Mr Tomplin came in that evening after Uncle d.i.c.k had heard all my narrative and Uncle Bob had walked up and down the room, driving his fist into his hand every now and then with a loud _pat_.
We had had a long conversation, in which I had taken part with a terribly aching head, and I should have gone to bed only I would not show the white feather.
For they all three made this a reason why I should give up to them, and after all go back.
"You see the men are dead against us, Cob, and the boys follow suit, and are against you." So said Uncle d.i.c.k.
"All the men are not against you," I said. "Look at Pannell! He has come round, and," I added, with a laugh that hurt me horribly, "I shall have some of the boys come round and help me."
"The young scoundrels!" cried Uncle Bob. _Pat_--that was his fist coming down into his hand. "The young scoundrels!"
"Well, you"ve said that twenty times at least, Bob," said Uncle Jack.
"Enough to make me!" said Uncle Bob sharply. "The young scoundrels!"
_Pat_.
"I only wish I"d been there with a good handy riding-whip," said Uncle Jack. "There would have been some wailing among them."
"Yes; and summonses for a.s.sault, and all that bother," said Uncle d.i.c.k.
"We don"t want to come to blows, Jack, if we can help it."
"They are beyond bearing," cried Uncle Bob, keeping up his walk; "the young scoundrels!" _Pat_.
"My dear Bob," cried Uncle d.i.c.k, who was very much out of temper; "if you would be kind enough to leave off that trot up and down."
"Like a hungry lion," said Uncle Jack.
"In the Zoo," cried Uncle d.i.c.k, "you would very much oblige me."
"I can"t sit down," said Uncle Bob, thumping his hand. "I feel too much excited."
"Then bottle it up for future use," said Uncle d.i.c.k. "You really must."
"To attack and hurt the boy in that way! It"s scandalous. The young ruffians--the young savages!"
Just then Mr Tomplin came in, looked sharply round, and saw there was something wrong.
"I beg your pardon," he said quickly; "I"ll look in another time."
"No, no," said Uncle Bob. "Pray sit down. We want your advice. A cruel a.s.sault upon our nephew here"--and he related the whole affair.
"Humph!" e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed Mr Tomplin, looking hard at me.
"What should you advise--warrants against the ringleaders?"
"Summonses, Mr Robert, I presume," said Mr Tomplin. "But you don"t know who they were?"
"Yes; oh, yes!" cried Uncle Bob eagerly. "Two young Gentles."
"But you said the mother saved our young friend here from the lads, dowsed them and trounced them with a pail, and made her husband clean his boots, while she nursed him and made him tea."
"Ye-es," said Uncle Bob.
"Well, my dear sir, when you get summonses out against boys--a practice to which I have a very great objection--it is the parents who suffer more than their offspring."
"And serve them right, sir, for bringing their boys up so badly."
"Yes, I suppose so; but boys will be boys," said Mr Tomplin.
"I don"t mind their being boys," said Uncle Bob angrily; "what I do object to is their being young savages. Why, sir, they half-killed my nephew."
"But he has escaped, my dear sir, and, as I understand it, the mother has threatened to--er--er--leather the boys well, that was, I think, her term--"
"Yes," I said, rather gleefully, "leather them."
"And judging from the description I have heard of this Amazon-like lady, who makes her husband obey her like a sheep, the young gentlemen"s skins will undergo rather a severe tanning process. Now, don"t you think you had better let the matter stand as it is? And, speaking on the _lex talionis_ principle, our young friend Jacob here ought to be able to handle his fists, and on the first occasion when he met one of his enemies he might perhaps give him a thrashing. I don"t advise it, for it is illegal, but he might perhaps by accident. It would have a good effect."
"But you are always for letting things drop, Mr Tomplin," said Uncle Bob peevishly.
"Yes; I don"t like my friends to go to law--or appeal to the law, as one may say. I am a lawyer, and I lose by giving such advice, I know."
"Mr Tomplin"s right, Bob," said Uncle Jack. "You think of that boy as if he were sugar. I"m sure he does not want to take any steps; do you, Cob?"
"No," I said; "if I may--"
I stopped short.
"May what?"
"Have a few lessons in boxing. I hate fighting; but I should like to thrash that big boy who kept hitting me most."
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
UNCLE JACK AND I HAVE A RUN.
I did not have any lessons in boxing, in spite of my earnest desire.
"We do not want to be aggressors, Cob," said my Uncle d.i.c.k.
"But we want to defend ourselves, uncle."
"To be sure we do, my lad," he said; "and we"ll be ready as we can when we are attacked; but I don"t see the necessity for training ourselves to fight."
So I did not meet and thrash my enemy, but went steadily on with my duties at the works.
In fact I was very little the worse for my adventure, thanks to Mrs Gentles, to whom I returned the cap she had lent me and thanked her warmly for her goodness.