A Man"s Man.
by Ian Hay.
BOOK ONE
DEALS WITH A STUFF THAT WILL NOT ENDURE
A MAN"S MAN
CHAPTER I
NAVAL MANOEUVRES
A University college varies its facial expression about as frequently as The Sphinx and about as violently as a treacle-well.
This remark specially applies between the hours of breakfast and luncheon. The courts, with their monastic cloisters and inviolable gra.s.splots, lie basking in a sunny obliviousness to the world outside.
Their stately exclusiveness is accentuated rather than diminished by the glimpse of an occasional flying figure in a cap and gown, or the spectacle of a middle-aged female of a discreet and chastened appearance, who glides respectfully from one archway to another, carrying a broom and a tin pail, or--alas for the goings-on that a cloistered cell may conceal behind its art-muslin curtains!--a tankard containing some gentleman"s morning ale.
In one corner, close to the b.u.t.tery door, you may behold one of the college cats, which appears to be combining a searching morning toilet with a course of practical calisthenics; and inside the ma.s.sive arch of the gateway stands a majestic figure in a tall hat, whom appreciative Americans usually mistake for the Master, but who in reality occupies the far more onerous and responsible post of Head Porter.
Perhaps the greatest variation from the normal is to be observed on a Sat.u.r.day morning. Then the scene is brightened by the vision of an occasional washerwoman, who totters bravely at one end of a heavy basket, what time her lord and master (who has temporarily abandoned his favourite street-corner and donned Sabbath attire for this, his weekly contribution to the work of the world) sulkily supports the other.
Undergraduates, too, are more in evidence than on other days. On most mornings they either stay indoors, to work or sleep, or else go outside the college altogether. "Loitering" in the courts is not encouraged by the authorities. Not that the undergraduate minds that; but it will probably cost him half-a-crown every time he does so, not because he loiters but because he smokes.
The Old Court of St. Benedict"s College--it is hardly necessary to say that we are in Cambridge and not in Oxford: otherwise we should have said "Quad"--presents to us on the present occasion a very fair sample of a Sat.u.r.day morning crowd. The observant eye of the Dean, looking down (like Jezebel) from an upper chamber, can discern--
1. Three washerwomen, with the appurtenances thereof.
2. One small boy delivering _The Granta_.
3. A solitary spectacled gentleman, of the type described by the University Calendar in stately periphrasis as "A Native of Asia, not of European Parentage" (but more tersely cla.s.sified by the rest of the community as "a n.i.g.g.e.r"), hurrying in cap and gown to secure a good place at the feet of some out-of-college Gamaliel.
4. A kitchen-man in white jacket and ap.r.o.n, bearing upon his head a tray containing a salmon mayonnaise, cutlets in aspic, and a special Cambridge dainty known as "Gra.s.sy Corner Pudding"--a fearsome compound of whipped cream and pistachio nuts.
5. A b.u.t.tery boy, walking close behind, with a basket containing bottles. Evidently some young gentleman is about to entertain angels--unawares so far as his bill-paying papa is concerned.
6. Four young men converging to a group in the centre of the court. Of these, two are attired in the undergraduate mode of the moment--tweed jackets with leather b.u.t.tons, waistcoats of the Urim and Thummim variety, grey flannel trousers well turned up, clamorous silk socks, and heavy Highland shooting brogues. The third wears what the College Regulations describe rather ingenuously as "Athletic Dress."
Pheidippides himself would have found it difficult to perform feats of prowess in a costume composed of split pumps, white duck trousers, and a blazer admirably qualified to serve as a model of the Solar Spectrum.
It may be mentioned in pa.s.sing that, to the College Regulations, "Athletic Dress" is not in itself a costume in which it is possible to perform athletic feats, but one whose colour-scheme clashes with the _sub-fusc_ standard which obtains in all college courts until one P.M.; such, in fact, as would tend to distract the eye and sap the diligence of those who traverse the courts on their way to lectures. In consequence, he who would be matutinally athletic must either keep his warpaint somewhere out of college, or drape himself like a stage conspirator as he flits from his rooms to the river or Fenner"s.
The fourth gentleman of the party was dressed, if not gorgeously, sufficiently respectably to warrant the a.s.sumption that he was not a member of the University.
All four were smoking.
The Dean, glancing in the direction of the gateway, and observing with sardonic satisfaction that the watchful Cerberus there was taking a note of the delinquency, returned to his work. Regardless of the prospective loss of half-a-crown apiece, the undergraduates exchanged cheerful greetings.
"Hallo, Dishy-Washy!"
"Hallo, Gussie!"
"Hallo, Towzer!"
There ensued an awkward pause, while Messrs. Gussie and Towzer, nervously conscious of the presence of a stranger to whom they were about to be presented, looked intently at their boots and waited for the introduction to take place.
The gentleman previously addressed as Dishy-Washy, a diminutive youth with wizened features,--his name was Dishart-Watson,--cleared his throat.
"Introduce my brother," he said huskily. "Mr. Poltimore--Mr. Angus!"
The gentlemen indicated shook hands with the visitor, and Mr. Angus, after a mental effort, inquired:--
"Come to see us go Head?"
He giggled deprecatingly, to show that he did not really mean this.
"Hope so," said Dishy-Washy"s brother politely. "I hear you"ve got a pretty hot crew," he added.
"First chop," said Mr. Poltimore. "You just arrived?"
"Yes; down from town this morning."
"Oh! live there?"
"Er--yes."
"Oxford man," interpolated Dishy-Washy swiftly. "Sent down," he added in extenuation.
The other two nodded sympathetically, and the conversation proceeded more briskly.
"_Are_ you going to catch those chaps to-night, Dishy?" inquired Mr.
Angus earnestly.
"Don"t know," replied Dishy-Washy, who as c.o.xswain of the St. Benedict"s boat enjoyed a position of authority and esteem in inverse ratio to his inches. "Duncombe"s a good enough little oar, but you can"t expect a man who weighs nine stone ten to stroke the boat and pull it along too. Of course, if we had anything we could call a Six! As for old Puffin--"
"Fourteen stone of tripe!" interpolated Mr. Angus, the gentleman in Athletic Dress. "Lord help the boat!" he added bitterly.
It may be mentioned in pa.s.sing that Mr. Angus"s athletic achievements were rather overstated by his costume. His blazer was that of a college club of twelve members, admission to which was strictly limited to gentlemen who could absorb a gallon of beer at a draught, and whose first rule stated that any member who committed the _betise_ of taking a degree, however humble, should pay to the club a fine of five pounds.
"Still," said Towzer hopefully, "there"s always Marrable."
Everybody--even the gentleman who had been sent down from Oxford--cheered up at this reflection.
"By gum!" said the c.o.xswain with sudden enthusiasm, "he"s a wonder! You should have seen him in the boat yesterday. He was rowing a blade that simply lifted the whole of bow side along by itself; and besides that he was coaching Stroke all the time--telling him when to swing out and when to quicken, and bucking him up generally; and on the top of all that he found time every now and then to turn round and curse old Six. I tell you, he"s a wonder. Did you hear about him last night?"