"I do think you an a.s.s already," said the senior, "so, out with it."
Whereupon d.i.c.k, blushing deeply, told him the whole story in a way which quite captivated the listener by its artlessness.
"They said you were an awful m.u.f.f, and couldn"t run any faster than a snail, you know,"--began he--"and as I had pulled off the new boys"
race, they said they"d make me Whipper-in of the Harriers instead of you, and told me to come and tell you so, and ask you to _give_ me the whip."
Cresswell laughed in spite of himself.
"Do you really want it?" he asked.
"Not now, thank you."
"I suppose you"d been swaggering after you"d won the race, and they wanted to take the conceit out of you?"
"Yes, I suppose so."
"And have they succeeded?"
"Well--yes," said d.i.c.k. "I think they have."
"Then, they"ve done you a very good turn, my boy, and you"ll be grateful to them some day. As for the whip, you can tell them if they"ll come here for it, I"ll give it to them with pleasure. There goes the dinner bell--cut off, or you"ll be late."
"Thanks, Cresswell. I suppose," said the boy, lingering a moment at the door, "you won"t be obliged to tell everybody about it?"
"You can do that better than I can," said the Sixth-form boy, laughing.
And d.i.c.k felt, as he hurried down to Hall, that he was something more than well out of it. Instead of meeting the fate which his own conceit had prepared, he had secured a friend at court, who, something told him, would stand by him in the coming term. His self-esteem had had a fall, but his self-respect had had a decided lift; for he felt now that he went in and out under inspection, and that Cresswell"s good opinion was a distinction by all means to be coveted.
As a token of his improved frame of mind, he made frank confession of the whole story to Heathcote during dinner; and found his friend, as he knew he would be, brimful of sympathy and relief at his narrow escape.
Swinstead and Birket, as they watched their man from their distant table, were decidedly perplexed by his cheerful demeanour, and full of curiosity to learn the history of the interview.
They waylaid him casually in the court that afternoon.
"Well, have you settled it?" said Birket.
"Eh? Oh, yes, it"s all right," replied d.i.c.k, rather enjoying himself.
"He made no difficulty about it, did he?"
"Not a bit. Jolly as possible."
It was not often that two Fifth-form boys at Templeton felt uncomfortable in the presence of a new junior, but Swinstead and Birket certainly did feel a trifle disconcerted at the coolness of their young victim.
"You told him we sent you?"
"Rather. He was awfully obliged."
"Was he? And did he give you the whip?"
"No, he hadn"t got it handy. But I told him he could give it to you two next time he met you--and he"s going to."
And to the consternation of his patrons the new boy walked off, whistling sweetly to himself and watching attentively the flight of the rooks round the school tower.
"Old man, we shall have some trouble with Number One," said Swinstead, laughing.
"Yes, we"ve caught a Tartar for once," said Birket. "You and I may retire into private life for a bit, I fancy."
CHAPTER SEVEN.
A GENERAL ELECTION.
The return of the Sixth, our heroes discovered, made a wonderful change in the school life of Templeton. The Fifth, who always made the best use of their two day"s authority while they had it, retired almost mysteriously into private life in favour of their betters. All school sports, and gatherings, and riots had to depend no longer upon the sweet will of those who sported, or gathered, or rioted, but on the pleasure of the monitors. The school societies and inst.i.tutions began to wake up after their holiday, and generally speaking the wheels of Templeton which, during the first two days had b.u.mped noisily over the cobbles, got at last on to the lines, and began to spin round at their accustomed pace.
In no part of the school was this change more felt than among the juniors. They liked being off the line now and then, and they always rebelled when the iron hand of the law picked them up and set them back on the track. It wasn"t only that they couldn"t run riot, and make Templeton a bear-garden. That was bad enough. But in addition to that, they had to f.a.g for the Sixth, and after a week or two of liberty the return to servitude is always painful.
"You kids," said Raggles, two days after the return of the Sixth, "mind you show up at Den after Elections this evening."
"What is Den, and who are Elections?" asked d.i.c.k.
"What, don"t you know? Awful green lot of new kids you are. Elections is after tea in the hall, and Den"s directly after that."
Raggles was very much affronted, when, after this lucid explanation, d.i.c.k again enquired--
"What do you mean by Den and Elections?"
"Look here, what a howling idiot you must be if you"ve got to be told half a dozen times. I"ll spell it for you if you like."
"All serene," said Heathcote. "Two to one you come a cropper over Elections."
"Who do they elect?" asked d.i.c.k.
"Why, everybody, of course. The captains of the clubs, and all that.
Hang it, you"ll be there. What"s the use of f.a.gging to tell you?"
"And what about the Den? Who lives in it?"
"Look here! I shall lick you, Richardson, if you go on like that. You green kids are a lot too cheeky."
And the offended envoy went off in a huff, leaving his hearers in a state of excited uncertainty as to the nature of the ceremony to which their company had been invited.
As the reader may like to have a rather more definite explanation than that afforded by Mr Raggles, let him know that unlike most public schools, the school year at Templeton began after the Easter holidays, instead of after the summer holidays. The new boys came up then for the most part (though a few "second chances," as they were called, straggled in in the autumn term), and the various appointments to offices of honour and duty, the inauguration of the clubs, and the apportionment of the f.a.gs always formed an interesting feature of the new term. The whole of the business was transacted in a ma.s.s meeting of the school, known by the name of "Elections," where, under the solemn auspices of the Sixth, Templeton was invited to pick out its own rulers, and settle its own programme for the ensuing year.
Elections, as a rule, pa.s.sed off harmoniously, the school acquiescing on most points in the recommendations of the Sixth, and, except on matters of great excitement, rarely venturing to lift up its voice in opposition. The juniors, however, generally contrived to have their fling, usually on the question of f.a.gging, which being a recognised inst.i.tution at Templeton, formed a standing bone of contention. And, as part of the business of Elections was the solemn drawing of lots for new boys to fill the vacancies caused by removal or promotion, the opportunity generally commended itself as a fit one for some little demonstration.
The Juniors" Den at Templeton, that is, the popular a.s.sembly of those youthful Templetonians who had not yet reached the dignity of the Fourth Form, had always been the most radical a.s.sociation in the school.