Though they differed amongst themselves in most things, they were as one man in denouncing f.a.gging and monitors. Their motto was--down with both; and it pleased them not a little to discover that though their agitation did little good in the way of reforming Templeton, it served to keep their "Den" well before the school, and sometimes to cause anxiety in high places.
Such was the state of school politics at Templeton, when d.i.c.k and Heathcote obeyed the summons to attend their first Elections, on the first Sat.u.r.day of the new term.
They found the Great Hall crowded with benches, rather like chapel, with a raised dais at the upper end for the Sixth, a long table in front for the "reporters," and the rest of the s.p.a.ce divided into cl.u.s.ters of seats, occupied by members of the various school organisations represented. Of these cl.u.s.ters, by far the largest was that devoted to the accommodation of the Den, towards which our heroes, actively piloted by Raggles and Gosse, and a few kindred spirits, were conducted in state, just as the proceedings were about to begin.
"Come and squash up in the corner," said Raggles; "we"re well behind, and shan"t be seen if we want to shine."
"Shine," as our heroes discovered in due time, was a poetical way of expressing what in commonplace language would be called, "kicking up a shine."
"Shall you cheer Ponty?" asked Gosse of his friend.
"Rather. He"s a m.u.f.f. I shall howl at Mansfield, though, and Cresswell."
"I shan"t howl at Cresswell," said d.i.c.k boldly.
"Why not? He"s a beast. You"ll get kicked, if you don"t, I say."
"I suppose they"ll make him Whipper-in again," said another boy near them. d.i.c.k looked uncomfortable for a moment. But the indifferent looks on his neighbours" faces convinced him the story had not yet reached the Den.
"Cazenove thinks _he_ ought to get it," said Gosse, amid a general laugh, for Cazenove was almost as round as he was high. "Shall I put you up, old man? Hullo, here they come! There"s Ponty. Clap up, you fellows."
A big cheer greeted Pontifex, the captain of the school, as he strolled on to the dais, and took the chair of state.
The new boys eyed him curiously. He was a burly, good-humoured, easy- going fellow, with an "anything for a quiet life" look about him, as he stretched himself comfortably in his seat, and looked placidly round the hall. The cheering had very little effect on his composure. Indeed, he may not have taken in that it was intended for him at all; for he took no notice of it, and appeared to be quite as much amused at the noise as any one else.
A great contrast to Pontifex was Mansfield, the vice-captain, who, with quick eye, and cool, determined mouth, sat next, and eyed the scene like a general who parades his forces and waits to give them the word of command. Like Pontifex, he seemed but little concerned, either with the cheers of his friends or the few howls of his mutinous juniors. He was used to noises, and they made very little difference to him one way or another. Cresswell, on the contrary, seemed decidedly pleased, when cheers and cries of "Well run!" greeted his appearance; and most of the other monitors--Cartwright, the quick-tempered, warm-hearted Templeton football captain; Freckleton, the studious "dark man;" Bull, the "knowing one," with his horse-shoe pin; Pledge, the smirking "spider;"
of the Sixth, and others--seemed to set no little store by the reception the school was pleased to accord them.
At last all were in their places, the door was shut--a traditional precaution against magisterial invasion--and Pontifex lounged to his feet.
"Well, you fellows," said he, with a pleasant smile and in a pleasant voice, "here we are again at another Election. We"re always glad to see one another after the holidays--at least I am (cheers)--and I hope we"ve got a good year coming on. They tell me I"m captain of Templeton this year. (Laughter and cheers.) I can tell you I"m proud of it, and only wish I wasn"t going to Oxford in the autumn. (Cheers and cries of "Don"t go.") The comfort is, you"ll have a rattling good captain in Mansfield when I"m gone. (Cheers and a few howls.) I don"t wonder some of the young "uns howl, for he"ll make some of you sit up, which I could never do. (Great laughter among the Seniors, and signs of dissension in the Den.) But I"ve not got to make a speech. There"s a lot of business. The first thing is the cricket captain. There"s only one man fit for that, and I won"t go through the farce of proposing him. Those who say Mansfield"s the right man for cricket captain, hold up your hands."
A forest of hands went up, for even the malcontents who didn"t approve of Mansfield as a monitor had nothing to say against his cricket, which was about as perfect as any that had been seen in the Templeton fields for a dozen years.
With similar unanimity Cresswell was re-elected Whipper-in of the Harriers, and no one held up his hand more enthusiastically for him than did d.i.c.k, who shuddered to think how he could ever have imagined himself on such a lofty pedestal.
Then followed in quick succession elections to the other high offices of state in Templeton--Cartwright to the football captaincy, Bull to the keepership of the fives and tennis, Freckleton to be warden of the port--a sinecure office, supposed to imply some duties connected with the "Tub," but really only the relic of some ancient office handed down from bygone generations, and piously retained by a conservative posterity.
All these were re-elections and pa.s.sed off without opposition, and as a matter of course.
When, however, Pontifex announced that the office of Usher of the Chapel was vacant, the duties of which were to mark the attendance of all boys and present weekly reports of their punctuality, and proceeded to nominate Pledge for the post, the first symptoms of opposition showed themselves, much to the delight of the Den.
"I move an amendment to that," said Birket, looking a little nervous, but evidently in earnest. "I don"t think Pledge is the proper man.
(Cheers.) I don"t like him myself--(loud cheers)--and I don"t think I"m very fastidious. (Great applause from the Den.) We want an honest, reliable man--(hear, hear)--who"ll keep our scores without fear or favour. (Applause.) You needn"t think I"m saying this for a lark. I"m pretty sure to catch it, but I don"t care; I"ll say what I think.
(Cries of "We"ll back you up," and cheers.) You"re not obliged to have a monitor to be Usher of the Chapel, and I propose Swinstead be appointed."
Birket sat down amid loud cheers. It had been a plucky thing for him to do, and very few would have undertaken so ungracious a task; but, now he had undertaken it, the meeting was evidently with him.
"Everybody here," said Pontifex, "as long as he"s in order, has a right to express his opinion without fear. Two names have now been proposed-- Pledge and Swinstead. Any more?"
No one broke the silence.
"Then I"ll put up Swinstead first. Who votes for Swinstead?"
Everybody, apparently. The Den, to a man, and the Middle school scarcely less unanimously.
"Now for Pledge."
About a dozen, including Bull and one or two of the Sixth, a select few among the juniors, and a certain unwholesome-looking clique among the Fourth and Fifth.
It rather surprised our heroes to notice that Pledge, so far from appearing mortified by his reverse, took it with a decidedly amiable smile, which became almost grateful as it beamed into the corner where Birket and Swinstead, both flushed with excitement, sat.
"By Jingo! I wouldn"t be those two for a lot!" said Raggles.
"Now _I_ think Pledge takes it very well," said Heathcote.
Whereat there was a mighty laugh in the Den as the joke pa.s.sed round, and the phenomenon of the "green new kid" blushing scarlet all over attracted general curiosity, and stopped the proceedings for several minutes.
As soon as order was restored, other elections were proceeded with, including the school librarian and the post f.a.g, the duty of which latter office was to distribute the letters which came by the post to their respective owners. For this office there was always great compet.i.tion, each "set" being anxious to get one of its own members, on whom it could depend.
The contest this year lay between Pauncefote, of Westover"s, and Duffield of Purbeck"s, and ever since the term opened canva.s.sing had been going on actively on behalf of the respective candidates. I regret to say the laws relating to elections at Templeton were not as rigid as those which regulate public elections generally, and bribery and corruption were no name for some of the unscrupulous practices resorted to by the friends of either party to secure a vote. If a small boy ventured to express so much as a doubt as to his choice, his arm would be seized by the canva.s.sing party and screwed till the required pledge was given. And woe to that small boy if an hour later the other side caught him by the other arm and begged the favour of his vote for their man! Nothing short of perjury would keep his arm in its socket. Nor was it once or twice only that the youth of Templeton would be made to forswear itself over the election of post f.a.g. Several times a day the same luckless voter might be made to yield up his promise, until, at the end of a week, he would become too confused and weary to recollect for which side his word of honour had last been given. Nor did it much matter, for his vote in Hall depended entirely on the company nearest within reach of his arm; and if, by some grim fatality, he should chance to get with one arm towards each party, the effort of recording his vote was likely to prove one of the most serious undertakings of his mortal life.
Our heroes, luckily for them, found themselves planted in the midst of Pauncefote"s adherents, so that they experienced no difficulty at all in making up their minds how they should vote. They either did not see or did not notice a few threatening shouts and pantomimic gestures addressed to them by some of Duffield"s supporters in a remote corner of the room, and held up their hands for his opponent with the clear conscience of men who exercise a mighty privilege fearlessly.
"Stick up both hands," said Gosse. "We shall be short."
"It wouldn"t be fair," said d.i.c.k, boldly.
"Howling prig!" said Gosse, in disgust, "canting young hypocrite; you"ll get it hot, I can tell you, if--"
"Shut up!" shouted d.i.c.k, rounding on him with a fierceness which astonished himself. It was a show to see the way in which Gosse collapsed under this thunderclap of righteous indignation. He looked round at d.i.c.k out of the corners of his eyes, very much as a small dog contemplates the boot that has just helped him half-way across the road, and positively forgot to keep his own grimy hand raised aloft till the counting was finished.
"Pauncefote has 108 votes. Now those who are in favour of Duffield?"
There was great excitement, and no little uproar, as the rival party made their show. Cries of, "Cheat! both hands up!" rose from the shocked adherents of Pauncefote; and a good deal of quiet service, in holding the arms of weaklings down to their sides, was rendered on the frontier. Finally, it was found that Duffield had in votes; whereat there were tremendous cheers and counter-cheers, not unmixed with recriminations, and imputations and threats, which promised our heroes a lively time of it when finally they adjourned to the Den.
Before that happened, however, a solemn ceremony had to be gone through, in which they were personally interested. The chairman read out a list of new boys, and ordered them to answer to their names, and come forward on to the platform. It was a nervous ordeal, even for the most self- composed, to be thus publicly trotted out in the presence of all Templeton, and to hear the derisive cheers with which his name and appearance were greeted as he obeyed.
"Look at his legs!" cried one, as d.i.c.k, inwardly hoping he was making a favourable impression, pa.s.sed up the hall and mounted the steps.
Whereupon d.i.c.k suddenly became conscious of his lower limbs--which, by the way, were as straight and tight a pair of shanks as any boy of fourteen could boast--and tried to hide them behind a chair.
"I can see them still!" cried a shrill voice, just as he thought he had succeeded; and poor d.i.c.k, who, an hour ago, had almost forgotten he was a new boy, had to endure a storm of laughter, and look as much at his ease as he could, while all Templeton mounted on chairs, and stretched its necks to catch a glimpse of his unfortunate legs.
Heathcote came in for a similar trial on account of his blushes, and poor Aspinall positively staggered, and finally broke down under allusions to the "bottle," and "soothing syrup," and "mamma" and "sister Lottie."
The Sixth had the sense not to attempt to quell the disorder till it had had a fair chance of blowing itself off. Then Pontifex ordered the names to be put into a hat, and handed round for each of the monitors to draw. Each monitor accordingly drew, and announced the name of his future f.a.g. In the first round Heathcote"s name and Aspinall"s both came up--the former, much to his disgust, falling to the lot of Pledge, the latter to that of Cresswell. d.i.c.k boiled with excitement as the hat started on its second round. Suppose he, too, should fall to the lot of a cad like Pledge, or a brute like Bull! Or, oh blissful notion!
suppose Cresswell should draw him, too, as well as Aspinall.
The hat started; Pontifex drew a stranger; so did Mansfield. Then Cresswell drew, and, with a bound of delight, d.i.c.k heard his own name, and marked the gleam of pleasure which crossed his new master"s face as he turned towards him. He forgot all about his legs, he even missed Heathcote"s doleful look of disappointment, or the thankful sigh of young Aspinall. He felt as if something good had happened to him, and as if his star were still in the ascendant.