"Look at that young prig," said Swinstead"s neighbour. "He can"t get over it. It"s gone to his head."
"Young a.s.s!" said Swinstead; "ran well too."
"It would be a good turn to take him down a peg."
"What"s the use? He"ll come down soon enough."
For all that, the two friends could not resist the temptation, when, after tea, they caught sight of d.i.c.k and his chum going out into the Quad, of beckoning to the former to come to them.
"Those fellows want me," said d.i.c.k to his friend, in a tone as much as to say, "I"m so used to holding familiar converse with the Fifth that it"s really almost beginning to be a grind. But I don"t like to disappoint them this time."
"Well, how do you feel?" said Swinstead.
"Oh, all right," replied d.i.c.k, showing unmistakeable signs of intoxication.
"Capital run you made," said the other. "Middling," said d.i.c.k, deprecatingly. "I hadn"t my shoes, that makes a difference."
"It does," said the two elders.
"Rather a nice turf track you"ve got," said the boy presently, by way of filling up an awkward gap.
"Glad you like it. Some of the fellows growl at it; but we"ll tell them you think it good."
It was rather an anxious moment to see how the fish would take it. But he swallowed it, hook and all.
"We used to run a good deal at our old school, you know," said he.
"Some of us, that is."
"Ah, you"re just the man we want for the Harriers. They"re badly off for a whipper-in; and we had to stop hunting all last term because we hadn"t got one."
"Oh!" said d.i.c.k.
"Yes. But it"ll be all right if you"ll take it--won"t it be, Birket?"
"Rather!" said Birket. "He"d be a brick if he did."
"I don"t mind trying," said d.i.c.k modestly.
"Will you really? Thanks, awfully! You know Cresswell? No, by the way, he"s not here yet. He"s in the Sixth, and has been acting as whipper-in till we got a proper chap. He"ll be here in the morning.
Any one will tell you where he hangs out. He"ll bless you, I can tell you, for taking the job out of his hands. You never saw the pace he goes at when he tries to run, eh, Birket?"
"Rather not," said Birket. "It"s a regular joke. A snail"s nothing to him."
"How has he managed to whip in?" asked d.i.c.k, rather amused at the idea of this Sixth-form snail.
"Bless you, we"ve had no runs lately, that"s why. But we shall make up now you"ve come."
d.i.c.k heartily wished he _had_ run in his shoes that afternoon. He was sure he could have done the distance two or even three seconds better if he had.
"If you"ll really go in for it," said Birket, "go to him early to- morrow, and tell him who you are; and say you are going to act as whipper-in, and that you have arranged it all with us."
d.i.c.k looked a little concerned.
"Hadn"t you better come with me?" he asked, "I don"t know him."
"We shall be in cla.s.s. But he"ll know if you mention our names. Say we sent you, and that you won the new boys" race. Do you twig?"
"All right," said d.i.c.k, beginning to feel he had something really big on hand.
"You"re a young trump," said Birket, "and, I say don"t forget to ask him to give you the whip. We might manage a run to-morrow. Good-night.
Glad you"ve come to Templeton."
"Look here, by the way," said Swinstead, as they parted, "don"t say anything about it to anybody. There"s such a lot of jealousy over these things. Best to get it all settled first. Don"t you think so?"
"Yes," said d.i.c.k, feeling a good deal bewildered, and doubtful whether after all he had not been foolish in undertaking so important a task.
He returned to his chum in an abstracted frame of mind. He had certainly expected his achievement that afternoon would give him a "footing" in Templeton, but in his wildest dreams he had not supposed it would give him such a lift as this.
Whipper-in of the Templeton Harriers was rapid promotion for a new boy on his first day. But then, he reflected, if they really were hard up for a fellow to take the office, it would be rather ungracious to refuse it.
"What did they want you for?" asked Heathcote.
"Oh, talking about the race, don"t you know, and that sort of thing,"
said d.i.c.k, equivocally.
"Did they say anything about me?"
"Not a word, old man."
Whereat Heathcote turned a little crusty, and wondered that ten yards in a quarter of a mile should make such a difference.
d.i.c.k was bursting to tell him all about it, and made matters far worse by betraying that he had a secret, which he could on no account impart.
"You"ll know to-morrow, most likely," said he. "I"m awfully sorry they made me promise to keep it close. But I"ll tell you first of all when its settled; and I may be able to give you a leg up before long."
Heathcote said he did not want a leg up; and feeling decidedly out of humour, made some excuse to go indoors and hunt up young Aspinall.
On his way he encountered a junior, next to whom he had sat at dinner, and with whom he had then exchanged a few words.
"Where are you going?" demanded that youthful warrior.
"Indoors," said Heathcote.
"No, you aren"t," replied the bravo, standing like a wolf across the way.
It was an awkward position for a pacific boy like Heathcote, who mildly enquired--
"Why not?"