"I expect he was the same person, sir," said Tomlinson soothingly. "I remember him now. He was the Russian who----"
"Prussian!" yelled the infuriated Mr. Klotz.
"I beg your pardon, sir--Prussian. I thought they were the same thing.
He was the Prussian general whom Lord Wellington was relying on to back him up at Waterloo. But Blutcher--Blucher lost his way--quite by accident, of course--and did not reach the field until the fight was over."
"He stopped to capture a brewery, sir, didn"t he?" queried Master Pringle, coming to his intrepid colleague"s a.s.sistance.
"It was bad luck his arriving late," added Tomlinson, firing his last cartridge; "but he managed to kill quite a lot of wounded."
Mr. Klotz had only one retort for enterprises of this kind. He rose stertorously to his feet, crossed the room, and grasping Master Tomlinson by the ears, lifted him from his seat and set him to stand in the middle of the floor. Then he returned for Pringle.
"You stay dere," he announced to the pair, "ontil the hour is op. Efter lonch----"
But in his peregrinations over the battle-field of Sedan, Mr. Klotz had taken no note of the flight of time. Even as he spoke, the clock struck.
"The hour is up now, sir!" yelled the delighted form.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE FRENCH MASTER: (I) FICTION, (II) FACT]
And they dispersed with tumult, congratulating Pringle and Tomlinson upon their pluck and themselves upon a most profitable morning.
But it is a far cry to Sedan nowadays. The race of Klotzes has perished, and their place is occupied by muscular young Britons, who have no reminiscences and whose p.r.o.nunciation, both of English and German, is easier to understand.
CHAPTER FOUR
BOYS
NUMBER I. THE GOVERNMENT
"There"s your journey money, Jackson. Good-bye, and a pleasant holiday!"
"Thank you, sir. The same to you!" replies Jackson dutifully.
They shake hands, and the Housemaster adds:--
"By the way, I shall want you to join the prefects next term."
"Me, sir? Oh!"
"Yes. Endeavour to get accustomed to the idea during the holidays. It will make a big difference in your life here. I am not referring merely to sausages for tea. Try and think out all that it implies."
Then follows a brief homily. Jackson knows it by heart, for it never varies, and he has heard it quoted frequently, usually for purposes of derision.
"The prefect in a public school occupies the same position as the non-commissioned officer in the Army. He is promoted from the ranks; he enjoys privileges not available to his former a.s.sociates; and he is made responsible to those above him not merely for his own good behaviour but for that of others. Just as it would be impossible to run an army without non-commissioned officers, so it would be impossible, under modern conditions, to run a public school without prefects."
Jackson shifts his feet uneasily, after the immemorial fashion of schoolboys undergoing a "jaw."
"But I want to warn you of one or two things," continues the wise old Housemaster.
Jackson looks up quickly. This part of the exhortation is new. At least, he has never heard it quoted.
"You will have certain privileges: don"t abuse them. You will have certain responsibilities: don"t shirk them. And above all, don"t endeavour to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds. You will be strongly tempted to do so. Your old a.s.sociates will regard you with suspicion--even distrust; and that will sting. In your anxiety to show to them that your promotion has not impaired your capacity for friendship, you may be inclined to stretch the Law in their favour from time to time, or even ignore it altogether. On the other hand, you must beware of over-officiousness towards those who are not your friends. A little authority is a dangerous thing. So walk warily at first. That"s all. Good night, old man."
They shook hands again, and Jackson returned soberly to his study, which he shared with his friend Blake. The two had entered the School the same day: they had fought their way up side by side from its lowest walks to a position of comparative eminence; and their friendship, though it contained no David and Jonathan elements--very few schoolboy friendships do--had survived the severe test of two years of study-companionship.
Jackson was the better scholar, Blake the better athlete of the two.
Now, one was taken and the other left.
Blake, cramming miscellaneous possessions into his grub-box in view of the early departure on the morrow, looked up.
"Hallo!" he remarked. "You"ve been a long time getting your journey-money. Did the old Man try to cut you down?"
"No.... He says I"m to be a prefect next term."
"Oh! Congratters!" said Blake awkwardly.
"Thanks. Has he made you one too?" asked Jackson.
"No."
"Oh. What rot!"
Presently Jackson"s oldest friend, after an unhappy silence, rose and went out. He had gone to join the proletariat round the Hall fire. The worst of getting up in the world is that you have to leave so many old comrades behind you. And worse still, the comrades frequently persist in believing that you are glad to do so.
Such is the cloak of Authority, as it feels to a thoughtful and sensitive boy who a.s.sumes it for the first time.
Of course there are others. Hulkins, for instance. In his eyes the prefectorial system was created for his express convenience and glorification. He opens his study door and bawls:
"Fa-a-a-ag!"
A dozen come running. The last to arrive is bidden to remove Hulkins"
boots from his feet and bring slippers. The residue have barely returned to their noisy fireside when Hulkins" voice is uplifted again. This time he requires blotting-paper, and the last comer in the panting crowd is sent into the next study to purloin some. The rest have hardly regained their fastness when there is a third disturbance, and there is Hulkins howling like a lost soul for matches. And so, with infinite uproar and waste of labour, the great man"s wants are supplied. It does the f.a.gs no harm, but it is very, very bad for Hulkins.
Frisby is another type. He is not afraid of a.s.suming responsibility. He is a typical new broom. He dots the i"s and crosses the t"s of all the tiresome little regulations in the House. He sets impositions to small boys with great profusion, and sees to it that they are shown up punctually. If it is his turn to take roll-call, he descends to the unsportsmanlike device of waiting upon the very threshold of the Hall until the clock strikes, and then coming in and shutting the door with a triumphant bang in the faces of those who had reckoned on the usual thirty seconds" grace. He ferrets out the misdemeanours of criminals of fourteen, and gibbets them. He is terribly efficient--but his vigilance and zeal stop suddenly short at the prospect of a collision with any malefactor more than five feet high.
Then there is Meakin. He receives his prefectship with a sigh of relief.
For four years he has led a hunted and precarious existence in the lower walks of the House. His high-spirited playmates have made him a target for missiles, derided his style of running, broken his spectacles, raided his study, wrecked his collection of beetles, and derived unfailing joy from his fluent but impotent imprecations. Now, at last, he sees peace ahead. He will be left to himself, at any rate. They will not dare to rag a prefect unless the prefect endeavours to exert his authority unduly, and Meakin has no intention whatever of doing that. To Frisby, Office is a sharp two-edged sword; to Meakin, it is merely a shield and buckler.