"How about water?" asked some one.
"There"s enough in each room for a day or two," said Smith, who seemed to have taken note of everything.
"I don"t see the fun of feeding them up this way," said Rathbone.
"You"ll never get them to give in as long as you make them so jolly comfortable."
"I"d like to see how you liked it for two days," said Smith. "I don"t suppose you"d think yourself overfed or jolly comfortable either. But come on; have you got the string?"
Each parcel was attached to a long piece of string, and conveyed in state by the entire school to its respective destination. The Henniker was first fed. Amid shouts of "Cheer, boys, cheer," and "Rule Britannia," we marched up to her door and halted, while Smith, with the aid of a rake, lifted the parcel on to the small ventilator above the door, and gave it a little shove over the other side.
"Now lower away," said he to the boy who held the string.
"Smith, I hear your voice," cried the Henniker. "Smith, open my door, _please_."
Except for the last extraordinary expression the Henniker"s voice sounded much as usual. No answer, of course, was given, and we waited until the parcel should be detached from the string.
For about five minutes it remained untouched, during which period the holder tried to attract the attention of the prisoner by sundry spasmodic jerkings of the string. At length the fish did bite. Without a word the parcel was detached from the string. We turned to go.
"Plate, knife, and fork in the cupboard," cried out Smith, as we did so.
"You don"t mean to say," said Rathbone, as we went along, "that you"ve put a knife and fork for her?"
"Yes, I have," said Smith, in a manner which did not encourage the truculent Rathbone to pursue the subject.
The feeding of the two masters was a longer process. For to reach their door it was necessary to climb over a perfect jungle of desks and chairs piled up against it; and when reached it was discovered that the gla.s.s ventilator, which usually stood open, had been shut and fastened inside.
But Smith was not to be baulked by a trifle. He coolly broke the gla.s.s with his rake, till he had made a hole big enough to admit the parcels, which, one after the other, were lifted over the opening, and lowered within reach of their respective owners. In the present case the string to which they were attached was double, so, when it was found that neither was taken, Smith gave the order to "run" the string, and let them drop the parcels off on to the floor. This was done, and we were turning to go, when Mr Ladislaw"s voice rose in angry tones.
"Listen to me, boys," he cried, authoritatively.
A general yell was the only answer to this, mingled with loud laughter, as Mr Hashford"s head suddenly appeared at the broken ventilator. The apparition was the signal for a general fusillade of paper b.a.l.l.s, in the midst of which the usher modestly retired from observation.
The evening was spent in the same rollicking manner as the afternoon.
We held mock school in Mr Ladislaw"s study, and got Flanagan to dress up in an old gown of the Henniker"s, which was found in the boot-room, and enact that favourite character"s part, which he did to the life. We also made out our own "reports" for home, and played a most spirited game of croquet in the hall, with potatoes for b.a.l.l.s and brooms for mallets, besides treating our prisoners to a ravishing concert by an orchestra of one dinner-bell, two dish-covers, two combs and paper, and one iron tray.
We kept it up till rather late, and, indeed, it was not till Smith summoned us to a council of war that the problem of how and where to spend the night occurred to us.
"Some of us ought to stay up as sentinels," said our captain.
"Well, I can"t, for one," said Philpot, "for I was never so sleepy in my life."
"I should think," said Hawkesbury, sweetly, "if the captain stayed up we should be quite safe."
Why _should_ Smith glare so whenever Hawkesbury spoke? I wondered. I"m sure there did not seem to be anything offensive in this.
"I"ll stay up, Jack," said I, more with a desire to avert a row than because I felt particularly "spry."
"So will I," said Shankley, "if you"ll dig me in the ribs when I get sleepy."
"I"ll tell you what," said Smith, after having recovered himself.
"Suppose we bring all the beds down and camp out on the landing."
This was carried with acclamation, and every one forthwith proceeded to his dormitory, and reappeared staggering under the weight of his bedclothes. One monstrous bed was made in which we all "camped out" in turn, one fellow only remaining awake as sentinel for an hour at a time.
"We shall have to settle to-morrow," said Smith, when he had returned to "camp," after having gone the round and seen that all lights were out, and all doors and bolts fastened--"we shall have to settle to-morrow what to say to them about coming out, you fellows."
"I thought that was left to the captain," said Hawkesbury.
"I vote we stick out against the Henniker having anything to do with us," said Philpot, "in or out of school."
"Yes, and do away with afternoon school and preparation too," said Rathbone; "they are both nuisances."
"And get a holiday to go out of bounds once a week," said Flanagan in the act of dropping asleep.
These sweeping schemes of reform, however, agreeable as they sounded, seemed none of them likely to receive the a.s.sent of our prisoners.
Smith"s idea was a good deal more moderate. "I don"t see that we can stick out for more than leave to talk when we are not in cla.s.s, and do away with `detentions.""
"That really seems hardly worth all the trouble," said Hawkesbury, "does it?"
"It"s left to the captain," said Smith, shortly, "and that"s my idea, if you agree."
"We ought to bargain they don"t take any more notice of this affair, or write home about it," suggested Shankley.
"Who cares what they write home?" scornfully inquired Smith.
"Ah, it may not matter to _you_," said Hawkesbury, smiling very sweetly, "but to all the rest of us it does."
Smith glared at the speaker, and looked as if he was about to fly at his throat; but he controlled himself, and merely replied, "Very well, then, they are to promise not to say anything about it at home, as well as give in on the other things. Is that settled?"
Everybody said "yes," and shortly afterwards most of the mutineers were peacefully asleep.
"Fred," said Smith to me that night, as we kept watch together, "unless that fellow Hawkesbury lets me alone I shall give the thing up."
"Don"t do that," said I. "Really, I don"t think that Hawkesbury means it. I"ll speak to him if you like." It cost me a great effort to say this.
Smith fired up unwontedly at the suggestion.
"If you do, you and I will never be friends again," he said, pa.s.sionately. Then recovering himself, he added, repentantly, "Fred, I"m awfully sorry I lost my temper. I know I"m a brute; but please don"t think of speaking to any one about it."
"All right, old man," said I.
And so the night wore on, and when presently it came to be our turn to lie down and sleep in the big bed, I, at any rate, did so a good deal disturbed in my spirit, and not altogether sure whether in our present escapade we Stonebridge House boys were not making rather fools of ourselves.
CHAPTER EIGHT.
HOW THE REBELLION COLLAPSED, AND WE LEFT STONEBRIDGE HOUSE.