 ,then ,i suddenly remembered ,bray's message1 and told ,corkey4 ,he seemed surprised4 8,he can't lick me on the spot if ,i challenge him to fight in a regular way1 can he80 he asked1 but rather doubtfully4 ,i said it seemed to me he couldn't4 ,then we went up to the 8gym10 where ,bray was talking to about four chaps1 including ,fowle4 8,oh1 you've come1 you kid1 have you8 ,you'd better not keep me waiting another time when ,i send for you10 he began4 8,now ,i'm going to lick you for cheek40 8,what cheek80 ,corkey minimus said4 8,fowle heard you say ,i was as fiery as my hair40 8,oh1 ,fowle1 he hears a lot1 ,i know40 8,did you say it or didn't you80 8,yes1 ,i did1 and ,i say it again2 and you're a dirty bully too40 ,bray came quite close to ,corkey minimus1 and put his face so near that their noses were almost touching1 like cats do when they're going to have a row on a wall4 8,say that just once more if it isn't troubling you too much10 said ,bray4 8,i'll say it as often as you like10 answered young ,corkey1 keeping his eye on ,bray's1 8and ,i'll say another thing too1 which is1 that before you talk so big about me being a #8kid' and licking me1 you'd better find out first if ,i give you #8best4'0 8,golly60 said ,bray1 grinning like mad1 8don't you80 8,no1 ,i don't2 and ,i'll fight you properly with seconds the first minute we can40 ,corkey minimus had certainly come out of it fine so far1 and ,i only wished he could fight as well as he talked4 ,of course1 from ,bray's point of view1 it was the best thing that could have happened1 because now he had a right to lick ,corkey1 and a right to lick him as badly as he could4 ,the bell rang a minute afterwards1 and going in it was settled the fight should come off next ,wednesday1 that being a half-holiday4 ,part of ,merivale ,woods skirted the cricket-field1 and as the second eleven1 to which ,bray belonged1 wasn't playing a match1 everything suited very comfortably4 ,blanchard1 the cock of the school1 agreed to umpire1 and he and another chap in the ,fifth very kindly promised to carry young ,corkey home by a secluded way if he was too much smashed to walk4 ,fowle seconded ,bray1 and ,i saw ,bray teaching him how to fan with a towel and spurt water over a fellow's face between the rounds4 ,of course1 it was about as good fun as killing rats with a stick for ,bray4 ,,iii ,corkey minimus saw ,milly once or twice before the fight1 and he said he couldn't make out whether she was going mad or what4 ,one minute she wanted him to fight1 the next she implored him not to2 one minute she hoped he would mutilate ,bray to pieces1 the next she blubbed and prayed him if ever he had any liking for her to give ,bray 8best40 ,she said she kept dreaming of him brought back stark and stiff2 and then1 when he began to think she meant it1 she called him her 8knight0 and her 8hero0 and her 8,king ,arthur0 and other frightful rot1 and actually wanted him to wear one of her ,sunday gloves under his shirt at the time of fighting6 ,corkey minimus said he very likely wouldn't wear a shirt2 and then she thought he might hang it--,i mean the glove--round his neck by a bit of string6 8,blessed if ,i shall ever feel quite the same to her after this10 said ,corkey4 8,it seems rather rough to get broken up for life to please a skimpy girl10 ,i said4 ,then he burst out as red in the face as an apple1 and told me he would not hear a word against ,milly1 so ,i dried up4 ,there were three days before the fight1 and ,corkey minimus trained for it1 and gave away his pudding at dinner in exchange for the meat of the chaps who sat next to him4 ,but you can't get your muscle up in a day or two like that1 and it only made him awfully thirsty4 ,the day came at last1 and ,i may as well go on to the fight itself4 ,the ,first were having a big match on our own ground1 so nobody paid any attention to us1 and we arranged a game that should have ,corkey1 ,bray1 and me on the same side4 ,then1 when our chaps were in1 we three sneaked away into the plantations1 behind some holly-trees and a woodstack4 ,bray arranged all the preliminaries as cheerful as a bird1 and ,blanchard said they were right4 ,they marked out a ring and ran a string round and arranged corners for the seconds2 and ,i saw that the obscene ,fowle had towels and bottles of water and a basin--all1 of course1 for ,bray between the rounds4 ,corkey minimus was rather waxy with me for not bringing the same for him2 but ,i'd brought a sponge1 which ,i know is a thing a second chucks up in the air when his man is done for2 and ,i explained and showed it to ,corkey2 and he thanked me and said he supposed that was about the only thing he should want4 ,blanchard said the rounds were to be two minutes long each1 and ,bray grumbled because they ought by rights to be three4 ,but ,blanchard told him to shut up and begin4 ,when we saw ,bray take his shirt off ,i told ,corkey he ought to1 and he did4 ,then ,blanchard laughed and said3 8,by gum6 they peel rather different60 ,bray was like a barrel1 with muscles a lot bigger than hen's eggs on his arms4 ,corkey minimus seemed to be all ribs somehow1 with arms about as lean as rulers4 ,i told him to keep moving about and try and puff ,bray a bit if he had time1 and he said3 8,all right1 ,i'll try4 ,if ,i can get a smack at his face1 so as to black an eye or something1 and show ,i've hit him before he does for me1 ,i don't care40 ,i will say for ,corkey minimus that he had about the best pluck ,i ever saw in a chap4 ,he was quite calm1 and just his usual color2 and when ,bray tossed him for corners ,corkey won2 and ,blanchard said ,i picked the right corner for him4 ,then he told them to fight fair1 and said 8,time60 ,i'd prayed ,corkey to try and surprise ,bray at the very start if he could1 and have a hit at ,bray's face the moment they began4 ,and ,i'm blessed if he didn't go and do it6 ,bray began fiddling about jolly scientifically with his hands1 and ,i fancy he just squinted down to see if his feet were scientific too4 ,at the same moment ,corkey buzzed round his right and let ,bray have it fairly on the nose4 ,bray jumped and looked about as much surprised as if he'd been struck by lightning2 and ,blanchard said3 8,first blood for ,corkey minimus60 ,i yelled--,i oughtn't to have1 but ,i did--because to see blood dropping about on ,bray's chest was a fine sight4 ,he sniffed and went for ,corkey smiling4 ,the smile was the beastliest part of it1 for ,i hoped he would have got his wool off a bit and been wild4 ,but he wasn't1 and when he began to hit1 ,corkey got flustered and swung about like a windmill and caught it pretty hot4 ,yet he jerked his head so jolly quick that he didn't get more than about four smacks on it in the first round1 though his body1 which was white by nature1 was pretty soon covered with red marks4 ,he said they didn't hurt1 and ,i cleaned him up and blew water over him at the end of the round4 ,his lip was bleeding like mad1 but luckily inside1 where his tooth had cut it2 and he swallowed all the blood1 so nobody knew2 besides which the blood wasn't lost4 ,bray flung himself down in his corner1 and ,fowle looked after him2 and even at a solemn time like that ,i laughed1 and so did ,corkey minimus1 because ,fowle tried to be too clever1 and spurted a lot of water out of his mouth into ,bray's eye4 ,then ,bray told him that after the fight he'd tie him in knots and kick him1 looking forward to which1 of course1 wrecked ,fowle's enjoyment entirely4 ,blanchard said 8,time60 again awfully soon1 and ,i saw ,bray meant settling ,corkey now1 because his reputation as a fighter was at stake1 and he knew ,corkey hoped to get through three rounds with luck4 ,so ,bray began hitting him like hammers1 and though ,i was about as sorry for ,corkey minimus as a chap could be1 nobody would have been able to help admiring the way ,bray hit4 ,it was just at the end of this round1 when ,corkey had been knocked down once1 but got up again1 that the awful rum thing with ,milly ,dunston happened4 ,suddenly1 without any warning1 there was a noise like fowls getting up a hedge1 and she rushed out from behind the woodstack with her eyes blazing and her hair streaming like a comet in a bate4 ,she'd been running a good way1 ,i should think1 and she tore right into the ring straight at ,bray1 and not trusting to words at a time like that1 and not remembering her father was a clergyman1 or anything1 slapped his face both sides1 and jolly hard too4 ,bray swore the horriblest words ,i ever heard used by a chap1 because she'd given him more in half a second than ,corkey could have in a year4 ,then he got into his shirt upside-down and hooked it with ,fowle1 but not before he heard her say3 8,you little1 fat1 red-headed coward to fight and try and murder a boy half your age and size6 ,i wish ,i could kill you1 ,i do4 ,it's shameful to think you're an ,english boy at all60 ,then she turned on the chaps from the ,fifth1 and told ,blanchard he was a disgrace to the school4 ,so they cleared out too2 and then she cried over ,corkey1 and said she would rather have been torn to pieces by unchained monsters than have let him be mangled like he was4 ,and ,corkey1 who was pretty well dazed1 forgave her1 and told her kindly to go away4 ,and she gasped and gurgled1 and went4 ,i took ,corkey back1 and one or two things got to be known4 ,it came out that ,fowle had told ,milly the place and the hour of the fight1 but only after she had sworn--on some rotten saint ,fowle knew--that she would not tell a single soul about it4 ,she kept her swear all right1 but came herself4 ,and when ,bray got to hear how it was she came--of course1 thinking ,corkey had told her1 which he would rather have died than do--then ,bray tried a lot of ,chinese tortures on ,fowle that he'd seen at a wax-works4 ,and chaps who saw it said that ,fowle was so excited at the time that he called upon about twenty different well-known ,bible characters by name to come and help him and destroy ,bray4 ,but they didn't4 ,as for ,corkey minimus1 the things he got from ,milly after that fight you wouldn't believe4 ,there were bottles of stuff to rub bruises with1 and lozenges and grapes1 and some muck for his eye1 and little baskets of strawberries1 and jolly books and rosebuds4 ,she told the ,doctor about slapping ,bray's face1 and wrote a long letter of apology afterwards2 and a week later she broke it to ,corkey minimus that she was going to a boarding-school herself next term2 which she did4 ,when ,corkey told me about it he added3 8,and she's going to write me letters1 because she's said several times that there's only one chap in the world for her now1 and ,i'm the chap40 8,i shouldn't think she could change her mind after all that's happened10 ,i said4 ,and ,corkey minimus said3 8,i bet she will when ,corkey minor turns up again1 especially if he brings rum things with him from ,australia4 ,and you needn't repeat it1 but to you1 ,mc,innes1 as my chum1 ,i say that ,i don't care how soon he does come back either40 ,which showed that there was more sense in ,corkey minimus than you might have thought4 ,the ,piebald ,rat ,it was all the result of old ,briggs asking the ,doctor if he might 8instil the lads with a wholesome fondness for natural history40 ,that's how he put it1 because ,i heard him2 and the ,doctor said it was an admirable notion1 and would very probably keep some boys out of mischief on half-holidays4 ,it also kept some boys out of bounds on half-holidays2 and after a time ,i think the ,doctor was pretty savage with old ,briggs1 and wished he'd stuck to his regular work1 which was writing and drawing and such like2 because1 when one or two of the chaps really got keen about natural history1 and even chucked cricket for butterflies and beetles1 others1 who didn't care a straw about it1 pretended they did to gain their own ends4 ,and it was these chaps1 if you understand1 who finally made the ,doctor so sick with natural history generally and old ,briggs for starting it4 ,my chum1 ,west1 began the rage for study of 8our humble relations10 as old ,briggs called everything down to wood-lice4 ,he let it be generally known that he had two live lizards in his desk2 and1 this being the best thing that ,west had ever thought of1 the idea caught on well4 ,i had a dormouse myself1 my name being ,ashby minor1 and ,ashby major kept a spider pretty nearly as big as a young bird1 which he had poked out of a hole in the playground wall4 ,he caged it in a tin match-box1 and fed it with blue-bottles and wasps4 ,at least1 he got blue-bottles and wasps for it1 but the fool wouldn't eat them2 and after a week he found it with its legs all tucked up as neatly as anything4 ,only it was dead4 ,i thought the match-box must have been too tight a fit for it1 but ,ashby major did not4 ,he believed there was something about a tin match-box which must be rather poisonous for out-door spiders4 ,then chaps went on collecting till it got to be swagger to keep big live things in your desk2 and the bigger the thing the more swagger it was4 ,maine1 generally known as ,freckles1 had a couple of guinea-pigs in his desk for a week4 ,then ,mannering1 the classical master in the ,fifth1 who must have had a nose like a gimlet1 smelt them at prayers1 happening to come in late and kneeling down by ,freckles at the time4 ,the ,doctor didn't make much fuss then1 because that was just at the beginning of the business2 only he said a desk was not the place for guinea-pigs1 and added that a chap in ,freckles's position in the school ought to have known it4 ,he let the gardener look after them from that time forward4 ,but ,freckles naturally lost all interest in them after the gardener had them2 because a guinea-pig merely as a guinea-pig is nothing4 ,anyhow1 it was rough on him to be landed over it1 because1 as a matter of fact1 guinea-pigs have no scent worth mentioning1 and nobody but ,mannering would have spotted them4 ,after that ,gideon and ,brookes caught a blind-worm one foot two inches long2 and ,gideon sold his half for fivepence1 so ,brookes got it all4 ,nobody knew what a blind-worm likes to eat1 unfortunately1 and it died1 but not for a fortnight4 ,then there was another scene with my dormouse1 which led to tremendous things4 ,there's a hole in a desk where the ink-pot goes in1 and one day my mouse got out through it1 having climbed up two dictionaries and a ,greek ,testament to do so4 ,it happened old ,briggs himself was taking the ,lower ,fourth1 which is my class1 and ,i hoped it would be all right4 ,but he didn't seem friendly over it1 and ,i noticed1 when he told us to find the mouse1 he put his feet upon the rungs of his chair4 ,it's a rum thing about old ,briggs that he doesn't care much for natural history objects while they're alive2 he likes them dead and dried1 or stuffed and pinned on cards1 or in glass cases all labelled and neat4 ,my dormouse gave us a jolly good hunt round1 then it finally tripped over a lead-pencil and got its tail and hind legs into ,west's ink4 ,so we caught it1 and ,i was drying it with a piece of blotting-paper1 and old ,briggs was just telling us that dormice belong to a genus of rodents called ,myoxus1 and are allied to mice1 though they have a squirrel's habits1 which he seemed to think was a pity1 when ,dunston came in4 ,the ,doctor asked particulars1 looked as if he could have jolly well killed my mouse1 which was shivering rather badly owing to the ink on its hinder parts1 and said once for all that he would allow no animals of any kind inside any of the desks or in school4 ,then1 unluckily1 as an afterthought1 he demanded a clearance on the spot2 and he was pretty well staggered to find the result4 8,i will ask you1 ,ferrars1 as head boy of the class1 and one1 ,i am happy to think1 above any of this childish folly1 to inspect the desks1 one by one1 and report to me where you find indications of life10 said the ,doctor4 ,ferrars is always right with the ,doctor1 chiefly because he has a face like a stone angel in church1 and a very smooth voice1 and a remarkably swagger knowledge of the ,scriptures4 ,he is also a tremendous worker1 and will go into the ,upper ,fourth next term as sure as eggs4 ,it was jolly awkward for ,ferrars then1 because he happened to be one of the keenest natural history chaps of all1 and had a piebald rat1 which even fellows in the ,sixth had offered him half-a-crown and three shillings for1 yet he would not part with it4 ,so1 though we didn't like him much1 we felt almost sorry for the fix he was in now4 ,of course1 we thought that such a demon on ,religious ,knowledge as ,ferrars would drag out his piebald rat right away1 and perhaps even give it to the ,doctor1 or offer to sell it for the alms-box2 but he didn't4 ,he got up1 rather white about the gills1 and opened the desks one by one2 and a jolly happy family it was4 ,only the ,doctor scattered the things to the four winds1 till there wasn't an atom of natural history left in the whole class-room except ,ferrars's piebald rat1 snug in his desk4 ,first ,fowle1 who goes in for water things1 had to empty his jam-jar of tadpoles out into the playground1 which was a beastly cruel thing to make him do1 because they all died1 still being in the gill stage2 then ,freckles was sent off with a young rabbit to the hay-field1 and he got caned too1 because1 strangely enough1 the ,doctor hadn't forgotten his guinea-pigs2 and ,morrant's two sparrows were let go1 which was no kindness to them1 because ,morrant had cut their wings so jolly short it would have taken them months to grow enough feathers to fly with1 and meantime a cat got them both2 and ,playfair's mole1 which1 by-the-way1 had been queer for some time1 owing to having no earth to burrow in1 was ordered to be sent to the cricket-field4 ,there were a lot of other things1 but ,corkey minimus scored rather1 because his goat-sucker moth laid a hundred and fourteen eggs on ,todhunter's algebra a few hours before it was let free4 ,corkey minimus says a goat-sucker moth's nothing worth mentioning after it's laid eggs1 but the eggs turn into fine caterpillars4 ,the few things the ,doctor didn't know what to do with1 and didn't like to have killed1 he said must be given to the gardener4 ,he thought it would be better to put my mouse out of its misery1 and turned it over on my hand with a gold pencil-case1 and said it had probably got a chill to its vital organs and would die2 but old ,briggs explained that it might live if put in cotton-wool2 so the gardener looked to it1 and it did live1 and ,i took it home at the end of that term1 and have it still1 though it is getting oldish now1 and has lost half its tail4 ,but it's a good mouse yet4 ,of course the extraordinary thing was ,ferrars4 ,after the ,doctor had gone1 old ,briggs1 to whom he had whispered something before he went1 gave out that his natural history half-hours would be suspended for the rest of the term2 then ,i got a word with ,ferrars4 ,i said3 8,however did you have the cheek--you supposed to be such a saint80 ,he said3 8,i don't know4 ,something came over me to do it4 ,i've got a jolly peculiar feeling to that rat4 ,it's not an ordinary rat4 ,i'm wrapped up in it4 ,even my respect for the ,doctor couldn't stand against it4 ,i know what you chaps think4 ,i dare say you reckon ,i'm a hound1 but ,i couldn't help doing what ,i did4 ,somehow that rat's a sort of #8mascotte' to me4 ,a mascotte's a thing that brings luck4 ,all my best luck's happened since ,i had it40 ,of course1 when a chap goes on like that1 what can you do8 ,i didn't understand ,ferrars4 ,he seemed to me to be simply talking rot4 ,so ,i said3 8,well1 it's pretty measly1 considering the opinion the ,doctor's got of you4 ,i sha'n't try to score off your rat1 because ,i know it's a jolly fine one1 and ,i like it2 but ,freckles or somebody will very likely kill it after this40 ,he looked in a fair funk when the dreadful thought of having his rat killed came to him4 ,before the end of that day he spoke to every chap in the class separately1 and all but three promised and swore not to lay a finger on the rat4 ,but ,freckles1 ,murdoch1 and ,morrant wouldn't swear4 ,finally he paid ,morrant sixpence and so got him over1 and ,murdoch he let crib off him in 8prep40 three times2 and ,freckles1 who was an awfully sportsmanlike chap really1 said he was only rotting all the time1 and would be the last to do a classy rat like ,ferrars's any harm4 ,in fact1 he said he'd much sooner kill ,ferrars himself4 ,mind you1 though1 of course1 it was simply barbarous for ,ferrars to think that his piebald rat could have any effect on his work1 yet he proved to me that his success in school and his great popularity with the ,doctor dated from the coming of the thing4 ,when he first got it1 it was a mere cub-rat1 so to say2 now1 though not a year old1 it had turned into as fine a rat as you could wish to meet anywhere4 ,in appearance it had pink eyes and a white head1 and a fairish amount of white fur about the body1 which got thinner on its stomach1 so that you could see the pink skin through to some extent4 ,but the piebaldness of the rat was the great feature4 ,it had two big round patches of fur like the common or garden rat1 and one small patch at the nape of its neck2 and in addition to this it had one large patch of beautiful yellowish fur1 such as you chiefly see on guinea-pigs4 ,its tail was pink and long1 and quite hairless4 ,ferrars often kept back good things at meals for it1 and the bond between them seemed to grow rummer and rummer1 till he let the rat get on his mind1 and ,wilson said he was getting dotty about it4 ,which ,i think was true1 for one day1 going into the class-room to get a knife from my desk1 ,i saw ,ferrars with his rat out1 talking to it4 ,he was swatting like anything in play-hours for a special ,old ,testament history prize1 and he had the rat and the ,bible and various books of reference all before him4 ,then1 not knowing ,i was there1 he spoke3 8,i must win it1 #8,mayne ,reid4' ,stick to me this time1 old chap1 and see me through40 ,he called his rat 8,mayne ,reid0 because that was his favorite author4 ,and 8,mayne ,reid0 seemed to understand1 and he turned his pink eyes on to the open ,bible and walked over it4 ,finding he'd walked over the ninth chapter of the ,second ,book of ,kings1 ,ferrars got excited1 and1 seeing me1 said1 8,by ,jove6 then ,i'll learn that chapter by heart1 though it is so long4 ,it's good1 exciting stuff1 anyway1 and ,i bet my rat walking over it means that there'll be a question about ,jehu and ,jezebel40 8,you'll go cracked about that rat10 ,i said4 8,it's part of my life10 he answered4 8,i know it seems very peculiar1 and so it is1 and ,i don't suppose such a thing ever happened before1 but something tells me my prosperity and success is all bound up in that rat4 ,he's a familiar spirit1 in fact1 like ,saul had4 ,if he died ,i should never do much more good1 and very likely stick in this class for the rest of my days40 8,you'd better not think like that10 ,i said1 8because rats are short-lived things1 owing to the nasty food they eat4 ,not that #8,mayne ,reid' has nasty food2 but all pink-eyed animals are delicate1 and you'll have to lose him sooner or later40 ,ferrars didn't take warning by me1 but after he really did win the ,old ,testament prize1 and there really was a question about ,jezebel1 he made a sort of idol out of the rat1 and some chaps declared he said his prayers to it4 ,i know he constantly bought it cocoa-nut chips1 which it was very fond of4 ,he trained it1 too1 to live in his breast-pocket1 and ,i often saw him glancing down in class just to get a glimpse of its little eyes looking up at him4 ,that taking the piebald rat into class shows the lengths ,ferrars ran4 ,the whole thing was very peculiar4 ,some chaps said there was a strong likeness growing up between ,ferrars and the rat2 and certainly his thin1 white face had a rattish look sometimes4 ,other fellows told him his rat was an evil spirit1 and would end by doing him a bad turn1 but ,ferrars turned upon them and jawed them with such frightful language that they never said it again4 ,meanwhile the ,doctor went on taking to ,ferrars more and more1 and there seemed every chance of his getting the whole ,bible by heart before he left ,merivale4 ,then came the end of the affair like this4 ,ferrars was so dependent on his rat now that he wouldn't do a lesson without it1 and he lugged it fearlessly into the ,doctor's study at those times1 fortunately rare1 when the ,doctor took our class himself in ,scripture4 ,but ,ferrars was such a flyer that we all got tarred with the same brush2 and the ,doctor1 after questioning ,ferrars for half an hour about ,bible people we'd never even heard of1 and getting a string of dead-right answers out of him1 would dismiss us all in great good temper1 forgetting that he'd only been having a go at one chap4 ,a day came when the ,doctor left us for five minutes in the middle of this class1 and while most of us had a hurried dip into the plagues of ,egypt1 which was the business in hand1 ,ferrars1 who knew as much about the plagues as ever ,moses did1 just got out his rat and gave it a bit of almond and a short breather of a yard or so along the floor4 ,but1 the ,doctor coming back suddenly1 he had only just time to pop it into his pocket1 and even then he put the rat into an unusual pocket which it was not accustomed to1 and didn't like1 namely1 a trouser-pocket4 ,ferrars also shoved a handkerchief down in the pocket to steady the rat4 ,then ,i saw an awful rum expression come over him1 and he grabbed at the pocket and his mouth fell open1 and his face got the color of new putty4 ,at the same time ,i saw his eyes turn to a big bookshelf with glass doors against the side of the room4 8,what's the matter1 ,ferrars80 said the ,doctor4 8,you appear unwell40 8,nothing1 sir2 merely a little passing sickness1 ,i think40 8,then withdraw1 my boy1 and ask the matron to give you a few drops of brandy and water4 ,you need not dine to-day10 said the ,doctor1 very kindly4 ,but ,ferrars wouldn't withdraw4 ,he knew 8,mayne ,reid0 had got through his pocket and down his trouser-leg2 he also knew it was now behind the bookshelf1 and might reappear at any moment4 ,so he said he was better1 and1 actually6 that it would be a grief to him to miss one of the ,doctor's own lessons4 ,but afterwards1 when the rat didn't come out and the class was dismissed1 ,ferrars was frightful to see4 ,his hair all got on end somehow1 and his eyes swelled and stuck out of his head like glass beads1 and his cheeks got hollow4 ,he ran awful risks going into the ,doctor's study that day1 but the rat wouldn't come out1 and ,ferrars looked old enough to be a master when he went to bed1 though only eleven and a half really4 8,one of two things has happened10 he said to me1 for we were in the same dormitory2 8either it's got wedged in behind the bookshelf and will die if not let out1 or else there was a rat-hole there1 and it went down and has joined common rats1 and become a sort of king rat among them40 8,or been killed10 ,i said4 8,no1 they would not kill it10 he answered4 8,anyway1 to-morrow1 after the ,doctor's class is over1 and everybody has gone1 ,i shall stop and make a clean breast of it1 and ask him1 for the sake of humanity1 to have the bookshelf moved4 ,but it's all up with me if the rat has lost its feeling towards me and won't come back2 only if it was stuck and couldn't come back1 that's different40 ,he didn't sleep much that night1 but he said some prayers1 which was a thing he didn't often do2 and of course he was praying that the piebald rat might be allowed to return4 ,but next day1 after the ,scripture class1 in which ,ferrars was not nearly so much to the front as usual1 and got regularly muddled over a potty question about ,jacob1 the ,doctor saved him the trouble of asking about his rat4 ,he--the ,doctor1 ,i mean--had been jolly glum all through class1 and when it was ended he did a rum thing1 which was awful to see1 knowing all we did4 ,he told us to keep our places1 then went to the fireplace and picked up the shovel4 ,from the face of it he removed a bit of newspaper1 and under the newspaper was 8,mayne ,reid40 ,his pink eyes had gone foggy1 and there was a little streak of blood on his mouth4 ,otherwise his body looked all right4 8,now here10 said the ,doctor1 in an awfully solemn way1 8we have a dead1 piebald rat4 ,there can be no outlet for error concerning such a rat as this4 ,to have seen such a rat is to remember it4 ,already three classes have been before me to-day1 but nobody knew anything about this animal4 ,that it was a tame rat its fatness and sleekness testify4 ,moreover1 the piebald rat is an outcome of artificiality4 ,a wild rat in a state of nature is brown or black1 as the case may be4 ,this rat1 then1 had an owner1 and that owner brought it into my study--my study6--and suffered it to escape here4 ,that ,i do well to be angry you will the more easily understand when ,i tell you that the unsavory creature was upon my desk last night1 and has scratched and even eaten some papers whereon were notes for my next sermon4 ,it was discovered this morning by one of the domestics4 ,she1 seeing some object moving upon my desk1 struck with the broom-handle1 and destroyed this rat4 ,now let there be no prevarication or evasion of the questions ,i am going to put to you4 ,first1 ,i wish to know if this rat belongs1 or rather belonged1 to any among you2 and1 secondly1 ,i desire to learn whether1 supposing the rat be not the property of any present1 you happen to know whose property it is1 or rather was80 ,i stole a look at ,ferrars1 and he appeared so frightful to see1 that for some reason ,i thought ,i'd try and help him4 ,so1 like a fool1 ,i was just going to speak when young ,corkey minimus did4 ,he said3 8,please1 sir1 it might be a foreign sort of rat that came over in that box of pineapples and things that ,ashby major had sent him from the ,west ,indies40 8,when ,i desire your aid in the elucidation of this problem ,i will apply for it1 ,corkey minimus10 answered the ,doctor1 so ,corkey dried up4 ,then1 in a sort of voice that was strange to us1 and seemed to come from his stomach or somewhere new1 ,ferrars spoke1 and ,i never saw a chap look so ghastly4 ,his eyes were fixed on the rat1 and he came forward slowly4 8,please1 sir1 it was my rat10 he said4 8,yours1 ,ferrars6 ,you to disobey6 ,you1 of all boys1 to set my orders at defiance60 8,it wasn't an ordinary rat1 sir40 8,i can see what sort of rat it was1 sir1 for myself10 thundered the ,doctor4 8,this it is to consider a boy1 to devote thought to him1 to particularly commend him for his theological knowledge40 8,i don't take any credit for knowing anything now1 sir4 ,it was the rat as much as me40 8,robert ,ferrars60 said the ,doctor1 in his caning voice1 8you are now adding wicked buffoonery to an act in itself sufficiently disreputable60 8,i can't explain1 sir2 ,i don't mean any buffoonery4 ,that rat was more to me than you'd think4 ,it--it did help me somehow1 and now it's dead it wouldn't be sportsmanlike to it to say not4 ,and if you'll let me b-bury it properly1 ,i'll be very thankful to you40 ,the ,doctor looked at ,ferrars awfully close during this speech4 8,either you are lying10 he said1 8or you suffer from some hysterical and neurotic condition1 ,robert ,ferrars1 which ,i have neither suspected nor discovered until this moment40 ,then he told us to go2 but ,ferrars he kept for half an hour2 and when ,ferrars came in to dinner ,i saw he'd been blubbing4 ,he explained to me after we'd gone to bed4 ,he said3 8,no1 he didn't cane me or anything4 ,he just talked1 and told me a lot about several things ,i didn't know1 and said that familiar spirits were specially barred in the ,bible4 ,i never thought he'd have even tried to understand me2 but he did1 and he quite saw my side about the rat4 ,he said kind words over it1 too1 and was sorry it was dead4 ,and ,i've got to see ,doctor ,barnes to-morrow too1 though1 of course1 it's only having my rat on my mind that's upset me4 ,and he let me have it to b-bury gladly40 8,where shall you arrange the rat80 ,i said4 8,i'm sending it home in a stays-box that ,jane gave me4 ,i've written to my sister where to bury it4 ,jane it was who killed it4 ,she cried like anything when ,i told her what #8,mayne ,reid' was to me4 ,but he's in the book-post by now1 beautifully done up in shavings and fresh geranium leaves4 ,it's no good talking any more4 ,only ,i will say that if he was a familiar spirit1 he was a jolly good one1 very different to the sort barred in the ,scriptures4 ,i don't know how ,i'll get on in the exams4 now4 ,i wish ,i was dead1 too40 ,then he sniffed a bit1 and went to sleep4 ,browne1 ,bradwell1 and ,me ,there's more stuff torked about fagging at school than anything else in the world1 as far as ,i can see2 and being the smalest boy but two at ,dunston's1 and a fag myself1 ,i ought to know4 ,of corse1 fags do get it pretty hot sometimes if they happen to fag for a beast1 but big fellows aren't beasts to small ones as a general thing4 ,i'm sure ,bradwell was the best chap that ever came to ,dunston's1 and when he was expelled over the seege in the ,wing ,dormatery--him and ,trelawny--,i felt frightful4 ,i'm ,watson minor myself1 my brother being ,watson major1 one of the reserves for the second eleven and captain of the third4 ,the thing ,i'm going to write out happened just before the seege1 and was all over before that2 and it shows what a fag can do4 ,it also shows what a jolly good thing it is for big fellows to treat fags well1 and give them odds and ends so as to get their affecksun4 ,if ,i hadn't felt what ,i did to ,bradwell1 ,i shouldn't have run the awful risks ,i did for him4 ,what ,i did certinly ruined a great project of ,bradwell's1 and upsett him a good bit at the time4 ,but he said afterwards1 when the blow had fallen1 and when he could look back and think of it without smacking my head1 that ,i had ment well4 ,i remember his very words1 for that matter4 ,he said1 8,your intenshuns were all right--,i will say that--but you've ruined my life40 ,no chap could say farer than that2 and1 mind you1 ,i did ruin his life in a way4 ,i've heard many fellows say ,bradwell was a bounder by birth2 but he never was to me4 ,well1 ,bradwell had a great admeration for ,mabel ,dunston1 the ,doctor's youngest daughter but one1 and she had an equal great admeration for him1 for two terms4 ,bradwell1 although a great sportsman in other ways1 was fond of girls4 ,if he passed a school of them he would look awfully rum and reddish in the face an' watery in the eyes4 ,once1 going with him to the playing-field for a football match1 he made the distance half a mile longer by going up a side-street to avoid the high-school girls2 and ,i asked him why1 and he said it was cheek1 but told me all the same4 ,he said1 8,you can't meet women got up like this40 ,bradwell has frightfully thin calves to his legs when seen in 8knickers10 though he is the best goalkeeper that was ever known at ,dunston's4 ,of course1 his affair with ,mabel ,dunston would never have got to be known by me but for my great use to ,bradwell in carrying notes4 ,being in the ,doctor's house that term ,i was easily able to do this1 and there was a jar of green stuff in the hall where she told me to leave the notes1 which ,i did4 ,she was fifteen1 ,i believe1 or else sixteen1 but well on in years anyway1 and a few months older than ,bradwell4 ,it was his general brillance won her1 for he could do anything1 and his father had plenty of money1 being a man like ,whitely's in ,london1 only in the ,north of ,england4 ,bradwell drew almost as well as pictures in books1 and he used to illustrate the ,latin grammar for his special chums4 ,there's a part of the ,latin grammar called ,syntax1 which ,i haven't come to yet myself1 but it has rather rummy things in it1 with both the ,latin and ,english of them4 ,and ,bradwell used to illustrate these things2 and he illustrated two in my grammar out of puer kindness to me4 ,one was1 8,balbus is crowning the boy's head with a garland02 and the other was1 8,a snake appeared to ,sulla while sacrifising02 and you never saw anything better4 ,they were done on the margin in ink1 and the snake appearing to ,sulla was about the queerest and best thing even seen in a ,latin grammar4 ,i have to tell you this because such a lot happened owing to it4 ,now ,browne took my class1 which is the lowest in the school1 and ,i am seventh in it4 ,and ,i gradually got to hate ,browne1 because ,bradwell did1 and for other reesons of my own to4 ,browne was said to be only twenty-two1 and he looked younger than many of the chaps1 his moustashe being whitish and invisibel to the eye4 ,he wore necktyes which ,i remember hearing ,mathers say were an insult to nature1 and would have made a rainbow curl up and faint4 ,we always noticed1 at arithmetic times1 that ,browne1 if he got a stumper1 would put up the lid of his private desk and hide behind it--of course1 looking the thing up in his crib4 ,then he would wander round1 as if by accident1 to the chap and do the sum off quick while he remembered it4 ,bradwell always hated him2 and when he found that ,browne was very friendly with ,mabel and ,mabel was very friendly with ,browne1 he hated him far1 far wurse4 ,bradwell and this girl had a row in the shrubbery at the back of the chapel1 and ,i1 being in the gardener's potting-shed at the time1 feeding a cattipiller of mine1 heard it4 ,bradwell said3 8,i'm not blind1 ,mabel1 ,i've seen it going on ever since last term4 ,you read his beastly books1 and leave rosebuds with scented verbena leaves round them in that stone urn at the gate when he comes down from his house to class40 ,and she said3 8,and why shouldn't ,i8 ,you must remember1 please1 that ,i am my own mistress4 ,besides1 the intelligents of a grown-up man is very refreshing40 ,for some reason ,bradwell didn't like this4 ,his voice squeaked up into his head in a rather rum way when he answered3 8,d'you call him a man8 ,he hasn't got a muscle on him2 and he doesn't know more than enough to teach the kids40 8,that's merely mean jellousy10 said ,mabel4 8,of course1 he doesn't talk to you1 or show you what is in him4 ,but he tells me all about his secret life1 and very butiful it is4 ,he is a jenius1 in fact40 8,if it comes to that1 what can he do80 said ,bradwell1 awfully clevverly4 8,can he draw80 8,no1 he doesn't draw40 8,oh6 can he sing80 8,no40 8,can he play the piano80 8,no40 ,now all of these things ,bradwell could do to perfecksun1 so he got cheerfuller and cheerfuller4 8,what can he do1 then1 besides jaw the kids and always sneak to the ,doctor80 8,i never saw such jellousy as this10 said ,mabel2 8but if you must know ,i'll tell you what he can do3 he can write poetry out of his own head1 and he has got a solid book of it reddy to print some day--there60 ,i suppose ,bradwell couldn't write poetry4 ,anyway1 he got very down in the face at this4 ,he didn't say anything--appeering to be frightfully shocked at what he'd heard4 ,then ,mabel said3 8,when you can quote ,browning and ,byron and ,shelley1 and write poems yourself1 it will be soon enough to sneer at ,mr4 ,browne40 8,you love him10 said ,bradwell1 in a very tragik voice4 8,i don't love anybody but my own family10 said ,mabel2 8but ,i admire him1 and ,i admire his poetry1 which is very much out of the common indeed40 8,it's all over then1 ,i suppose10 said ,bradwell4 8,i don't know what you mean10 she replied to him4 8,a thing that has never begun can't be all over02 which words of ,mabel's seemed to knock the heart out of ,bradwell4 ,then the gardener came along1 and ,i didn't hear anything else4 ,of corse1 ,i couldn't help hearing what ,i had done1 though ,i tried hard not to1 and kept feeding my catterpeller like anything all the time4 ,two days after ,i had to carry another note to ,mabel1 and found one waiting for ,bradwell in the usual place2 so they must have made it up4 ,then came the beginning of my misforchunes with ,browne4 ,he found the snake appeering to ,sulla in my ,latin grammar1 and called me up and said he knew very well ,i hadn't drawn it myself1 but wanted to know who had4 ,he said it was wrong to the ,doctor to ruin our books1 and that he had seen in several different books the same snake1 evidently done by the same boy1 owing to them being so much similar4 ,but the very identical thing had happened in another class--to ,steggles1 ,bradwell having drawn him the same picture2 and knowing what ,steggles said1 being a chap who is frightfully cunning1 ,i said the same now to ,browne4 ,i said ,i left the book on my desk1 and somebody came along and done it while ,i was out of the room4 ,browne seemed inclined not to believe this4 ,anyway1 he took the ,latin grammar away with him4 ,but ,i heard no more about it till the next evening1 when ,i wanted the book in prep4 ,remembering ,browne had it1 ,i went off to his study and knocked and walked in4 ,browne wasn't there for the moment1 and the room was empty4 ,i took the opportunity to look at a rather butiful tobacco-jar of ,browne's which ,i have seen at a distance on his mantlepiece many times4 ,passing his table to get to it1 ,i chanced to glance there1 and juge of my surprise when the first words ,i saw at the top of a big sheet of paper were1 ,to ,mabel6 ,underneeth was a lot of writing1 and the whole table seemed to be littered with paper covered with small bits of separate writing1 much of it scratched out and done over again4 ,but the piece with 8,to ,mabel0 at the top was all butiful and clean1 without anything scratched1 being1 ,i suppose1 the result of all the other bits put together and neetly copied out4 ,well1 there ,i was with my duty towards ,bradwell as his fag4 ,browne had evidently done a verse out of his own head for ,mabel ,dunston1 and had written it in this butiful style1 on thick white paper1 to send to her4 ,i felt if she got it1 knowing what she'd said to ,bradwell about ,browne1 that it was certin she would abbandon ,bradwell1 him not being any good at poems4 ,i wouldn't have done it for anybody else in the world but ,bradwell2 ,i wouldn't have done it at all if ,i had known what the end of it was going to be2 but1 anyway1 at the time it seemed to me1 as ,bradwell s fag1 ,i ought to do it2 so ,i did4 ,i took the poem and rolled it up so as not to hurt it1 and hooked off to ,bradwell4 ,he was in his study1 and ,trelawny1 who shares it with him1 being out of the room1 ,i was able to explain4 ,i said3 8,if you please1 ,bradwell1 ,i've come from ,mr4 ,browne's study1 and he was not there1 and happening by a curious axcident to glance on the table ,i saw this4 ,knowing about you and ,mabel1 and being your fag1 ,i took it40 8,took what80 said ,bradwell4 ,i put the thing in front of him1 and he got red and excited4 8,it's a poem to ,mabel by that beast ,browne10 he said4 ,then he read it out1 half to himself1 but ,i heard4 ,the thing ran like this3 ,,to ,,mabel 8,oh let my ,muse sing to the name of ,mabel1 ,whose azure eyes are fastened to my soul1 ,like to forget-me-nots in button-hole4 ,to tell of my heart's torment ,i'm unable4 ,my thoughts they spin2 my brain it grows unstable ,when fixed on ,thee4 ,perchance it is my rle ,never to reach my mad ambition's ,goal1 ,but to live ever 'midst scholastic babel4 ,thy glances brighten all my lonely lot4 ,prometheus-like a vulture gnaws my heart1 ,in biting blasts and under sunshine hot4 ,my dreams are shattered by a barbed dart1 ,and1 waking wild1 ,i scream that ,i may not ,whisper the oaths ,i yearn to ,thee impart40 ,i told ,bradwell ,i didn't quite understand it1 and he sat on me4 8,you wouldn't10 he said1 8a kid like you4 ,but ,i do4 ,it's a sonnit1 and an extramly fine one4 ,i hate the chap1 but it's no good pretending he's not a poet1 because this jolly well proves he is4 ,look at the rimes and the smoothness60 ,it seemed a heroik thing of ,bradwell to say that1 feeling as he did to ,browne4 ,he thought for a bit1 but told me not to go4 8,of corse10 he said1 8this must be returned4 ,all's fair in--in a case of this kind1 but--0 ,then he thought very deeply and read the sonnit again4 ,suddenly he took a bit of paper and copied down ,browne's poem word for word4 ,then he told me to cut back like lightning to ,browne's study1 and to put the poem back on his desk if ,i could--if not1 to most carefully keep it till the first chance of getting it back to ,browne's room without being spotted4 8,you're a splendid fag10 he said1 8and ,i shan't forget this4 ,it's the sort of thing that squires did for their knights in olden times2 and they got good rewards too4 ,now hook it40 ,it's worth a lot1 mind you1 to get praise like that from such a chap as ,bradwell4 ,when ,i got back1 ,browne was rumaging over his table and sweering a good deal in a loud wisper4 ,he told me to wait a minute1 and went off to look in his bedroom4 ,then ,i seezed my opportunity1 and slipped the sonnit on his table under some papers4 ,when he came back he was worried1 and went on hunting till he found it4 ,then he said 8,ah60 to himself1 and got pleasanter and asked me what ,i wanted4 ,i told him my ,latin grammar1 and1 being in a very happy state now1 owing to finding the poem1 he gave my book back and told me to clear out2 which ,i did4 ,after prep4 ,i met ,bradwell going in to prayers1 and he handed me a note for ,mabel to put in the usual place4 ,he looked awfully rum when he gave it to me1 and he saw that ,i saw he looked rum4 ,so he said3 8,i don't mind letting you know1 owing to your being such a good fag and my trusting you as ,i do4 ,you may read the letter in prayers1 then seal it down and put it behind the pot of ferns in the hall in the usual place40 ,of corse1 it wasn't really a letter1 or ,bradwell wouldn't have let me read it4 ,it was just ,browne's sonnit coppied out by ,bradwell word for word2 and at the bottom where the words1 8,what about poetry now8--,a4 ,t4 ,b40 ,a4 ,t4 ,b4 are ,bradwell's initials1 his full name being ,arthur ,thomas ,bradwell4 ,you see1 he didn't exsaxtly say he'd written the sonnit4 ,he only said1 8,what about poetry now80 ,the excitement of it all kept me awake for hours and hours through the night4 ,i don't suppose any fag ever did more for a big fellow than ,i had done for ,bradwell that day4 ,then ,i began to wonder when ,browne would send off his poem1 and wether ,mabel would get them both together or one at a time4 ,you see1 of corse1 ,browne would send her the thing as original1 and there was nothing in ,bradwell's letter to exsaxtly say he hadn't written it2 and puzzling the thing out for hours and hours1 ,i at last came to the conklusion that she would find it very difficult which to believe1 because how could she know which was telling the truth to her8 ,then1 about three or four in the morning almost1 ,i began to feel rather terrible over it1 because ,i thought of what frightful trouble ,browne must have had to write the sonnit4 ,he might have taken terms and terms over it for all ,i could tell1 not1 of corse1 knowing myself how long it took to write poetry4 ,i felt rather sorry for ,browne2 but after all a chap's duty is to the fellow he fags for before masters2 and feeling that1 ,i went to sleep4 ,three days later ,bradwell had me in his room and told me the end of it all1 which shows that a girl never does what you might exspect4 8,as a lesson to you1 young ,watson10 said ,bradwell1 8,i may tell you that my career has been utterly blighted and my life ruined by that business of the sonnit40 ,i said ,i was sorry to hear it4 ,he said3 8,yes1 blighted2 and so's his--,i mean ,browne's4 ,she got my letter that night and his next morning4 ,that night she felt all her old feeling for me return because of the sonnit1 thinking ,i'd done it4 ,then1 next morning1 she got just the very same stuff to a word from ,browne1 with a letter saying he had burned the midnight oil to compose it4 ,well1 there you are4 ,what does she do8 ,insted of accepting my statement1 being the first1 she argues in a most elaborate way that ,i couldn't possibly have coppied from ,browne1 and ,browne couldn't possibly have copied from me4 ,but it would have been to much of a coinsidence if we'd both written exsaxtly the same sonnit out of our own heads1 so what does she conklude80 ,i said ,i didn't know4 8,why1 fathead1 that we both coppied it from somebody else--out of some book by some well-known proper dead poet4 ,i've no doubt now1 on thinking over it1 that ,browne did do that2 because when ,i first read his poem ,i could hardly believe that he had written such real poetry1 owing to the rimes and smoothness4 ,but it's all over now4 ,she's written a letter ,i can't show you4 ,to hope even for her friendship wouldn't be any good4 ,a girl hates a joke something frightful40 8,how about ,browne80 ,i said4 8,she's written to him also1 asking him where he got the verses out of1 and exsplaining she doesn't believe they are original1 and saying how another acquaintance of hers had sent the very same lot the day before4 ,so now you see what a sinful mess you've made of it40 ,i said ,i did1 but ,i felt it was my duty to him4 8,yes1 ,i know10 he said2 8but the question is1 ,what do ,i do now8 ,you see #8all's fair' and all that2 but now1 being out of the hunt1 ought ,i to throw up the sponge and tell the truth1 or ought ,i not80 8,i don't know1 ,bradwell10 ,i said2 8but anyway you won't mention me1 ,i hope1 because ,i only acted for you1 and did a jolly dangerous thing40 8,no1 you're safe enough1 and1 in fact1 ,i'm going to reward you for what you did do10 said ,bradwell4 8,but seeing ,i'm out of it1 ,i think it will be a manly act to ,browne if ,i tell ,mabel frankly that ,i resorted to strateji40 8,but me80 ,i said4 8,i shall merely inform her10 answered ,bradwell1 8that one of my emissaceries found the poem1 and1 of course1 brought it to me2 that ,i despatched it--as a joke1 taking care not to say ,i was the auther4 ,i shall end with these words3 #8,browne is innosent4'0 ,all of which he did1 and ,i left the letter in the usual spot4 ,but ,mabel cut him altogether from that day2 and he told me girls have no humer and laughed it off1 though he felt it a lot1 and often smacked my head out of bitterness of mind afterwards1 but not hard4 ,he gave me an old knife for a reward1 but told me at the same time never to do anything for him again without being commanded4 ,as for ,mabel1 she threw over ,browne just like she threw over ,bradwell1 in spite of ,bradwell's letter2 and ,bradwell said it was a nemmecis1 whatever that is2 and ,i had a nemmecis to1 because a week afterwards ,bradwell threw over me and made young ,west his fag4 ,i felt hert1 but1 of corse1 that didn't get known to ,bradwell2 and if ,i fag again1 ,i wont so much as make a peece of toste unless ,i'm commanded to4 ,gideon's ,front ,tooth ,i believe ,gideon was the only ,jew that ever came to ,dunston's1 and ,i expect1 taking it all round1 he might have had a better time at a school for ,jews in general2 though in one way he wouldn't have done as well1 and wouldn't have had the adventure with old ,grimbal1 which turned out so splendidly for him when old ,grimbal died4 ,though easily the richest chap at ,merivale1 and getting no less than ten shillings a week pocket-money1 ,gideon was so awfully fond of coin that he hardly spent a penny1 and the only thing he did with his money was to lend it to fellows4 ,he didn't lend it for nothing1 having a curious system by which you paid in marbles1 or bats1 or knives for the money1 and1 in spite of that1 still had to pay back the money itself after a certain time4 ,you signed a paper1 and ,gideon said that if chaps hadn't paid back the tin on the dates named it would be very serious for them4 ,but it got serious for him after a bit1 because ,steggles1 who knew quite as much about money as ,gideon 7though he never had any71 borrowed a whole pound once1 and promised to pay five shillings for it for one term2 and ,gideon was new to ,steggles then1 and agreed4 ,but when the time of payment came1 ,steggles said that ,gideon had better regard it as a bad debt1 because he wasn't going to pay back even the original pound4 ,then ,gideon thought a bit1 and asked him why1 and ,steggles told him4 ,he said3 8,because you know jolly well the ,doctor doesn't allow chaps to lend money40 ,and ,gideon said3 8,this is the first time ,i've heard that40 8,anyway1 it's usury1 which is a crime10 said ,steggles1 8and ,i'm not going to pay anything2 and1 being less than twenty-one1 you can't make me2 so it amounts to a bad debt1 as ,i told you just now4 ,you've done jolly well1 one way and another1 and you've got two bats1 and ,lord knows how many india-rubber-balls1 and cricket-balls1 and silver pencils1 and knives out of it1 including ,ashby minor's watch-chain1 which is silver2 and if you take my tip you'll keep quiet1 because once all these kids get to know anybody under twenty-one can borrow money without returning it1 then it's all up with your beastly financial schemes40 ,gideon was remarkably surprised to know what a lot ,steggles had found out about him1 and accused him of looking into his play-chest2 and ,steggles said he had4 ,then ,gideon went2 and about three chaps who had heard the talk told others1 and they told still more chaps1 until1 finally1 a good many fellows who owed ,gideon money felt there was no hurry about paying it back till it happened to be convenient4 ,in fact1 ,gideon jolly soon saw he couldn't do any more good for himself like that1 and at the beginning of the next term1 when chaps were pretty flush of coin1 he wrote up in the gym1 8,there will be a sale of bats1 knives1 and other various useful articles1 between two and three o'clock1 by auction1 on ,tuesday4--,j4 ,,gideon40 ,somebody tore it down1 but not before most fellows had read it2 and when ,gideon and young ,miller1 who had a bat in the auction1 and hoped to get it back if possible1 were seen carrying ,gideon's play-chest to the gym after dinner on the appointed day1 of course we went4 ,it passed off very well for ,gideon1 because the things were really good1 and often almost new4 ,he seemed to know all about auctions1 and hit the chest with a stump1 and explained the things1 and what good points they had about them4 ,he only took money down1 and ,i will say nobody could have done it fairer4 ,if a knife had a broken blade1 for instance1 or a bat was slightly sprung1 which happened with one1 he always pointed it out1 so that nobody could say he had been choused over it4 ,young ,miller got back his bat for four shillings and eightpence2 and ,ashby minor got back his silver chain for thirteen shillings2 but it wasn't much good to him1 because1 in order to raise the thirteen bob1 he had to raffle the chain at once1 at shilling shares2 and he took one1 hoping to be lucky1 but he wasn't1 ,fowle unfortunately getting it4 ,gideon told me afterwards that the sale came out fairly1 but not quite what he had hoped4 ,he rather sneered at the ,dunston chaps in general1 and said they were a poverty-stricken crew2 which got me into a bate1 and ,i told him that ,i'd sooner be the son of an officer in the ,royal ,navy1 which ,i am1 than the biggest ,jew diamond dealer in the world1 his father being in that profession4 ,he said there was no accounting for tastes1 but he should have thought that a man who could deliberately go and be a sailor must be weak in the head4 ,then ,i punched him1 and he instantly went down and apologized4 ,i may mention that ,i am ,bray1 the cock of the ,lower ,school4 ,before coming to ,gideon's front tooth1 just to let you know exactly the chap he was1 ,i'll mention another thing he did4 ,an old woman was allowed to bring up fruit and tuck generally1 and sell it to us after morning school4 ,steggles1 who knows the reason for pretty nearly everything1 said this was permitted by ,doctor ,dunston to take the edge off our appetites2 but anyway1 the old woman sold strawberries and raspberries in summer-time1 and these were arranged with cabbage-leaves in little wicker baskets at about fourpence each4 ,well1 one day ,gideon1 who never refused to eat fruit if offered it1 but very seldom bought any1 asked the old woman what she gave for the wicker baskets1 and she said threepence a dozen4 ,then he asked her what she would give for those which had been used once1 and she thought1 and said they would be worth at least three halfpence a dozen to her4 ,he didn't say any more1 but after that it was a rum thing how all the used baskets1 which generally were seen kicking about the playground in shoals1 disappeared4 ,nobody noticed it at the time1 but afterwards we remembered clearly that they had disappeared4 ,and just at the end of the term a chap1 hurrying in late after the bell rang1 came bang on ,gideon and the old woman round a corner out of sight of the gates4 ,and the chap saw ,gideon give her a pile of baskets and get three halfpence4 ,of course1 it was the last three halfpence he ever got that way1 because when it became known the chaps rendered their baskets useless for commerce in many ways4 ,and ,barlow called ,gideon 8,shylock minor0 when he heard that he'd made two shillings and fivepence halfpenny2 which name stuck to ,gideon forever4 ,and ,steggles got nine other chaps to subscribe a penny each and buy a pound of flesh from a butcher's shop1 because in ,shakespeare ,shylock was death on his pound of flesh4 ,the pound was put under ,gideon's pillow by ,steggles himself1 and when ,gideon shoved his watch under his pillow1 which he always did at night1 he found it2 and ,steggles says he turned pale1 but read what was pinned on the pound of flesh1 and then smiled and wrapped the meat up in a letter from home1 and said3 8,what fools you chaps are1 wasting money like that6 ,but it looks all right1 and will mean a good feed for nothing40 ,next day he got up very early and took his pound of flesh down to the kitchen and got them to cook it2 and he ate about half before breakfast and had the rest cold in his desk during ,monsieur ,michel's lesson1 which was a safe time4 ,and ,steggles said we ought to have gone one better and put poison on it4 ,the great affair of the tooth came on at the beginning of next term2 and first ,i must tell you that next door to ,dunston's lived an old man1 so frightfully ancient that his skin was all shrivelled over his bones4 ,he didn't like boys much1 but he would look over his garden-wall sometimes into our playground and scowl if anybody caught his eye4 ,various things1 of course1 went over the wall often1 and it was one of the excitements of ,dunston's to go into old ,grimbal's garden and get them back4 ,twice only he caught a chap1 and both times1 despite his awful age and yellowness of skin1 he thrashed the chap very fairly hard with a walking-stick2 but he never reported anybody to ,dunston1 and it was generally thought he regarded it as a sort of sport hunting for chaps in his garden4 ,of course1 in fair1 open hunting he hadn't a chance1 and the two he did catch he got by stealth1 hiding behind bushes on a rather dark evening4 ,well1 the facts would never have been known about this tooth but for ,gideon's mean spirit4 ,it happened to be necessary for him to fight me1 and though not caring much about it1 he couldn't help himself4 ,besides1 though the champion of the ,lower ,school1 ,i was tons smaller than ,gideon1 and ,gideon didn't know till after the fight that ,i was a champion1 the true facts about my greatness being hid from him4 ,just before the fight ,gideon said3 8,oh6 my tooth1 by the way4 ,it may be hurt1 and it cost my father five guineas40 ,so1 to our great interest he unscrewed one of his two top front teeth and gave it to his second4 ,you couldn't have told it was a sham1 so remarkably was it done1 and it screwed on to the foundation of the original tooth much like a spike screws into the sole of a cricket-boot4 ,gideon had fallen down-stairs when he was ten and knocked off half the tooth1 so he told us2 but ,murray1 who is well up in science1 said that all ,jews' front teeth are rather rocky1 because in feudal times they were pulled out with pincers as a form of torture1 and to make the ,jews give up their secret treasures4 ,murray said that after many generations of pulling out ,nature got sick of it1 and that in modern times the front teeth of ,jews aren't worth talking about4 ,murray is full of rum ideas like that1 and he hopes to go in for engineering1 having already many secret inventions waiting to be patented4 ,as to ,gideon1 ,i licked him rather badly in two rounds and a half4 ,then he was mopped up and dressed1 and screwed in his front tooth again with the greatest ease4 ,once it got known about this tooth1 and fellows were naturally excited4 ,steggles said it was on the principle of a tobacco-pipe mouthpiece2 and1 finding the chaps were keen to see it1 ,gideon let it be generally known he would freely show it to anybody for threepence a time1 and to friends for twopence4 ,but this was a safe reduction to make1 because1 properly speaking1 he hadn't any friends4 ,seeing there were nearly #bjj boys at ,dunston's1 and that certainly half1 including several fellows from the ,sixth1 took a pleasure in seeing the tooth1 and didn't mind the rather high charge1 ,gideon did jolly well2 and in the case of ,nubby ,tomkins1 he made actually one shilling and threepence2 because the tooth had a most peculiar fascination for ,nubby1 and he saw it no less than five times4 ,after that ,gideon made a reduction to him1 as well he might4 ,but somehow ,slade1 the head of the school1 was very averse to ,gideon's front tooth when he heard about it1 and he decided that there must be no more exhibitions of it for money4 ,he told ,gideon so himself4 ,however1 a new boy came a week afterwards and heard about the strangeness of the tooth1 and offered a shilling1 in three instalments1 to see it2 which was too much temptation for ,gideon1 and he showed it1 contrary to what ,slade had said4 ,slade1 of course1 heard1 for the new boy happened to be his own cousin1 though called ,saunders2 and then there was a curious scene in the playground1 which ,i fortunately saw4 ,slade came up to ,gideon in the very quiet way he has1 and asked him in a perfectly gentlemanly voice for his front tooth4 ,at first ,gideon seemed inclined not to give it up1 but he saw what an awfully serious thing that would be1 and finally unscrewed it1 though not willingly4 8,now10 said ,slade1 8,i'll have no more of this penny peep-show business at ,merivale4 ,i told you once1 and you have disobeyed me4 ,so there's an end of your beastly tooth4 ,what's this80 ,he took something out of his pocket4 8,it's a catapult10 said ,gideon4 8,it is10 said ,slade1 8and ,i'm going to use your tooth instead of a bullet1 and fire it into space40 8,it cost five guineas10 said ,gideon4 8,don't care if it cost a hundred10 answered ,slade1 still in a very gentlemanly sort of way4 8,we can't have this sort of thing here1 you know40 ,slade was just going to fire into space1 as he had said1 when a robin suddenly settled within thirty yards of us1 on the wall between the playground and old ,grimbal's4 ,slade being a wonderful shot with a catapult 7having once shot a wood-pigeon71 suddenly fired at the robin1 and only missed it by about four inches4 ,he said the shape of a front tooth was very unfavorable for shooting4 ,but1 anyway1 the tooth went over into ,grimbal's1 and we distinctly heard it hit against the side of his house4 ,then ,slade went away1 and we rotted ,gideon rather1 because not having the tooth looked rum1 and made a difference in his voice4 ,he took it very quietly1 and said he rather thought his father would be able to summon ,slade2 and before evening school1 having marked down the spot where he fancied his tooth had hit ,grimbal's house1 he went to look with a box of matches4 ,what happened afterwards he told us frankly2 and it was certainly true1 because1 with all his faults1 ,gideon never lied to anybody4 8,i went quietly over1 and began carefully looking along the bottom of the wall1 using a match to every foot or so10 he said1 and ,i had done about half when ,i heard a door open4 ,i then hooked it1 and ran almost on to old ,grimbal4 ,he had not opened the door at all1 but was coming up the garden path at the critical moment4 ,of course1 he caught me4 ,he was going to rub it into me with his stick1 when ,i said ,i should think it very kind if he would hear me first1 as ,i had a perfectly good excuse for being there4 ,he said3 #8,what excuse can you have for trespassing in my garden1 you little oily wretch8' #8,oily wretch' was what he called me2 and ,i said that my tooth had been fired into his garden that very day1 about half-past one1 by a chap with a catapult2 and ,i lighted a match and showed him it was missing4 ,he said3 #8,how the deuce are you going to find a tooth in a garden this size8' ,and ,i told him ,i had marked it down very carefully1 and that it had cost five guineas1 and that ,i rather believed my father would be able to summon the chap who had shot it away4 ,he seemed a good deal interested1 and said he thought very likely he might1 if it was robbery with violence4 ,then he asked me if ,i was the boy he had seen beating down the price of a purse at ,wilkinson's in ,merivale1 and ,i said ,i was4 ,then he said1 #8,come in and have a bit of cake1 boy'2 and ,i went in and had a bit of cake1 and saw on a shelf in his room about fifty or sixty cricket-balls1 and various things which he has collared when they went over4 ,he asked me a lot of questions about different things1 and ,i answered them4 ,all he said was about money4 ,he also asked me to be good enough to value the things he had1 which came over the wall from time to time2 and ,i did1 and he thanked me4 ,they were worth fifteen shillings and tenpence2 and ,wright's ball1 which everybody thought was stolen by the milkman1 wasn't1 for old ,grimbal's got it2 and the milkman should be told and apologized to4 ,well1 he knew a lot about money1 and told me he had thousands of golden sovereigns1 which he makes breed into thousands more4 ,he said3 #8,you're the only boy ,i ever met with a grain of sense in his head4 ,now1 if ,i gave you a check on my bankers in ,merivale for five pounds to-day1 and wrote to you to-morrow morning to say ,i had changed my mind1 what would you do8' 8,i said1 #8,it would be too late1 sir1 because your check would have been sent off to my father that very night1 to put out at interest for me4' ,he said1 #8,that's right4 ,never give back money1 or anything4' ,then he asked me my name1 and told me ,i might come back to-morrow and look for my tooth by daylight40 ,that was ,gideon's most peculiar adventure1 and1 though he never found the tooth or saw old ,grimbal again1 yet about seven or eight months afterwards1 when old ,grimbal was discovered all curiously twisted up and dead in bed by the man who took him his breakfast1 the result of ,gideon's visit to him came out4 ,old ,grimbal had specially put him into his will by some legal method1 and ,doctor ,dunston had ,gideon into his study three days after old ,grimbal kicked4 ,it then was proved that old ,grimbal had left ,gideon all the things that came over the wall1 and also a legacy of fifty pounds in money1 because1 according to the bit of the will which the ,doctor read to ,gideon out of a lawyer's letter1 he was the only boy old ,grimbal had ever met with who showed any intelligence above that of the anthropoid ape4 ,gideon returned all the balls and things to their owners free of charge1 but not until the rightful owners proved they were so4 ,and the money he sent to his father2 and his father1 he told me afterwards1 was so jolly pleased about the whole affair that he added nine hundred and fifty pounds to old ,grimbal's fifty4 ,therefore1 by shooting ,gideon's front tooth at a robin1 ,slade was actually putting the enormous sum of one thousand pounds into ,gideon's pocket1 which ,i should think was about the rummest thing that ever happened in the world4 ,gideon stopped at ,dunston's one term after that4 ,then he went away1 and1 ,i believe1 began to help his father to sell diamonds4 ,he was fairly good at ,french1 and very at ,german2 but of other things he knew rather little1 except arithmetic1 and his was the most beautiful arithmetic which had ever been done at ,merivale2 for ,i heard ,stokes1 who was a seventeenth wrangler in his time1 tell the ,doctor so4 ,the ,chemistry ,class ,this story about ,guy ,fawkes's ,night at ,dunston's is worth knowing1 because it shows the rumminess of ,nubby ,tomkins4 ,tomkins1 ,i may say1 was called 8,nubby10 owing to his nose1 which was extremely huge1 though he said it was ,roman1 and swore he wouldn't change it if he could4 ,anyway1 ,bradwell made a rhyme about it that is certainly good enough to repeat4 ,he wrote it first on a black-board with chalk1 and a good many chaps learned it by heart4 ,it ran like this3 8,our ,nubby's nose is ponderous1 ,and our ,nubby's nose is long2 ,so it wouldn't disgrace ,our ,nubby's face ,if half his nose was gone40 ,which was not only jolly good poetry1 but also true--a thing all poetry isn't by long chalks1 as you can see in ,virgil and such like4 ,well1 ,nubbs sang the solos in chapel on ,sundays1 and people came from far to hear him do it2 in consequence of which1 so ,steggles said1 the ,doctor favored him1 and regarded him as an advertisement to ,dunston's4 ,but his singing wasn't in it compared with the advertisement he gave the ,doctor on ,guy ,fawkes's ,night the term before ,slade left4 ,to explain the whole tremendous thing ,i must tell you that ,nubbs belonged to the chemistry class4 ,this class1 in fact1 was pretty well started for him1 his father telling ,dunston1 so ,nubbs said1 that he shouldn't send him at all if he couldn't be taught chemistry2 because ,nubbs had shown a good deal of keenness for chemicals generally from the earliest days1 and bought little boxes of 8serpents' eggs0 and red fire instead of sweets ever since he was old enough to buy anything4 ,he had also blown off his eyebrows and eyelashes with a mixture he was grinding up in a mortar1 and they had never grown again to this day--all of which things showed he had chemistry in him to a great extent4 ,so the ,doctor started a chemistry class1 and a chap called ,stoddart1 from ,merivale1 came up once a week to take it2 and ,nubbs joined1 and so did ,i1 not because ,i had chemistry in me worth speaking of1 but because ,i was a chum of ,nubby's4 ,wilson also joined1 and so did ,hodges4 ,i may mention my name is ,mathers4 ,i always thought that chemists simply mix the muck doctors give you when you're queer1 but it seems not4 ,in fact1 there are several sorts of chemists1 and ,nubbs said he hoped to belong to the best sort1 who don't have bottles of red and green stuff in the windows1 and so on4 ,he said a man who sold pills and tooth-brushes1 and liquorice-root and soap1 could not be considered a classy chemist4 ,the real flyers made discoveries and froze air1 and sneaked one another's inventions1 and got knighted by the ,queen if they had luck and if they were well thought of by the newspapers4 ,i should think really ,nubbs might come to being knighted if he sticks to it1 for even down to the stuff in cough lozenges nothing is hid from him4 ,once the matron gave me simply a vile lozenge for my throat1 which got a bit foggy owing to falling into the water during 8hare and hounds40 ,well1 the lozenge was white in color1 but even a white lozenge may be very decent sometimes1 so ,i took a shot at it going to bed4 ,but it was so jolly frightful to the taste that ,i chucked it away1 and next morning found it again and examined it after drying4 ,on it ,i then found the words 8,chlorate of potash40 ,so ,i took it to ,nubbs4 ,he said it was certainly a chemical1 and added that the stuff in it was almost the same as you make 8,pharaoh's serpents0 with4 ,i could hardly believe such a thing1 so he lighted the lozenge and it burned blue1 and a long1 wriggling1 brownish ash came curling out of it like a snake1 just as ,nubby said1 which is well worth knowing to anybody who ever has a chlorate of potash lozenge4 ,many such like remarkable and useful things ,nubby could tell you2 among others1 how to mix sulphur and gunpowder and other ingredients for fireworks4 ,he had1 in fact1 an awful fine book devoted to the subject1 and wooden affairs to load cases2 and once when ,stoddart didn't turn up and the ,doctor put us on our honor to do the proper things in the laboratory alone1 ,nubbs finished off analyzing some mess in about five minutes1 and spent the complete rest of the time making a rocket4 ,it had four blue stars and thirteen yellow ones1 and the case was made out of a stiff brown paper roll in which his mother had that morning sent ,nubbs a photograph of her new baby at home4 ,and ,nubbs forgot the photograph and stuffed the mixture in upon it1 and made a separate compartment for the stars on top4 ,so the photograph of ,nubby's mother's new baby1 curiously enough1 went off with the rocket1 and was never more seen by mortal eye4 ,not that ,nubbs cared4 ,he kept the rocket till the ,doctor's birthday1 and after prayers1 when he knew he was in his study1 with the windows open and the blinds up1 being summer-time1 ,nubbs let it off in the front garden1 and we helped4 ,it turned out very good in a way1 though not quite a perfect rocket1 because instead of going up it tore along the ground4 ,but it tore for an enormous distance1 and then turned and came back all of itself4 ,and the blue stars did not go off1 but the yellow ones did--or some--in a bed of rather swagger geraniums1 unfortunately4 ,the ,doctor didn't care much about it1 not understanding our motives4 ,but ,nubbs explained that he had done it out of honor to the day4 ,then the ,doctor thanked him1 and said he had doubtless meant well1 and that from the earliest times of the ,chinese the pyrotechnist's art had been employed upon occasions of legitimate festivity and rejoicing4 ,i mention this because it was the encouragement he had over this creeping rocket that made ,nubbs get so above himself1 if you understand me4 ,he never forgot it1 and next autumn term he actually asked the ,doctor if he might have a regular firework display in the playground on the night of the ,fifth of ,november4 ,he asked rather cunningly1 just after an ,english ,history lesson1 during which the ,doctor had been slating ,guy ,fawkes frightfully2 and having said such a heap of hard things about the beggar1 ,doctor ,dunston couldn't very well refuse4 ,he said3 8,your request is unusual ,tomkins2 but ,i can see no objection at the moment4 ,however1 ,i will let you have my answer at no distant date40 ,and ,i said to ,nubbs3 8,that means he'll think and think till he's got a reason why you shouldn't1 and let you know then40 ,but ,nubbs said to me3 8,i believe he'll let me do it1 feeling so jolly bitter as he does about ,guy ,fawkes40 ,and blessed if he didn't6 ,nubbs undertook to make the things himself4 ,nothing was to be bought but chemicals in a raw1 unmixed condition1 and ,doctor ,dunston actually headed the subscription list with #bs4 #f;d42 and ,thompson gave the same1 and ,mannering #bs41 and 8,frenchy0 #cs4 ,fifty-two chaps also contributed various sums from #as4 to #a;d42 and ,nubbs became rather important1 and went down gradually to the bottom of the ,lower ,fifth owing to the strain upon his mind4 ,he gathered together #b #gs4 #e;d4 in all1 and made it up to #b #ajs4 himself2 and ,fowle's father1 who was in some business where they used sulphur in terrific quantities1 got four pounds weight of it for nothing1 and ,nubbs said it was a godsend for illuminating purposes4 ,he had been to the ,crystal ,palace1 and told us he was going to carry everything out just like they did there1 as far as he could with the money4 ,at the last moment he got a tremendous increase of funds in the shape of a pound from his father2 and1 strangely enough1 it was that extra pound that wrecked him4 ,without that father's pound he couldn't have arranged the principal feature of the whole performance2 and without that principal feature nothing in the way of misfortunes to ,nubbs worth mentioning would have fallen out4 ,but the pound came1 and with it a letter very encouraging to ,nubby4 ,he went on mixing away at the various proper compounds and experimenting with them till he got his rockets to go up like larks and his ,roman candles to shoot out stars the length of a cricket pitch4 ,then his governor's pound came1 and he decided on having a set piece with it4 ,a set piece1 ,nubby said1 is the triumph of the firework maker's art--and very likely it is in proper hands4 ,you can have likenesses in fire1 or words1 or ships1 or 8,fame crowning ,virtue10 or1 in fact1 pretty well anything4 ,a set piece is designed small first1 then large2 and it is worked out with little tiny things like squibs1 only very small and without any bang at the end4 ,these are all lighted off at once1 and they burn one color first1 then change to another4 ,nubbs said his would start yellow1 because it was cheaper1 and finally turn green4 ,the thing was what design to have1 and the four chaps in the chemistry class all thought differently4 ,i advised trying a shot at a huge portrait of the ,doctor1 but when it came to particulars nobody knew how to work a portrait2 and ,hodges thought we might do something about ,guy ,fawkes1 but ,nubbs didn't care about that4 ,then ,hodges thought again1 and suggested the words1 8,god bless the ,doctor10 and ,i agreed that it would be fine2 but ,wilson said it was profane1 and might annoy the ,doctor frightfully1 especially when it turned green4 ,then ,nubbs suggested the words1 8,doctor ,dunston is a ,brick60 and ,hodges said that it was good1 and ,wilson said it might be good1 but it wasn't true1 anyway4 ,however1 it was three to one1 though we all admitted that1 from his point of view1 ,wilson was right to hate the ,doctor1 because the ,doctor hates him4 ,the thing was to make a licking big frame of light wood1 and arrange the letters across it1 and the note of exclamation at the end4 ,this we did1 and hammered it against the playground wall1 and wheeled up the screens that go behind the bowler's arm in the cricket season1 and hid away the set piece behind them till the time came4 ,likewise we arranged stakes for the ,roman candles1 and a board for the ,catharine wheels1 and a string for the flying pigeons1 and so on4 ,and also we rigged up bits of tin round the playground and by the fir-trees at the top end and behind the gym4 ,these were for ,bengal lights and other illuminations4 ,all of this ,nubbs had arranged for the paltry sum of #c #ajs4 ,the chemistry class had a half-holiday as the time drew on1 and we worked like niggers1 all four of us4 ,nubbs commanded1 so to speak1 and mixed and did the grinding and pounding and stars4 ,hodges and ,i hammered up the heavy posts and stakes in the playground1 and carried out odd jobs generally2 and ,wilson manufactured cases for everything with brown paper and paste and string4 ,the set piece took two hundred and thirteen little tubes4 ,these ,wilson made in lengths of a yard and cut off at the required size4 ,and ,nubbs stuffed them--with green fire first and yellow on top4 ,it promised to be a jolly big thing altogether1 and four days before the night ,nubbs began to get awfully nervous1 and to prepare yards and yards of touch-paper4 ,and ,corkey minimus heard the ,doctor say to ,browne3 8,really the lads have devoted no little energy and method on their proceedings2 and it appears--so ,mr4 ,stoddart tells me--that the boy ,tomkins has mixed his compounds quite correctly1 thereby insuring that brilliance and variety which is looked for in an exhibition of this kind4 ,i wonder whether we might ask the parents and friends of those who dwell at ,merivale and the immediate neighborhood40 ,and ,browne1 who never misses a chance of showing the brute he is at heart1 said3 8,really1 ,i should think twice1 ,doctor ,dunston4 ,there is such an element of chance with amateur fireworks4 ,unfortunately1 we can't have a dress rehearsal1 as with the scenes from ,shakespeare and the recitations at the end of the term40 8,nevertheless10 said the ,doctor1 8,i am disposed to run the risk4 ,a little harmless pleasure combined with courtesy to relatives at mid-term is rather desirable than not40 ,so about fifty people were asked1 and they brought fifty more1 and the cads from ,merivale got to know too1 and there was a good crowd of them along the fence by the gym4 ,also two policemen came1 and ,nubbs1 who was nervous before1 grew much worse when he heard of it4 ,besides1 we had a frightful shock two days before the firework night1 owing to the loss of poor old ,wilson4 ,by simply sickening luck he got reported by ,browne for cheek4 ,it was when ,browne came out in a new pair of awfully squeaking boots with sham pearl buttons at the side and drab tops2 and ,wilson said they were ugly 8eighteens0 and ,browne heard him4 ,the ,doctor took an awfully grave view of this1 and told ,wilson that personality was the vilest kind of cheek4 ,which wouldn't have mattered1 but he gave him a thousand lines as well1 and forbade him to see the fireworks or help any more with them4 8,and that's the man you call a brick60 ,wilson said1 rather bitterly4 ,it certainly was rough1 after the way he had worked2 but from the ,wing ,dormitory1 where he would be at the time1 he might be able to see pretty well everything by leaning far out between the window bars4 ,which ,nubbs pointed out to him1 and he said he should4 ,he also said he'd pay out ,browne some day1 and very likely ,dunston too4 ,well1 the night came1 and it was a fine one2 and the cads likewise came and lined the fence4 ,then the ,doctor clapped his hands twice1 which was the signal to begin2 and just as he did so out burst yellow fire everywhere behind the bits of tin1 lighted simultaneously by seven chaps4 ,and everybody seemed to like it2 and the ,doctor said3 8,capital6 ,bravo1 ,tomkins--a pleasing and fairy like conceit60 ,then ,nubbs let fly two rockets1 and they went up well and burst out in stars1 though not as many by any means as we had crammed into them2 but one twisted for some reason1 and1 instead of falling in the direction of the cads1 the stick twinkled down1 with just a spark of red here and there in the line of it1 bang behind the chapel4 ,both ,nubbs and ,i distinctly heard it go smack through the top of the greenhouse1 and ,i rather think the ,doctor heard it too1 for he didn't say 8,bravo0 or anything1 but just sent a kid to tell ,nubbs to point future rockets the other way1 which disheartened ,nubbs1 because he's like a girl at times of great excitement such as this was4 ,but he soon cheered up1 especially at the splendid success of the ,catherine-wheels1 which he hadn't hoped much from1 and at the cheers even the cads gave for the 8golden rain0 which showed up everything as bright as day1 including ,maude and the other ,dunston girls1 and ,mrs4 ,dunston1 and ,nubby's father standing smiling very amiably by the ,doctor1 and the policemen blinking1 and the crowd1 and a white dab hanging out of a high window afar off1 which ,i saw and knew to be ,wilson4 ,only the balloon failed1 owing to the nervousness of ,nubbs1 who set fire to the whole show while he was trying to light the spirit on the sponge underneath2 but he passed it off with crackers thrown among the kids1 and then1 while they were all yelling1 he dragged away the cricket screens1 and ,nubbs let off the set piece4 ,he lighted the touch-paper1 and it snapped and crackled all over the design in a moment1 and a thick smoke rose1 and out of it came the set piece flaring in rich yellow fire4 ,of course1 we expected what ,nubbs and ,wilson had arranged1 viz41 8,doctor ,dunston is a ,brick60 but instead there came out these awful words3 8,,doctor ,,dunston ,,is ,a ,,brute60 ,that just shows what a frightful difference three letters will make in a thing2 and the night was so dark and the letters so big that you could have read them a mile off4 ,only1 if you will believe it1 ,dunston didn't4 ,people applauded like anything at first1 till the preliminary smoke cleared off and they read the truth4 ,then they shut up and made a sound like wind coming through a wood4 ,but the cads yelled and roared1 and so did the policemen1 for ,i heard them2 and to make the frightful thing a shade more frightful1 if possible1 the ,doctor1 who is as blind as ten bats1 and didn't realize the end of the set piece1 but only read his name at the top1 clapped his hands and said3 8,famous1 famous6 ,you excel yourself1 ,tomkins60 ,then the words began gradually to turn green2 and1 for that matter1 so did ,nubbs4 ,in fact1 whether it was the reflected light or the condition of his mind1 or both1 ,i certainly never saw any chap become so perfectly horrid to look at as ,nubbs did then4 ,his nose seemed to stand out like a great green rock1 and his eyes bulged1 and his chin dropped1 and the set piece turned his teeth as bright as precious emeralds4 ,he just merely said1 8,good ,lord60--nothing more--then hooked it off into the darkness1 simply shattered4 ,at the same time ,stoddart and ,thompson1 and ,mannering and ,browne1 and some chaps from the ,sixth1 not knowing what color the beastly set piece might turn next1 or how soon the ,doctor would spot it1 dashed at the thing and dragged it down1 and trampled on it2 and ,browne in the act burned the very boots that ,wilson had cheeked1 which pleased ,wilson a good deal when he heard it4 ,after that it was all over1 and the ,doctor1 thinking the set piece had died a natural death1 so to speak1 saw me under the gas-light at the gate1 as everybody streamed out1 and said3 8,ah1 young man1 what was that last word in the illumination8 ,i know you and ,hodges also had a hand in it1 as well as ,tomkins40 ,and ,i said3 8,please1 sir1 we arranged the words #8,doctor ,dunston is a ,brick6'0 ,and he said3 8,excellent6 ,pithy and concise if a little familiar4 ,i only hope you all echo that sentiment--every one of you4 ,send ,tomkins to me1 and tell the other fellows there is cake and lemonade going in the dining-hall40 ,just as if the other fellows didn't know it6 ,but everybody gave three cheers for the ,doctor and ,mrs4 ,dunston1 and ,i started to find ,nubbs2 and the policemen made the cads go1 though they went reluctantly4 ,i looked long for ,nubby1 and at last found him all alone in the gym4 ,one bit of candle was burning1 which looked frightfully poor after all the brilliance of the fireworks1 and ,nubbs had got the parallel bars under the flying rings1 and was standing on them--,i mean the bars4 8,what the ,dickens are you doing1 ,nubby80 ,i said4 ,and he answered3 8,it's no jolly good attempting to stop me now1 because it's too late4 ,my life is ruined1 and my father was there too to see it ruined2 and ,i'm going to hang myself1 as every convenience for hanging is here40 ,mind you1 he would have done it4 ,knowing ,tomkins as ,i do1 and his great ingeniousness1 ,i don't mind swearing that he would have been a hung chap in another minute4 ,so ,i told him2 but1 though doubtful1 he decided to put it off1 anyway4 ,i even got him to promise he wouldn't hang himself at all if his father believed his innocence about the set piece4 ,and ,crewe1 the head-master under the ,doctor1 and old ,briggs and ,thompson got us in a corner--,nubbs and ,hodges and me--and we solemnly vowed we knew nothing of it2 and ,crewe went down to the ,merivale ,trumpet and made the reporter put in the original words when it came out2 and ,thompson explained to ,mrs4 ,dunston how some evil-disposed1 wicked person had tampered with the set piece1 and begged her not to wound the feelings of the ,doctor by telling him2 and the ,sixth hushed it up among the kids2 and ,i sneaked a bit of cake for ,wilson1 and went up after the row was over and told him everything1 down to the burning of ,browne's boots4 ,he confessed to me then that he had done it1 which didn't surprise me much1 knowing how he had worked1 and then at the last minute almost been deprived of seeing the show4 ,it was certainly a terrible revenge2 but1 of course1 a terrible revenge which doesn't come off owing to a master being too shortsighted to see it is pretty sickening for the revenger4 ,besides the risk4 ,mr4 ,crewe worked like a demon to find out who had done it1 and he suspected ,wilson from the first1 but couldn't prove it4 ,but at last he did find out through ,fowle1 who got it out of ,ferrars1 who got it out of ,west1 who got it out of ,nubbs in a moment of rage4 ,for ,i may say ,wilson himself told ,nubbs1 and ,nubbs never forgave him1 and says he never shall1 even if they ever both go to heaven4 ,so ,crewe1 having found out1 had some talk with ,wilson4 ,but he didn't lick him2 whereas ,wilson did lick ,fowle1 and that pretty badly4 ,not that ,fowle cares for an ordinary licking more than another chap cares for a smack on the head4 ,the only way to hurt him is to twist his arm round1 about twice1 and then hit him hard just above the elbow4 ,i may say ,i found this out myself1 and everybody does it now4 ,doctor ,dunston's ,howler ,mind you1 if it's interesting to watch any ordinary person come a howler1 what must it be to see your own head-master do it8 ,a 8howler10 of course1 is the same as a 8cropper10 and you can come one at cricket or football or in class or in everyday life4 ,dr4 ,dunston's howler was a most complicated sort1 and ,i had the luck to be one of the chaps who witnessed him come it4 ,of course1 to see any master make a tremendous mistake is good2 but when you are dealing with a man almost totally bald and sixty-two years of age the affair has a solemn side1 especially owing to his being a ,rev4 and a ,d4,d4 ,in fact1 ,slade1 who was with me1 said the spectacle reminded him of the depths of woe beggars got into in ,greek tragedies1 which often wanted half a dozen gods to lug them out of4 ,but no gods troubled themselves about ,dunston2 and it really was a bit awful looked at from his point of view2 because it's beastly to give yourself away to kids at the best of times2 and no doubt to him all of us are more or less as kids1 even the ,sixth4 ,he often had a way of bringing the parents of a possible new boy through one or two of the big class-rooms and the chapel of ,merivale1 just to show what a swagger place it was4 ,then we all bucked up like mad1 and the masters bucked up too1 and gave their gowns a hitch round and their mortar-boards a cock up1 and made more noise and put on more side generally1 just to add to the splendor of the scene from the point of view of the parents of the possible new boy4 ,sometimes the affair was rather spoiled by an aunt or mother or some woman or other asking the ,doctor homely sort of questions about sanitary arrangements or prayers2 then to see old ,dunston making long-winded replies and getting even the drains to sound majestic was fine4 ,his manner varied according to the people who came over the school4 ,sometimes1 if it only happened to be a guardian or a lawyer1 he was short and stern4 ,then he just swept along1 calling attention to the ventilation and discipline1 and looking at the chaps as if they were dried specimens in a museum2 but with fathers or women he had a playful mood and an expression known as the 8parent-smile40 ,to mothers he never talked about 8pupils10 but called the whole shoot of us 8his lads10 and beamed and fluttered his gown1 like a hen with chickens flutters its wings4 ,the masters always copied him1 and to see that little brute ,browne trying to flutter over the kids like a hen when the ,doctor came into his class-room was a ghastly sight1 knowing him as we did4 ,also the ,doctor would often pat a youngster on the head and beam at him4 ,he generally singled ,corkey minimus out for patting and beaming2 and ,corkey minor said the irony of it was pretty frightful1 considering that ,corkey minimus1 for different reasons1 got licked oftener by the ,doctor than almost any chap in the ,lower ,school4 ,well1 one day in came the ,doctor to the school-room of the ,fourth4 ,i'm in the ,sixth myself1 and a personal chum of ,slade's1 the head of the school2 but ,i happened to have gone to the ,fourth with a message1 so ,i saw what happened4 ,a very big man who puffed out his chest like a pigeon followed the ,doctor4 ,he had a blue tie on with a jolly bright diamond in it1 and there were small purple veins in a regular network over his cheeks1 and his mustache was yellowish-gray and waxed out as sharp as pins4 ,a lady followed him with red rims to her little eyes and gold things hanging about her chest4 ,the ,doctor1 being all arched up and rolled round from the small of the back like a wood-louse1 seemed to show they were parents of perhaps more fellows than one4 ,the big chap wore an eye-glass and spoke very loud1 and was jolly pleasant4 8,ah60 he said1 8and this is where the little boys work1 eh8 ,i expect1 now1 my youngster will be drafted in among these small men1 ,doctor ,dunston80 8,it is very possible--nay1 probable in the highest degree1 my lord10 said the ,doctor4 8,we are now10 he continued1 8in the presence of the ,fourth and ,lower ,fourth4 ,the class-room is spacious1 as you see1 and new4 ,a commanding panorama of the surrounding country and our playing-fields may be enjoyed from the ,french windows4 ,if two of you lads will move that black-board from there1 ,lord ,golightly may be able to see something of the prospect40 ,two of the kids promptly knocked down the black-board nearly onto the purple-veined lord's head4 ,then suddenly the lady called out and attracted his attention4 ,looking round1 we found she had got awfully excited1 and stood pointing straight at young ,tomlin4 ,he was a mere kid1 at the extreme bottom of the ,lower ,fourth2 but he happened to be my fag1 so ,i was interested4 ,she pointed at him1 in the most frantic way1 with a hand in a browny-yellow glove1 and a gold bracelet outside the glove and a little watch let into the bracelet4 8,good gracious60 she said1 8do look ,ralph6 ,what an astounding resemblance6 ,whoever is that boy80 ,tomlin turned rather red in the gills1 which was natural4 8,do you know the lad80 asked the ,doctor4 8,never saw him before in my life2 but ,i hope he'll forgive me for being so rude as to point at him in that way10 she said4 8,he's exactly like our dear ,carlo2 they might be twins40 ,tomlin thought she meant a pet dog1 and got rather rum to look at4 8,carlo is our son1 you know10 explained the lord4 8,singular coincidence10 answered ,doctor ,dunston1 not looking very keen about it4 ,in fact1 he wasn't too fond of ,tomlin at any time1 and seemed sorry he should be dragged in now4 ,but the kid was a very tidy sort1 really--,captain of the ,third ,footer ,eleven and a good runner4 ,he happened to be the son of a big ,london hatter who had a shop of enormous dimensions in ,bond ,street2 and the ,doctor was said to get his own hats there2 yet he didn't like ,tomlin4 ,tomlin went out into the open1 and the purple-veined lord shook hands with him1 and the lord's wife stood him in the light and turned him round to catch different expressions4 ,then they admitted that the likeness was really most wonderful1 and they both hoped ,tomlin and ,carlo would be great friends4 ,tomlin1 told by the ,doctor to answer1 stood on one leg1 twisted his arms in a curious way he's got when nervous1 and said he hoped they might be2 but he said it as though he knew jolly well they wouldn't4 ,then the lord and the lady cleared out1 and a week later ,carlo came4 ,his real name was ,westonleigh1 and he was a viscount or something1 being eldest son of an earl2 but we called him ,carlo1 and he grew jolly waxy when he found his nickname had got to ,merivale before him4 ,he fancied himself to a most hideous extent for a kid of nine1 and explained he'd only come for a year or so before going to ,eton4 ,he went into the ,lower ,fourth1 so ,tomlin ceased to be at the bottom of that class4 ,the likeness between ,carlo and my fag was really most peculiar4 ,it must have been for ,carlo's own mother to see it2 but when ,carlo heard that ,tomlin would be a hatter in the course of years he refused to have anything to do with him4 ,and ,tomlin loathed ,carlo1 too1 from the start2 so instead of being chums according to the wish of the purple-veined lord1 they hated one another1 and the first licking of any importance which ,carlo got he had from ,tomlin4 ,the chap was a failure all round1 and it's no good saying he wasn't4 ,everybody saw it but ,doctor ,dunston1 and he wouldn't4 ,carlo proved to be a sneak and a liar of the deepest sort--not to masters1 but to the chaps2 and he was also jolly cruel to animals1 and very much liked to torture things that couldn't hit him back1 such as mice and insects4 ,he had a square face and snubby nose1 and a voice and eyes exactly similar to ,tomlin's2 but there was no likeness in their characters1 ,tomlin being a very decent kid1 as ,i have said4 ,fellows barred ,carlo all round1 and he only had one real chum in the miserable shape of ,fowle4 ,fowle sucked up to him and listened for hours about his ancestors1 and buttered him at all times1 hoping1 of course1 that some day he would get asked to ,carlo's father's castle in the holidays4 ,i may also note ,carlo never played games1 excepting tossing behind the gymnasium for half-pennies with ,fowle and ,steggles1 ,steggles1 of course1 winning4 ,happening one day to go down through the playground1 young ,tomlin saw ,westonleigh near a little fir-tree which grew at the top of the drill-ground4 ,he was alone1 and seemed to be doing something queer1 so ,tomlin stopped and went over4 8,what are you up to80 he said4 8,frying ants10 said ,carlo1 8though it's no business of yours4 ,you see1 there's turpentine juice come out of this tree where ,i cut it yesterday1 and you can stick the ants in it1 then fry them to a cinder with a burning-glass1 like this40 8,that's what you're doing80 8,it is40 8,don't you think you're rather a little beast80 8,what d' you mean1 hatter80 8,i mean ,i'm going to kick you for being such a cruel beast40 ,they stood the same height to an inch and were the same age1 so it was a perfectly sportsman-like thing for ,tomlin to offer4 8,you seem to forget who you're talking to10 said ,carlo4 8,no1 ,i don't--no chance of that4 ,your ancestors came over with ,william the ,conqueror--carried his portmanteau1 ,i expect1 then cleared out when the fighting came on4 ,yes1 and another ancestor stabbed a friend of ,wat ,tyler's when he was face down on the ground1 after somebody else had knocked him over4 ,that's what you are1 ant-fryer40 8,i'll thank you to let me pass10 said ,carlo4 8,i'm not accustomed to talking to people like you1 and if you think ,i'm going to fight with a future hatter you're wrong40 8,then you can put your tail between your legs and swallow this10 said ,tomlin1 and he went on and licked ,carlo pretty well4 ,he also broke his burning-glass4 8,you'll live to be sorry for this all your life60 yelled out ,carlo1 when ,tomlin let him get up off some broken flower-pots on the drill-ground4 8,i'll never forget it2 ,i'll get my father to make old ,dunston expel you2 and when ,i'm a man ,i'll devote all my time to wrecking your vile hat business and ruining you and making you a shivering1 starving beggar in the streets60 8,go and sneak1 ,i should10 said ,tomlin4 ,and blessed if ,carlo didn't6 ,he tore straight off to the ,doctor just as he was1 in his licked condition4 ,that much ,i heard from my fag1 young ,tomlin1 but the rest ,i saw for myself1 as the ,sixth happened to be before the ,doctor in his study when ,carlo arrived4 ,he was white and muddy1 and slightly bloody and panting2 he looked jolly wicked1 and his collar had carried away from the stud1 and his trousers were torn behind4 8,my good lad1 whatever has happened80 began the ,doctor4 8,don't say you have met with an accident8 ,and yet your appearance--0 8,nothing of the sort10 said ,carlo1 who soon found out the ,doctor had a weak place for him1 owing to his being a lord's son4 8,i've been frightfully and cruelly mangled through no fault of my own2 and ,i believe some things inside me are broken too40 8,sit down1 sit down1 my unfortunate lad10 said the ,doctor4 ,then he rang the bell and told the butler to bring ,viscount ,westonleigh a glass of wine at once4 8,it's ,tomlin done it10 said ,carlo4 8,he came up behind me1 and1 before ,i could defend myself1 he trampled on me and tried to tear me limb from limb4 ,i'm not strong1 and ,i may die of it4 ,anyway1 he ought to be expelled1 and ,i'll write to my father1 the earl1 about it1 and he'll make the whole country-side resound if ,tomlin isn't sent away and his character ruined40 8,hush1 ,westonleigh60 said the ,doctor4 8,have no fear that justice will not be done1 my boy4 ,you shall yourself accuse ,tomlin and hear what he may have to say in defence40 ,then ,tomlin was sent for1 and in about ten minutes came4 8,is this true1 boy ,tomlin80 said the ,doctor1 putting on his big manner4 8,one glance at your victim10 he continued1 8furnishes a more conclusive reply to my question than could any word of yours2 nevertheless1 ,i desire to hear from your own lips whether ,viscount ,westonleigh's assertions are true or not40 8,don't know what he's asserted1 sir10 said ,tomlin1 which was a smart thing for a kid to say4 8,if he said ,i've licked him1 it's true1 sir40 8,that is what he did assert1 sir1 in words chosen with greater regard for my feelings than your own4 ,and are you aware1 ,george ,tomlin1 that you have #8licked' one who1 in the ordinary course of nature1 and subject to the will of an all-just1 all-seeing ,providence1 will some day take his seat in the ,house of ,lords80 8,i've heard him say he will1 sir10 answered ,tomlin1 as though no statement of ,carlo's could be worth believing4 8,don't answer in that offensive tone1 boy10 answered the ,doctor1 his voice rising to the pitch that always went before a flogging4 8,if your stagnant sense of right cannot bring a blush to your cheek before the spectacle of your scandalous achievement1 it will be necessary for me--for me1 your head-master1 sir--to quicken the blood in your veins and bring a blush to the baser extremity of your person4 ,some learn through the head1 ,george ,tomlin2 some can only be approached through the hide2 and with the latter category you have long1 unhappily1 chosen to throw in your lot40 ,tomlin said nothing1 but looked at ,carlo4 8,before proceeding1 according to my custom1 ,i shall hear both sides of this question--audi alteram partem1 ,george ,tomlin4 ,now say what you have to say2 explain why your lamentable1 your unholy1 your aboriginal passions led you to fall upon ,viscount ,westonleigh from behind--to take him in the rear1 sir1 after the unmanly fashion of the ,north ,american ,indian or other primitive savage40 8,i didn't take him in the rear at all1 sir10 said ,tomlin4 8,i stood right up to him1 and he said he wouldn't fight a future hatter40 8,a very proper decision1 too1 sir--a natural and wise decision10 declared the ,doctor4 8,why should the son of ,lord ,golightly imbue his hand in the blood of--,i will not say a future hatter1 for ,i yield to no man in my respect for your father1 ,tomlin1 and his business is alike honorable and necessary2 but why should he fight anybody80 8,if he's challenged he's got to1 sir1 or else take a licking40 8,no flippancy1 sir60 thundered the ,doctor again4 8,who are you to announce the laws which govern the society of ,merivale8 ,shall it be possible in a ,christian land1 at a ,christian college for ,christian lads1 to find infamous boys with tigrine instincts parading the fold for the purpose of smiting when and where they will8 ,this1 sir1 is the very apotheosis of savagery60 8,i didn't do it for nothing1 sir10 said ,tomlin4 8,i'm not going to sneak1 of course2 but ,i--,i licked ,carlo for a jolly good reason1 and he knows what40 8,don't know anything of the sort10 declared ,carlo4 8,you flew at me like a wolf from behind40 8,that's a good one10 answered ,tomlin4 8,anybody can see you did from the state ,i'm in10 said ,carlo4 8,you two boys10 began the ,doctor again1 8though you know it not1 stand here before me as types of a great social movement1 ,i may even say upheaval4 ,in the democratic age upon which we are now entering1 we shall find the ,tomlins at war with the ,westonleighs2 we shall find the ,westonleighs disdaining to fight1 and the ,tomlins accordingly doing what pleases them in their own brutal way4 ,now1 here ,i find myself met with statement and counter-statement4 ,the indictment is all too clear against you1 boy ,tomlin1 for even the glass of old brown sherry which he has just consumed fails to soothe your unfortunate victim's nerve-centres4 ,he is still far from calm2 his ganglions are yet vibrating4 ,this work of destruction was yours4 ,you do not deny it1 but you refuse any explanation1 making instead a vague and ambiguous reference to not sneaking4 ,no man hates the tale-bearer more than your head-master1 sir1 but there are occasions when the school's welfare and the protection of our little commonwealth make it absolutely necessary that offences should be reported to the ruler of that commonwealth4 ,i have no hesitation in saying that ,westonleigh saw the present incident in this light4 ,he had no right to hush up the matter4 ,whatever his private instincts towards mercy1 his duty to his companions and to me1 together with a hereditary sense of justice and the fearless instincts of his race1 compelled him to come before me and report the presence of a young garroter in our midst4 ,i select the word1 ,george ,tomlin1 and ,i say that1 having regard to the perverted1 not to say inverted1 sense of justice and honor all too common among every community of boys1 ,westonleigh's act was a brave act4 ,i accept his statement in its entirety2 consequently1 ,tomlin1 you may join me this evening1 at nine o'clock1 after prayers40 ,that meant a flogging1 and ,tomlin said1 8,yes1 sir10 and hooked it2 but the wretched ,carlo thought he was going to hear ,tomlin expelled4 ,he burst out and said as much1 and the ,doctor started as if a serpent had stung him1 and told ,carlo to control the instinct of revenge so common to all human nature1 and explained that chaps were not expelled for trifles4 ,he reminded ,carlo that ,tomlin had an immortal soul like himself1 and seemed to imply that being expelled from ,merivale would ruin a chap's future in the next world as well as this one4 ,finally1 he allowed ,carlo1 in consideration of the dressing he had got1 to stop in the playground that afternoon with a book4 ,so the little skunk crept off1 shattered ganglions and all1 pretending to walk lame2 while the ,doctor1 evidently much bothered altogether1 took up our work where he had left it4 99 99 99 99 99 ,tomlin got flogged all right1 and there the matter ended1 excepting that a lot of fellows sent ,carlo to ,coventry and called him 8ant-fryer0 from that day4 ,then1 within three weeks1 came the ,doctor's howler1 ,steggles being responsible4 ,steggles is a bit of a hound1 but his cunning is wonderful4 ,as for the ,doctor1 he continued making much of ,carlo and sitting on ,tomlin1 till one day1 going into chapel1 he unexpectedly patted ,tomlin on the head4 ,tomlin was rather pleased1 because he thought the ,doctor was relenting to him2 but when ,steggles heard of it he said3 8,why1 you fool1 he thought he was patting ,westonleigh60 ,then1 on an evening when ,tomlin was cooking a sausage for me in the ,sixth's class-room1 he said3 8,please1 ,i should like to speak to you1 if ,i may40 ,so ,i chucked work1 and told him to say what he liked4 8,it's only to show how things go against a chap1 no matter what he does10 said the kid4 8,this term ,i have been flogged for licking ,carlo1 and caned three times since for other things1 which were more bad luck than anything else2 and now ,i'll be flogged again to-morrow for absolute certain40 8,why80 8,well1 it's a jolly muddle4 ,you know ,steggles80 8,yes1 you're a fool to go about with him10 ,i said4 8,perhaps ,i was4 ,anyway1 ,steggles and me made a plot to get some of the medlars from the tree on the lawn1 and we minched out after dark to do it4 ,they're simply allowed to fall and rot on the ground1 which is a waste of good tuck1 ,steggles says4 ,we went out about ten o'clock last night1 past ,browne's study window2 and we looked in from the shrubbery to see the window open1 and soda-water and whiskey and pipes on the table2 but no ,browne1 strange to say4 ,then we sneaked on1 and ,steggles suddenly heard something and got funky1 but ,i kept him going4 ,we reached the tree and ,steggles lighted his bull's-eye lantern1 so as to collect the medlars1 when suddenly out from behind the tree itself rushed a man4 ,we hooked it like lightning1 naturally1 and ,i never saw ,steggles go at such a pace in my life1 and he stuck to his lantern1 too2 but ,i tripped and fell1 and before ,i could get up the man had collared me4 ,if you'll believe it1 the man was ,browne6 ,he asked me who the other chap was1 and ,i said ,i couldn't be quite sure2 so he told me to go back to bed1 which ,i did4 ,that was last night2 and the one medlar we had time to get ,steggles had eaten before ,i got back1 which shows what ,steggles is4 ,to-day ,browne will tell the ,doctor4 ,he always chooses the evening after prayers1 so that he can work the ,doctor up with his stories and get a chap flogged right away2 because it often happens when ,doctor ,dunston says he'll flog a chap next day he doesn't do it40 8,and what is ,steggles going to do80 8,he says he is watching events4 ,he also says that ,browne was certainly stealing the ,doctor's medlars himself1 and really we surprised him1 not he us2 but1 of course1 ,steggles says it's no good my telling the ,doctor that4 ,steggles also says that he's got an idea which may come to something4 ,i don't know2 but he's a very cute chap4 ,i've got to keep out of the way after prayers to-night1 and ,steggles is going to watch ,browne4 ,he won't tell me his plan4 ,i thought once that perhaps he meant giving himself up for me1 and ,i asked him1 and he said ,i ought to know him better40 ,tomlin then cleared out1 and as the ,doctor took ,slade and me for a short ,greek lesson every evening after prayers1 because of special examinations1 ,i had the good luck to see the end of the business that very night4 ,we'd just got to work by the ,doctor's green-shaded reading-lamp when ,browne came in with his grovelling way1 pretending he was awfully sorry for having to round on ,tomlin1 but that his duty gave him no option1 and so on4 8,last night10 he said1 8,i was sitting correcting exercises in my study when ,i fancied ,i saw a form steal across the grass outside4 ,thinking some vagabond might be in the grounds1 ,i dashed out and followed as quickly as possible4 ,presently ,i saw a light1 and noted two figures under the medlar-tree4 ,fearing they might be plotting against the house1 ,i went straight at them1 and1 to my astonishment1 saw that they were only boys4 ,one darted away1 and ,i failed to catch him2 the other1 ,i much regret to say1 was ,tomlin40 ,that is how ,browne put the affair4 8,tomlin again60 exclaimed the ,doctor4 8,positively that boy's behavior passes the bounds of endurance40 8,yes1 taking the medlars of one who has always treated him as you have4 ,i couldn't trust myself to speak to him4 ,he's a very disappointing boy40 8,he's a disgraceful1 degenerate1 disreputable boy6 ,i can forgive much2 but the stealing of fruit--and that my fruit6 ,greediness1 immorality1 ingratitude in the person of one outrageous lad6 ,i thank you1 ,browne4 ,yours was a zealous act1 and argued courage of high order4 ,oblige me by sending ,tomlin hither at once4 ,there shall be no delay40 ,browne hurried off to find the wretched ,tomlin2 and ,doctor ,dunston1 who always had to work up his feelings before flogging a chap1 snorted like a horse1 and took off his glasses1 and went to the corner behind the book-case where canes and things were kept4 ,he seemed to forget ,slade and me1 so we sat tight in the gloom outside the radius of light thrown by the green-shaded lamp1 and waited with regret to see ,tomlin catch it4 ,the ,doctor talked to himself as he brought out a birch and swished it through the air once or twice4 8,upon my soul10 he said1 8,lord ,golightly's son was right4 ,his knowledge of character is remarkable in so young a lad4 ,tomlin will have to be expelled2 ,tomlin must go2 such consistent1 such inherent depravity appears ineradicable4 ,pruning is of no avail2 the branch must be sacrificed4 ,my medlars under cover of darkness6 ,and ,i would have given them freely had he but asked60 ,he evidently wasn't going to expel ,tomlin this time1 but he meant doing all he knew with the birch2 and as ,tomlin was some while coming1 the ,doctor's safety-valves were regularly humming before he turned up4 ,when he did come he walked boldly in2 and the ,doctor1 who had been striding up and down like a lion at the ,zoo1 didn't wait for any remarks1 but just went straight for him1 seized him by the nape of the neck1 nipped his hand round his back--in a way he did very neatly from long practice--and began to administer about the hottest flogging he'd given to any boy in his life4 8,so--you--add--the--eighth--com--mand-- ment--to--the--others--you--have--alread y--shattered--deplorable--boy60 roared the ,doctor1 giving ,tomlin one between each smack4 8,you--would--purloin--steal--rob--the medlars--of your preceptor4 ,you would lead others--to--share--your--sin4 ,you would bring--tears--of--grief--to--a--good--mo ther's--eyes60 ,here the ,doctor stopped a moment for breath1 but he still held on to ,tomlin1 who1 much to my surprise1 wriggled about a good deal4 ,in fact1 he shot out his legs over and over again at intervals1 like a grasshopper does when it gets into the water2 and when he got a chance he yelled back at the ,doctor3 8,it's a lie--a filthy lie60 he shrieked out4 8,beast--devil6 ,let me go6 ,let me go6 ,i never touched your rotten old medlars--oh6--oh60 ,then the ,doctor went off again4 8,silence1 miserable child6 ,cease your blasphemies4 ,falsehood--will--not--save--you--now60 8,i never touched them1 ,i tell you1 you muddle-headed old beast6 ,you're killing me1 and my father'll imprison you for life for it4 ,i wish they could hang you4 ,i'll make you smart for this if you only live till ,i grow up--devil60 ,but the ,doctor had shot his bolt4 ,he gave ,tomlin a final smack1 then shook him off like a spider1 picked up his mortar-board1 which had fallen off in the struggle1 and put the birch in its place4 8,now go1 and don't speak another word1 or ,i shall expel you1 wretched lad60 ,meantime ,slade and ,i were fairly on the gasp1 for from the time that ,tomlin1 as we thought1 had called the ,doctor a devil we realized the truth4 ,now his passion nearly choked him2 he danced with pain and rage2 only when the ,doctor took a stride towards him he opened the door and hooked it4 ,the ,doctor puffed and grunted like a traction-engine trying to get up a hill4 8,these are the black days in a head-master's life1 ,slade10 he said4 8,that misguided lad thinks that ,i enjoyed administering his punishment1 yet both mentally and physically the operation caused me far greater suffering than it brought to him4 ,i am wounded--wounded to the heart--and the exertion causes and will cause me much discomfort for hours to come1 owing to its unusual severity4 ,i may say that not for ten years has it been necessary for me to flog a boy as ,i have just flogged ,george ,tomlin4 ,now let us proceed40 ,i couldn't have broken it to him1 but ,slade did4 ,he said3 8,please1 sir1 it wasn't ,tomlin40 8,not ,tomlin--not ,tomlin6 ,what d' you mean1 boy8 ,who was it1 then80 said the ,doctor1 his eyebrows going up on to his forehead1 which was all quite dewy from the hard work4 8,it was young ,carlo--,i mean ,westonleigh10 said ,slade4 8,viscount ,westonleigh60 gasped the ,doctor1 his mouth dropping right open in a very rum way by itself1 if you understand me4 8,yes1 sir40 8,then why in the name of ,heaven didn't you say so8 ,how dare you stand there and watch me commit an offence against law and justice8 ,how did you dare to watch me ignorantly torture an innocent boy1 and that boy-- ,go6 go both of you--you1 ,slade1 and you1 ,butler1 also4 ,go instantly1 and send ,browne and ,viscount ,westonleigh to me4 ,good ,god6 this is terrible--terrible60 ,so that was his howler1 and to see him in his chair looking so old and haggard and queer was rather frightful4 ,he seemed suddenly struck with limpness1 and his hands shook like anything1 and so did his bald head2 and he puffed as if he'd been running miles2 and ,slade said afterwards that he looked jolly frightened too4 ,he put his face in his hands as we went out1 and we heard him say something about ,lord ,golightly and ruin1 and universal opprobrium on his gray hairs1 though really he had none worth mentioning2 and ,slade said he almost thought the ,doctor was actually going to cry1 if such a thing could be possible4 ,we sent ,browne off to him1 but ,carlo wasn't to be found4 ,he'd been seen yelling somewhere1 but couldn't be traced4 ,what had happened was this3 ,tomlin1 in obedience to ,steggles1 had kept rather close after prayers2 in fact1 he had spent the half-hour to bed-time in a cupboard in the gymnasium1 under the rubber shoes4 ,so ,browne1 not finding him1 had told the first boy he saw to do so2 and that boy happened to be ,steggles1 who had been at his heels ever since he went to the ,doctor4 ,steggles is a miserable1 unwholesome thing1 but his strategy certainly comes off4 ,once having the message1 all was easy1 because ,steggles merely found ,carlo1 and told him the ,doctor wanted him4 ,the result was much better than even ,steggles hoped2 because1 though the ,doctor generally fell on a chap who came to be flogged straightaway1 like he did on ,carlo1 it wasn't often anybody got such a frightful strong dose as ,carlo had4 ,afterwards1 when taxed1 ,steggles swore1 of course1 that he thought he was talking to ,tomlin4 ,seeing the likeness1 this might have been perfectly true1 though in their secret hearts everybody knew ,steggles too jolly well to really believe it4 ,carlo didn't turn up1 and after an hour or more of frantic rushing about1 somebody said perhaps he'd jumped down the garden well owing to the indignity of what he'd got4 ,but soon afterwards1 in reply to a special telegram sent for the ,doctor by the people at the railway station1 an answer came from ,golightly ,towers1 twenty miles off1 where the purple-veined lord1 father of ,carlo1 hung out4 ,the kid1 it seemed1 had sloped down to ,merivale railway station after his licking1 and taken a ticket right away for ,golightly1 and gone home by the last train but one that night4 ,he never returned either1 but next day his father dropped in on ,doctor ,dunston1 and ,fowle managed to hear a little of what went on through the key-hole4 ,he said that as far as he could make out the lord didn't think much of the matter1 and said one thrashing more or less wouldn't mar ,carlo4 ,but the lord's wife1 who didn't come1 evidently took the same view as ,carlo1 for he never returned to ,dunston's again4 ,the ,doctor's howler ended in his losing the little bounder altogether1 which1 with his views about lords in general1 and especially earls1 must have been frightfully rough on him4 ,as to ,tomlin1 actually the ,doctor never flogged him after all6 ,i think his spirit had got a bit broken1 and though ,tomlin went at the end of the term1 he wasn't expelled1 but withdrawn by mutual consent1 like you hear of things in ,parliament sometimes4 ,he wouldn't have gone at all1 but he refused to say who was under the medlar-tree with him1 and stuck to it2 and ,steggles absolutely declined to give himself up1 because1 as he truly said1 he had more than kept his promise to ,tomlin about helping him out of the mess4 ,so ,tomlin went4 ,he was a very decent little chap indeed1 and nearly all the fellows at ,dunston's promised faithfully to buy their hats entirely at his place in ,bond ,street1 ,london1 when they left school2 which will be very good business for him if they do4 ,as for the ,doctor1 it's a peculiar fact that for a whole term after ,carlo's affair he never flogged a single chap4 ,he didn't seem to have any heart in him1 somehow1 owing to the rum way the howler told upon his spirit4 ,morrant's ,half-,sov4 ,of course1 as ,steggles said truly1 the rummest thing about the whole story of ,morrant's half-sov4 was that he should have one4 ,morrant1 in fact1 never got any pocket-money in his life1 owing to his father being a gentleman farmer4 ,not that he had nothing4 ,on the contrary1 his hampers were certainly the best1 except ,fowle's1 that ever came to ,dunston's1 both for variety and size and fruit4 ,the farming business1 ,morrant said1 was all right from his point of view in the holidays1 as the ferreting1 both rats and rabbits1 was good enough for anything1 and three packs of hounds met within walking distance of his farm1 one pack being harriers1 which ,morrant1 by knowing the country well1 could run with to a certain extent while they hunted4 ,but ,morrant's father was so worried about chemical manures and other farming things1 including the price of wheat1 that he didn't see his way to giving ,morrant any pocket-money4 ,he explained to ,morrant once that he was putting every halfpenny he could spare into ,morrant's education1 so as to save him from having to become a gentleman farmer too when he grew up4 ,but ,morrant didn't get a farthing in a general way2 so when there arrived a hamper with an envelope in it1 and in the envelope a bit of paper1 and in the paper a half-sovereign1 ,morrant was naturally extremely surprised and also pleased4 ,it came from his godfather1 who had never taken any notice of ,morrant for thirteen years1 though he was a clergyman4 ,but the previous term ,morrant had got a prize for ,scripture history1 and when that came to his godfather's ears1 through ,morrant's mother mentioning it in a letter1 he wrote and said it was good news1 and very unexpected4 ,so he sent the money2 and really ,morrant was quite bewildered with it1 being so utterly unaccustomed to tin even in the meanest shape4 ,he had a friend by the name of ,ferrars1 who was much more religious than ,morrant himself1 and knew even more ,scripture history2 and as a first go-off he asked ,ferrars what he ought to do with the money4 ,and ,ferrars said that before everything ,morrant ought to give a tithe to charity4 ,but when it was explained to ,morrant that this meant chucking away a shilling on the poor1 he didn't take to the idea an atom4 ,he said his father had set him against giving tithes1 not believing in them very much4 ,so ,morrant went to ,gideon1 who knew much more about money than ,ferrars1 and he said on no account to give a penny away in charity1 because ,morrant wasn't up in the subject1 and might do more harm than good4 ,he also said that in the case of a chap who had never had a half-sovereign in his life before1 it was a great question whether he could be expected to give away any2 and ,morrant said there was no question about it at all1 because he wasn't going to4 ,and it made even a difference in his feeling towards ,ferrars1 for1 as he very truly said1 a chap who advised him like ,ferrars had couldn't be much of a friend4 ,having decided to keep it1 the point was what to do with it4 ,the novelty of the thing staggered him1 and1 knowing he would probably never have another half-sovereign till he grew up1 ,morrant felt the awful importance of spending it right1 because an affair once bought could never be replaced if lost4 ,and1 as ,bray said1 8,if you get used to a thing1 like a watch-chain or a tie-ring1 and then lose it1 the feeling you get is much worse than if you had never had it at all40 ,i thought about it too for ,morrant1 as he once sent me a brace of rabbits by post1 shot by himself in the holidays4 ,i pointed out to him that half a sovereign was a most difficult sum really1 being1 as it were1 not small and not exactly huge1 and yet too much to make light of1 especially in ,morrant's case4 ,if he had got a sovereign1 for instance1 he might have bought a silver watch-chain to take the place of one which he had4 ,it was made of the hair of his grandmother when she was young1 and ,morrant didn't much like it1 and had often tried to sell it and failed4 ,but ten bob wouldn't buy a silver chain worth having4 ,morrant had an idea about braces1 and of course he might have bought such braces for the money as would have been seldom seen and very remarkable2 but braces are a poor thing to put good money into1 and ,i dissuaded him4 ,there came a change in ,morrant after he had had the half-sovereign for four days and not thought of anything to buy4 ,he began to worry1 because time was going on and nothing being done4 ,fellows gave him many ideas1 some of which he took for an hour or two1 but always abandoned after a while4 ,murray told him of a wonderful box of new conjuring tricks which was to be had1 and he nearly bought it1 but luckily remembered just in time that the new tricks would get old after a while1 and some might be guessed and would become useless4 ,then ,parkinson had a remarkably swagger paint-box1 and knew where ,morrant could get another with only three paints less for ten shillings4 ,and ,morrant as near as a toucher bought that1 but happened to remember he couldn't paint1 and didn't care in the least about trying to4 ,corkey minimus said he would run the risk and sell ,corkey minor's bat to ,morrant for ten bob1 the bat having cost twelve4 ,the bat was spliced and ,corkey minor was in ,australia1 having1 luckily for him1 sailed to sea just before an exam41 owing to a weak lung4 ,if ,morrant had played cricket he would certainly have bought the bat2 but there again1 even though ,gideon told him he might easily get ten-and-six or eleven shillings for the bat next term1 he hesitated1 and finally ,gideon bought the bat himself--as an investment1 he said4 ,well1 there was ,morrant stuck with his tin4 ,he wouldn't even change it1 because ,gideon warned him against that1 and told him his father knew men who had made large fortunes simply by not changing gold when they had it4 ,gideon said there was nothing like never changing gold2 so ,morrant didn't1 only of course there was no good in keeping the money specially stitched into a private and unknown part of his trousers1 as he did1 for safety4 ,that half-sovereign acted like a regular cloud on ,morrant's mind2 and then came an extraordinary day when it acted more like a cloud than ever1 owing to its disappearing4 ,morrant had sewn it1 with a needle and thread borrowed from the housekeeper1 into a spot at the bottom of his left trouser-pocket1 and from this spot it mysteriously vanished in the space of two hours and a half4 ,he had changed in the dormitory for 8footer10 and left his trousers on his bed at three o'clock1 returning to them at #d4de4 ,then1 naturally feeling for his half-sovereign1 he missed it altogether1 and when he examined the spot he found his money had been cut out of the bottom of the pocket with a knife4 ,very wisely ,morrant1 seeing what a tremendous thing had happened1 did not make a lot of row1 but just told about ten chaps and no more4 ,i was one4 ,my name is ,newnes4 ,i said3 8,the first question is1 ,who knew your secret hiding-place80 and ,butler said it was a very good question and showed sense in me4 ,butler is1 of course1 high in the ,sixth4 ,morrant1 on thinking it over1 decided that three chaps1 or four at the outside1 knew his hiding-place4 ,they were ,ferrars1 ,gideon1 ,fowle1 and1 ,morrant thought1 ,phipps4 ,so first ,butler1 who very kindly undertook the affair for ,morrant1 had ,phipps brought up4 ,phipps stammers even when most calm and collected1 and1 being sent for by ,butler1 caused him so much excitement that ,butler made him write down the answers to his questions1 and even then ,phipps lost his nerve so that he spelled 8yes0 with two s's4 ,but he solemnly put down and signed that ,morrant had never told him where he kept his half-sovereign2 and after he had gone ,morrant said that1 now he came to think about it1 he felt sure ,phipps was right4 ,which reduced the matter to ,ferrars1 ,gideon1 and ,fowle2 and the first two were set aside by ,morrant because ,ferrars was1 of course1 his personal friend1 despite the passing coldness about ,ferrars' advice1 and ,gideon1 though very keen about money and a great judge of it1 was known to be absolutely straight1 and had never so much as choused a kid out of a marble4 ,butler said3 8,that leaves ,fowle2 and if you told ,fowle you were a little fool40 ,and ,morrant said3 8,we were both ,roman ,catholics by religion1 and that makes a great tie2 and though many chaps hate ,fowle pretty frightfully1 ,i've never known him try to score off me1 except once1 when he failed and apologized40 ,and ,butler said3 8,that's all right1 ,i dare say2 but he's a little beast and a cur1 and also a sneak of the deadliest dye4 ,i don't say he's taken the money1 because that's a libel1 and he might1 ,i believe1 go to law against me2 but ,i do say that only one out of three people could have taken it1 and we know two didn't1 therefore ,q4,e4,d4 the other must have40 ,morrant didn't follow this very clever reasoning on the part of ,butler4 ,he only thought that ,fowle1 being a ,roman ,catholic1 would never rob another2 and ,butler said he would1 because it wasn't like ,freemasons1 who wouldn't score off one another for the world4 ,he explained that history was simply choked up with examples of ,roman ,catholics scoring off one another4 ,butler said3 8,religion's quite different4 ,one ,buddhist is often known to have done another ,buddhist in the eye1 so why shouldn't one ,roman do another8 ,in fact1 they have thousands of times1 as you'll know when you come to read a little history and hear about the ,spanish ,inquisition4 ,especially this may have happened seeing that ,fowle is the chap4 ,i tell you candidly that1 in my opinion1 after a good deal of experience of fellows in general1 ,i take ,fowle to be the most likely boy in ,merivale to have done it2 and knowing him to have had the secret of the private pocket reduces it to a certainty in my mind4 ,tax him with it suddenly in the night1 and you'll see40 ,morrant slept in the same dormitory with ,fowle1 and that night the whole room was woke up at some very late hour by the sound of ,morrant taxing ,fowle4 ,fowle took a long time to realize what was being said1 and when he was awake enough to realize what ,morrant was getting at1 he showed tremendous indignation1 and asked what he had ever done that such a charge should be brought against him1 especially at such a time4 ,he reminded ,morrant that they were of the same way of thinking in holy affairs1 and said he was extremely sick with ,morrant1 and thought ,morrant's religion must be pretty rocky if it allowed him to wake a chap up in the night and charge him with such a crime4 ,in fact1 ,fowle went on so that ,morrant finally apologized rather humbly4 ,from that day forward began the extraordinary disappearance of coin in general at ,dunston's4 ,shillings constantly went1 and also half-crowns4 ,gideon got very excited about it1 and said watches must be kept and traps set4 ,there was evidently a big robbery going on1 and ,gideon said if the chaps weren't smart enough to catch the thief they deserved to lose their tin4 ,certainly he never lost a penny himself4 ,but1 despite tremendous precautions1 money kept going in small sums4 ,ferrars was set to watch in the pavilion1 ,i remember1 during a football match1 and ,morrant himself1 and even ,butler once or twice1 also watched4 ,some chaps thought it was the ground-man2 but as money also disappeared at school1 that showed it couldn't be him4 ,and then there was a theory that it might be a charwoman who came from ,merivale twice a week4 ,i believe she was a very good charwoman of her kind1 and ,ferrars1 who is great about helping the poor and so on1 told me she was a very deserving woman with a husband at home who drank1 and children too numerous to mention4 ,which ,gideon remembered against the charwoman when the money began to go1 and it turned his suspicion towards her1 because1 as he said1 with the state of her home affairs1 money must be a great temptation4 ,so a watch was set on her1 and a curious thing happened4 ,being small1 ,i can get into a boot cupboard very easily1 and ,i can also breathe anywhere through a hole bored with a gimlet4 ,this was done to the door of the boot cupboard1 and two other rather larger holes were also made for my eyes4 ,mrs4 ,gouger1 which was the charwoman's name1 had to do a lot of work in this room--a large one leading out of the gym4 ,and there1 on a certain half-holiday1 ,i was watching her4 ,she worked jolly hard as far as ,i could say1 and made a good deal of dust1 and a curious noise through her teeth when she scrubbed1 which ,i thought only men did when they washed horses2 but there was nothing suspicious1 if you understand me4 ,she didn't touch a coat or anything1 though many were hanging against a wall2 and the few caps about she merely picked up and hung on the pegs4 ,then1 just before she finished1 who should come in but ,ferrars1 and1 to my great astonishment1 ,mrs4 ,gouger courtesied to him as though he had been the housekeeper or the ,doctor4 ,ferrars treated her with great loftiness1 and evidently knew all about her private affairs4 ,he said3 8,and how is the child that's got mumps80 and she said it was better4 ,he then gave her some advice about her husband1 which ,i didn't hear1 and she blessed him for all his goodness to her1 and said ,god had sent him to a lone1 struggling woman1 and that he would reap a thousandfold what he had sown4 ,all of which1 coming from ,mrs4 ,gouger to ,ferrars1 seemed very curious to me4 ,presently he said3 8,well1 ,i cannot stop longer4 ,i'm glad the child is better4 ,keep on at your husband about the pledge2 and here's a shilling40 ,then ,mrs4 ,gouger put the shilling in her pocket and blessed him again4 ,and ,ferrars went4 ,that very day young ,forrest lost a shilling out of his desk1 which doesn't lock1 owing to ,forrest having taken the lock off to sell to ,meadowes last term4 ,i told ,butler and ,gideon what ,i had seen1 and ,butler thought it rum1 and ,gideon said there was more in it than met the eye4 ,butler said3 8,evidently the kid0 7,ferrars is a kid from ,butler's point of view7 8has given the charwoman tin before1 or else she wouldn't have blessed him4 ,now the question is1 ,how much pocket-money does ,ferrars get80 ,and ,i said3 8,a shilling a week40 8,when does he get it80 8,mondays40 ,butler said1 8,ah60 but nothing seemed to strike him1 and ,gideon thought that ,mrs4 ,gouger ought to be spoken to4 ,this ,gideon undertook to do2 and the next week he did4 ,what happened was that ,mrs4 ,gouger said all that she had before said to ,ferrars about her husband and children1 but added that a young gentleman with a most ,christian heart had lately interested himself in her misfortunes4 ,gideon asked if it was a ,dunston chap1 and ,mrs4 ,gouger answered that she was not at liberty to say4 ,she seemed rather defiant about it1 ,gideon thought1 and1 in fact1 when he pressed her for the amount the chap gave her1 she told ,gideon to mind his own business4 ,a watch was still kept1 especially on ,ferrars2 and once ,butler did an awfully cunning thing by setting ,ferrars to watch and setting another chap to watch ,ferrars1 if you follow what ,i mean4 ,the other chap was ,butler himself1 and the room was a dormitory4 ,but it came out rather awkwardly for ,butler1 because he sneezed at the very start1 and ,ferrars got out from under the bed where he had arranged to watch1 and found ,butler watching behind a coat against the wall4 ,then they had a row1 because ,ferrars evidently thought ,butler was there to watch him2 which he was4 ,the end of the affair came out rather tame in its way1 and only shows what awfully peculiar ideas some chaps have4 ,gideon finally spoke to ,slade1 the head of the school1 and though ,slade doesn't like ,gideon1 owing to his way of making money by usury1 yet it was such a serious affair that he listened all through and promised to go to the ,doctor4 ,gideon had actually kept an account of all the money stolen1 and it amounted now to the tremendous sum of four pounds five shillings and sixpence1 including ,morrant's half-sovereign4 ,then1 after ,dr4 ,dunston knew1 we heard one day from ,fowle that he had sent for ,mrs4 ,gouger to his study1 and that she had been there fully half an hour and come out crying4 ,fowle had listened as best he could till the ,doctor's butler had come by and told him to hook it2 but he had heard nothing except one remark in the voice of ,mrs4 ,gouger1 and that remark was1 8,four pound five and sixpence1 sir1 and a godsend if ever money was40 ,gideon said her mentioning of the exact sum was a very ominous thing for ,ferrars4 ,and what was more ominous still happened that evening1 for ,ferrars wasn't at prep4 or prayers4 ,there were a number of ideas about as to what it all meant1 and ,corkey minimus1 who always tries to get among chaps bigger than himself and say clever things1 came out with a theory that ,mrs4 ,gouger was ,ferrars's mother1 and that ,ferrars was therefore stealing and making the money over to her4 ,but ,butler merely smacked his head when he heard it1 and told ,corkey minimus not to be a little ass4 ,gideon was the only chap who hadn't any idea4 ,he knew ,ferrars's great notions about helping the poor and giving tithes to parsons1 and so on1 but he said for a chap to steal money and hand it over to a charwoman in charity was contrary to human nature4 ,all the same1 if a thing actually happens1 it can't be contrary to human nature4 ,anyway1 after prayers next morning the ,doctor stopped the school in chapel and explained everything4 ,he said3 ,my boys1 while it is true that you come to ,merivale to be instructed by me and those who labor here among you on my behalf1 it is also true that ,i learn occasionally from those whom ,i teach4 ,indeed1 new problems are almost as often set by you for my solution as by me for yours1 and seldom has a more intricate difficulty confronted me than that which yesterday challenged my attention4 ,there has recently happened among us a mysterious disappearance of coins of the realm4 ,now a shilling1 a sixpence1 a penny-piece1 if deposited in one spot1 will usually remain there until removed by human agency4 ,and the human agent who removes money which belongs to another without that other's sanction is a thief4 ,boys1 briefly there has been a thief among you--a thief whose moral obliquity has taken such an extraordinary turn1 whose views of rectitude have become so distorted1 that even my own experience of school-boy ethics cannot parallel his performance4 ,this lad has looked around him upon the world1 and found in it1 as we all must find1 a vast amount of suffering and privation1 of honest toil and of humble heroism1 displayed by the lowest among us4 ,he has also observed that ,providence is pleased to make wide distinctions between the rich and the poor2 he has noted that where one labors for daily bread another reaps golden harvests without the trouble of putting in the sickle4 ,this extraordinary boy contrasted the position of one of these humble workers with that of those among whom his own lot was thrown here1 and he found that whereas that obscure but necessary and excellent person1 ,mrs4 ,gouger1 she whose duty it is to cleanse1 scour1 and otherwise purify the disorder produced by our assemblies--he found1 ,i say1 that whereas ,mrs4 ,gouger worked extremely hard for sums not considerable1 albeit handsome in connection with the nature of her labors1 others of the human family--yourselves--were in receipt of weekly allowances of varying amounts for which you toiled not1 neither did you spin4 8,this unhappy lad allowed his mind to brood on the apparent injustice of such an arrangement1 and instead of coming to his head-master for an explanation of this and other problems which arose to puzzle his immature intelligence1 permitted himself the immoral1 the scandalous1 the disgraceful and horribly mistaken course of righting the balance from his point of view4 ,this could only be effected by defiance of those divine laws which govern all properly constituted bodies of human society4 ,ferrars--,i need not conceal his name any longer--,ferrars broke one commandment in order to obey another4 ,his fatuous argument1 as it was elaborated yesterday to me1 stands based on error2 his crime was the result of the most complicated ignorance and vicious sophism it has ever been my lot to discover in a boy of twelve4 ,he did evil that good might come4 ,ascertaining from the inspired ,word that 'charity covereth a multitude of sins1' he imagined it must extend to cover that forbidden by the ,eighth ,commandment4 ,this commandment he broke no less than fourteen times4 ,you ask with horror why4 ,that the domestic affairs of ,mrs4 ,gouger might be ameliorated4 ,he took the pocket-money of his colleagues1 and with it modified those straits into which poverty and conjugal difficulties have long cast ,mrs4 ,gouger4 ,it was ,ferrars's unhappy1 and ,i may say unparalleled1 design to go on appropriating the money of his school-mates until a sum of five pounds had been raised and conveyed to ,mrs4 ,gouger4 ,of this total1 with deplorable ingenuity1 he had already subtracted from various pockets the sum of four pounds five shillings and sixpence2 it was his intention to continue these depredations until the entire sum had been collected4 ,but the end has come4 ,the facts have been placed before me1 and ,i confess to you that perhaps never have ,i been confronted with a problem more peculiar4 ,after a lengthy conversation with those who support me here1 and after placing the proposition before a higher tribunal than any which earth has to offer1 ,i have come to a curious decision4 ,i have determined to leave the fate of the boy ,ferrars in your hands4 ,this time to-morrow ,i shall expect ,slade1 as representing the school1 to inform me of your decision1 and to-day1 contrary to custom1 will be a half-holiday1 that the school may debate the question and conclude upon it4 ,i would point out that there is no middle course here1 in my opinion4 ,either ,ferrars must be forgiven after a public apology to the establishment he has outraged1 or he must be expelled4 ,as for the money1 if those who have lost it will apply to me between one and two o'clock to-day1 each shall have his share again40 ,well1 you may guess what a jaw there was that afternoon2 and finally1 after hours of talk1 ,slade decided the point must be arranged by putting papers into a hat4 ,if you drew a cross on the paper it meant that you wanted ,ferrars to be expelled2 and if you drew a naught1 that meant he was to be let off4 ,you were not bound to say how you voted1 and the excitement when the votes were counted was something frightful4 ,ferrars little knew what was going on4 ,at last the numbers were read out3 ,for expulsion #abd ,against expulsion #aja ,and ,slade and ,bradwell were mad when ,slade read them1 and said that ,merivale was disgraced4 ,but ,gideon and ,butler and ,ashby major and ,trelawny said not1 and thought it wasn't a case for anything but justice4 ,the ,doctor made no remark when he heard what had happened1 but ,i heard him tell the new master1 ,thompson1 a day afterwards that perhaps the ,lower ,school ought not to have been allowed to vote1 as small boys would merely have understood that ,ferrars had stolen money and nothing else4 ,their minds1 the ,doctor said1 were not big enough to take in the peculiar nature of the case4 ,but ,thompson said he honestly believed the school was perfectly right1 and that the subtleties of the case were not for that court2 and the ,doctor sighed and said it might be so4 ,anyway1 ,ferrars went4 ,we never saw him again1 and the only cheerful thing about the end of it was that ,steggles was badly scored off4 ,you see he nipped off to the ,doctor among the first1 and said ,ferrars had stolen ten shillings from him too4 ,but it happened that ,ferrars had kept the most careful account of all the money he had raised for ,mrs4 ,gouger and the people he had raised it from4 ,but he had never taken a farthing from ,steggles4 ,so ,steggles was flogged by ,mannering in his best form2 which shows that things which are frightfully sad in themselves often produce fine results in a roundabout sort of manner4 ,the ,buckeneers ,of corse even a kid can get a good idea sometimes1 and ,maine1 who ,i was fagging for1 said afterwards that the idea was alright4 ,whether young ,bailey or me thort of it first ,i don't know1 but ,maine lent me a book about coarseers and buckeneers and such like people1 and he said it was a great life1 though not much followed in present times4 ,he was no good for a coarseer himself1 becorse the sea always made him dredfully bad1 and1 besides1 he was going to be a bushranger some day1 being an ,australian and well up in it4 ,but he said that ,drake and ,raleigh and many other men in our ,english history were buckeneers of the dedliest sort and had made ,england what it was2 so me and ,bailey thort a lot about it and wished a good deal we could begin that sort of life4 ,bailey said that in the books he'd read1 if a boy began young1 he was generally a super cargo and went on getting grater and grater slowly2 but ,i thort boys began as cabin-boys and got grater very quickly by resquing people4 ,but ,bailey said that was only in books1 and that nobody got on quickly at sea owing to the compettitishun4 ,he did not much think there were any buckeneers left1 but ,maine said there were1 cheefly off the coast of ,africa1 and that daring and dedly deeds were done in the ,mediterranan to this day4 ,he said the lawlessness there was awful1 and that nobodi knew what went on along the north side of ,africa in little bays and inletts there not marked on maps4 ,when ,bailey herd that1 he took more interest in it and wished he had been born the son of a pirit insted of a doctor1 because he said we should have come eesily to it if our fathers had been in that corse of life2 but when ,i told ,maine1 he sed that the best and most splendid pirits had had to overcome grate dificultees in their youth1 and that it was the pirit who began as a meer boy at school who often made the gratest name4 ,bailey sed he was a pirit at heart1 and ,i sed ,i was to2 but not untell we red a butiful book by ,stevenson could we see any way to be one reelly4 ,then we saw that we must go away from ,merivale in secret--in fact1 we must fly2 and ,bailey sed it would have to be by night to avoid capture1 and ,maine sed it was so4 ,but it was a tremendous thing to do1 and ,i asked ,bailey about his mother1 and ,bailey sed his mother would blub a good deal at first1 but she would live to be proud of him when his name was wringing through ,england4 ,and ,i felt the same in a way1 becorse1 though ,i have got no mother to blub1 ,i have got an uncle1 who is my gardian1 and he is a lawer and a ,conservitive who has tried to get into ,parleyment and failed4 ,then me and ,bailey talked it out when chaps were asleep in our dormitory1 and the thing was what we should reelly and truly be1 becorse there were coarseers and buckeneers and pirits1 and they all had their own pekuliar ways4 ,so we asked ,maine which was best1 and he sed 8buckeneers40 ,he didn't seem to know exacktly what a coarseer was2 but he told us all about pirits1 and he sed they kill womin and childrin1 and ,bailey said he'd rather be a docter1 like his father1 than do that1 and ,i said the same4 ,but a buckeneer is very diferent1 being like ,raleigh and ,drake2 and a buckeneer may have his name wringing through ,england1 but a pirit never has1 being rather a beast reelly4 ,maine sed it was like this3 a pirit always thinks of himself1 and nobody else2 but the best sort of buckeneer thinks of himself1 of corse1 but thinks of his country to2 and after he has replennished his coffers he makes his soverein a present of islands1 and so on1 which are gennerally called after him1 so that his name may never be forgottun4 ,and ,bailey sed that was the sort he wanted to be1 and ,i sed so to4 ,we thanked ,maine a good deal1 and he sed it was a big idea for such kids as us to get1 and hoped we were made of the right stuff1 and promised not to say a word to a soul4 ,and we finally desided to try it1 and ,bailey sed we must have a plan of ackshun2 so we made one4 ,he said we must run away and work gradully by night to the coast and go to ,plymouth1 and get into the docks1 and find a ship bound for the north coste of ,africa4 ,i asked him what next1 and he sed1 very truly1 that that was enuff to begin with1 and that by the time we had done that much manny adventures would have fallen to our lot1 and we might alredy be in the way to become buckeneers4 ,and ,i sed ,i hoped we should make freends at sea2 but he sed the fewer freends we made the better buckeneers we should probbably be1 because it is not a life where you can make freends safely4 ,in fact1 no reel buckeneer would trust his own brother a yard4 ,and ,i sed that we must trust one annuther at any rate4 ,and ,bailey sed1 as far as that went1 he supposed we must2 but he sed it relluctantly4 ,the thing was then to save up for the diferent weppons4 ,maine sed we shouldn't want arms1 and that money was all we should require till we got down south2 but ,bailey felt sure we must at leest have pistells1 becorse in books the man armed to the teath is never mollested if people know1 but the unarmed man often looses his life for want of a weppon4 ,we had one shilling pocket-money a week each1 and ,bailey getting a birthday1 very fortunately1 made a whole pound by it after we had been saving for three weeks4 ,so between us we suddinly had one pound six shillings1 and ,bailey sed it was share and share alike for the present1 and always would be unless some dedly hatred sprang up between us4 ,and ,i sed it never would2 but he sed it might1 and if it did1 it would probabbly be about a girl if books were true4 ,and ,i larfed1 becorse we both have a grate contemp for all girls4 ,well1 things went alright1 and on a half-holiday we managed to get to ,merivale and buy pistells4 ,they were five shillings and sixpence each1 and the man didn't seem to much like selling them2 but we got them1 and amunition--fifty rounds each4 ,and ,bailey sed that would be enough4 ,maine sed they were very good pistells for close work1 but advised us never to use them unless in soar straights4 ,and we sed we wouldn't4 ,it was the day of the menaggeree at ,merivale that me and ,bailey finally took the grate step of going4 ,we had collected a lot of food1 and studdied geography so as to get to ,plymouth1 and we arranged that we should travel by night and hide by day in the hart of impennetrable woods1 which we did4 ,after the menaggeree1 at a certain point on the way home1 we slipped it round a corner1 and ,thompson didn't see us1 and in a breef time we were at the edge of ,merivale ,woods1 free4 8,to-night10 ,bailey sed1 8we will get across this forest and do eight or ten miles along the high-road1 and so reach ,oakshott ,woods at dawn4 ,they are on the edge of the moor and quite impennetrable40 ,so we got well into ,merivale ,woods first and made a lair of braken under a fir-tree4 ,and we cut off some of the fir-tree bark and licked the sap1 which is very nourishing and feeding1 because we wanted to save our food as much as possible4 ,but we had each a cold sorsage and a drink of water4 ,and then night came on1 and ,i felt1 for the first time1 that we had done a tremendous deed4 8,we're fairly started10 ,i sed to ,bailey4 8,it's just call over at ,merivale now40 ,and he sed1 8,yes2 if the fellows in the upper third could only see us60 ,i sed1 8,it's a small begenning40 ,and he sed1 8,it is2 but if things go rite1 and we are made of the propper stuff for buckeneers1 we'll make ,england wring yet40 ,then it began to rain rather hard1 and ,i found that a wood isn't really a dry place by night if it rains1 and ,bailey lighted a match1 and sed it was nearly nine4 8,that'll mean #8lights out' at ,merivale10 he sed2 8but for us it'll mean the begenning of the night40 ,i sneazed just about then1 becorse water from the fir-tree was dropping down my neck rather fast1 and ,bailey sed if ,i was going to get annything the matter with me ,i had better go back at once1 becorse no buckeneer ever had a cold1 being men of steel and iron4 ,and ,i sed a sneaze was nothing4 ,then we started very corsiously through the wood1 and ,bailey cocked his pistell1 and ,i asked him kindly to walk in front1 feeling a curious sensashun when he walked behind me with his pistell cocked4 ,i told him1 and he sed it was fear1 but ,i sed it was kaution4 ,sometimes he whispered1 8,cave60 and we sunk down and got fritefully dripping in the wet1 but nothing happened1 and we were getting well on through the wood when ,bailey sed1 8,cave60 again1 and this time1 when we had sunk down1 we distinkly herd a footstep1 and ,bailey sed it was our first adventure1 and ,i sed ,i wished it had come by daylight1 becorse it wants grate practise to face adventures in the dark at first4 ,anyway the noise got nearer and got louder1 and ,bailey and me both cocked our pistells1 and he sed1 8,reserve your fire to close range10 and ,i sed1 8,yes40 ,then he sed1 8,i see the thing4 ,it's bigger than a beast you would expect in an ,english wood02 and ,i sed1 8,i have got a sort of fealing it is something out of the menaggerie02 and he sed1 8,then it will be a real adventure1 and ,i wish we were up trees40 ,but it was to late1 and something went quite close4 ,i sore a red spark1 and ,bailey sed1 8,fire60 which we did4 ,at leest my pistell went off with fereful effect2 but ,bailey's didn't1 and he sed afterwards that he'd make the pistell man biterly rew the day he sold him a treecherous weppon4 ,but after ,i fired we herd a human voice1 and it sed1 8,hell60 ,then it sed other fearful words1 which ,bailey sed we ought to remember because they were buckeneering words curiously enuff4 ,and then the man dashed towards us1 which showed ,i had not slain him1 or even hit him in a vittle spot2 and we fled1 and soon we found that we had distanced him1 though we had a squeek for it4 8,he was a keeper10 sed ,bailey1 8and he will think we were poachers1 and raise a hue-and-cry4 ,we must keep on and get into ,oakshott ,woods1 or we shall very likely have to yield to supereer force40 ,after this eksitement ,i got a curious feeling in my stomach1 and telling ,bailey1 he sed it was either hunger or fear4 ,and ,i sed it was hunger2 but ,bailey sed1 seeing what a hevy meal we had made with sorsage and bred and turpentine juice only two hours before1 that it was fear4 ,i sed if he thought so he'd better go on without me1 as ,i hadn't taken to this corse of life to be cheeked by him4 ,and he sed he was leeder of the gang1 and ,i was the gang1 and the first thing was to lern to obey orders4 ,and then ,i got rather cross with ,bailey1 and asked him who he thort he was to give me orders1 and reminded him my pistell could go off anyway1 which was more than his could4 ,this worried him a good deal1 becorse1 of course1 the man whose pistell went off had the best of it4 ,then he sed that it was no good having a quarrel between ourselves while we were not yet out of danger4 ,he also said that he beleeved we might venture to take one hour's sleep to strengthen us before getting on to ,oakshott1 and ,i sed1 8,yes10 but thought that one of us ought to watch while the other slept4 ,bailey said he would watch first1 and he sed also that we might get to the woodman's hut in the middle of ,merivale ,woods if we kept on past a ded fir-tree with its stem white1 becorse all the bark was off1 which we did1 becorse the moon was now shining very britely1 and the rain had stopped4 ,the cold was also friteful1 and my teath chattered once or twice1 but ,i broke sticks and things to attract ,bailey1 becorse if he had herd my teath he would have sed it was fear again4 ,once a bough jumped back and hit ,bailey a friteful smack in the face1 and ,i was glad1 and he sed he rather thort his eye was done for2 and he sed it didn't much matter if it was1 so long as he had one good eye to see with1 becorse most buckeneers lost an eye sooner or later1 though generally with a stroak from a cutlass4 ,we found the hut1 and there was some dry fern in it1 and we lighted a candle-end we had1 and took off our boots1 and wrung out our socks1 and each had half a currant dumpling4 ,then ,bailey looked at his watch and sed ,i might turn in for half an hour4 ,then he would wake me and turn in for half an hour himself4 ,he went on gard with another candle-end1 and advised me to draw my pistell and sleep with it cocked under my head4 ,but ,i sed ,i never herd of such a dangerous thing as that being done1 and kept my pistell reddy cocked near my hand4 ,i didn't fall off to sleep1 as ,i expected1 owing to anxiaty as to our fate1 but ,i shut my eyes and thort a good deal1 and after my eyes had been shut some time ,i opened one a little and was grately surprised to see ,bailey coming towards me steelthily4 ,he had his pistell in his hand1 and first ,i had a horrible thort he wanted to kill me1 so that he mite have all our food and money2 and then ,i felt sure he was coming to change pistells1 so that he might have the one that went off4 ,this made me get in a friteful wax with him1 becorse ,i saw he was very unreliable and not reely as much of a chum as ,i had thort4 ,so ,i waited untill ,i saw him stretch out his hand for my pistell1 and then ,i leapt at his throat in a very ferocious way1 that much surprized him4 ,i also sed 8,hell60 like the keeper had4 ,it must have been a solumn site by the lite of the candle-end when we began to fight tooth-and-nail for the pistell which could go off4 ,we were both desperet1 and it was reelly a battle to deside which should be the leeder of the enterprise and which should be merely the gang4 ,then1 while we wresled and straned every nerve1 a curious thing happened1 for we fell against the candle-end1 stuck on the top of a stick1 and the candle-end fell against the side of the hut1 and the hut1 being made of wood1 with walls of dried heather1 was very inflameable and cort fire almost immediately4 ,and then ,bailey sed we must aggree to settle our dispute later on and fli at once4 ,so we each took our own pistell1 and were just going to leave the scene1 when1 to our grate horror1 we herd voices1 and among them the voices of ,browne and ,mainwaring1 who were1 of corse1 house-masters at ,merivale4 ,exhorsted though we were1 me and ,bailey made a terrible effort to escape1 and ,i think we mite have done so even then1 but1 oweing to the moon and two other men who were with ,mainwaring1 we could not reach an impennetrable part of the wood1 and finally ,mainwaring cort me1 and a man cort ,bailey1 and they dragged us into the light of the blazing ruins of the hut1 and we found out that ,browne and ,mainwaring had come after us1 like beestly blood-hounds1 and had met the keeper1 who told them he had been fired upon1 and then the unfortunate burning of the hut had directed their steps towards us4 ,and it's a lesson in a way1 showing what risks it is for buckeneers to fall out among themselves at kritikal moments4 ,of corse we had to walk back merely as prisoners of ,mainwaring1 but ,bailey told me not to answer questions and rather let them cut our tongues out than know the truth4 ,so they didn't get anything out of us1 and when we got back1 at two o'clock in the morning1 ,dunston was up to meet us2 and by that time1 what with cold and bruises and the failure of the skeem1 ,i wasn't equal to defying ,dunston1 and merely sed we wanted to change our corse of life for something different1 and had started to do so4 ,and ,i also sed that burning the hut was an axsident which might have happened to anybody4 ,and ,bailey sed the same4 ,then ,doctor ,dunston sent for the matron1 and we had brandy-and-water and a hot bath1 which was very refreshing to me1 but ,bailey sed biterly when he was in it that he had thought that morning never to have had a bath again4 ,he also sed we should be put in sepperate bedrooms that night1 and that if either of us got an opportunety to eskape1 it was his duty to reskue the other4 ,but ,i sed ,i didn't want to eskape1 being fritefully sleepy and exhorsted1 and ,i sed that if he eskaped he needn't trubble to reskue me1 becorse if ,i returned again to being a buckeneer it certinnly wouldn't be with him4 ,i didn't see any more of him until next day2 then we were taken in like prisinners of war before the school1 and ,doctor ,dunston lecktured upon us as if we were beests of pray1 and he sed that a corse of falty literatuer was to blame for our running away1 and sed that the school liberary must be reformed4 ,but he never knew the grate truth1 becorse he sed we were onley running away to sea becorse of the fascenation of the ocean to the ,british karacter1 when reely it was to be buckeneers and the terrer of the ,mediterranan4 ,maine showed us all the points we had done wrong afterwards1 and he sed the way we had fought for the best pistell was very interesting to him and a grate warning not to trust in your fellow-creetures4 ,and1 after he had lecktured upon us1 ,doctor ,dunston flogged me and ,bailey in publick1 which showed the stuff we were made of1 becorse1 though ,bailey gets very red when flogged1 he has never been known to shedd a tear2 and ,i get very white1 curiously enuff2 but ,i have never been known to shedd a tear either4 ,,the ,,end ,transcriber's ,note ,the text at times uses a semi-literate narrator's voice and spelling4 ,only two obvious punctuation errors have been corrected4 ,the references here are to the page and line in the original4 #aih4ah in a cupboard in the gymnasium4_/1 under the ,replaced4 rubber shoes4 #bja4aj flogged a single chap1_/4 ,replaced4