Chapter 14

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_ CHAPTER FOURTEEN.

Those were terrible moments, and I remember wishing that it would suddenly turn into darkest night, as we two lads stood there, shrinking from the eyes of those four men, at whom I glanced in turn, and they all impressed me differently. The general's mouth was pursed up, and his walking cane, which, I perfectly recollect was a thick malacca with an ivory head, shook in his hand as if he was eager to lay it across our backs. Bob Hopley stood with his arms crossed over his gun, looking, as I thought, hurt, pained, and as if we had committed a most terrible crime. But there was no pain or trouble, as it seemed to me, in either Mr Rebble's or Mr Hasnip's face. It struck me that they were on the whole pleased and satisfied in having found us out in a deed that would give them an opportunity to punish us with heavy impositions.

All these thoughts had passed rapidly through my mind as I stood waiting to hear Mr Rebble's response to the General's question.

"I will take charge of the boys, sir," he said importantly; "and I shall lay the matter at once before the notice of Doctor Browne."

"Hang Doctor Browne!" said the General fiercely. "I want to know what he meant by bringing his confounded school and setting it up close under my nose. What did he mean? Eh?"

"I am Doctor Browne's assistant master, Sir Hawkhurst," replied Mr Rebble, with dignity, "and I cannot answer for his reasons."

"Humph! You can't, eh? You there in the dark barnacles," cried the General, turning upon Mr Hasnip, "what have you to say?"

"That the boys must be severely punished, sir," said Mr Hasnip, who looked quite startled.

"Punished! I should think so indeed. If I were not a magistrate, I'd give the wretched young poachers a severe trouncing. How dare you, eh?--how dare you, I say, come trespassing on my grounds and poaching my rabbits?"

The only answer that I could find was, "I'm very sorry, sir. I did not think; and I'll never do so any more;" but it seemed so ridiculous as I thought it, that I held my tongue.

"Pretty scoundrels, 'pon my word!" cried the General. "Gentlemen's sons, eh? nice gentlemen's sons. They've both got poacher written in their face, and I can see what the end will be--transportation, or hung for killing a keeper. That's it, eh, Hopley?"

"Well, sir," said Bob, giving us each a pitying look, "I wouldn't go quite so far as that."

"No, because you are an easy-going fool. You let people rob me right and left, and you'd stand still and let the young scoundrels shoot you. There, take them away, the pair of them. You two, I mean--you pedagogues. I'll come and see the Doctor myself to-morrow morning, and I'll have those two fellows flogged--soundly flogged. Do you hear, you boys?--flogged. How many rabbits have you got?"

"Only this one, sir," I said.

"What? You dare to tell me only one?"

"There was another, only Magglin put it in his pocket."

"Got a dozen hid somewhere," cried the General. "Where have you hid them, you dog? Stuffed in some burrow, I suppose. Where are they, sir?"

"I told you," I said sharply, for his doubt of my word made me feel hot and angry. "We only caught those two. I shouldn't tell you a lie, sir."

"Humph! Oh!" cried the old gentleman, looking at me searchingly, "you wouldn't tell a lie about it, wouldn't you?"

"Of course not," I replied; "and we did not mean any harm, sir. We thought it would be good fun to come and catch some rabbits."

"Oh, you did? Then I suppose it would be good fun to bring guns and come and shoot my pheasants. Perhaps you'd like to do that, eh?"

"I should," said Mercer innocently.

"What!" roared the old gentleman. "Here, you two, take 'em both into scholastic custody, and tell Dr Browne I'm coming in the morning to put a stop to this sort of thing once and for all. Hopley, where's that ferret?"

"Pocket, Sir Hawkus," said the keeper bluntly.

"'_In--my--pocket_,' sir!" cried the old gentleman angrily. "I pay you wages, sir, as my servant, and I've a right to proper answers. Let's see the ferret."

The keeper took it out of the big pocket inside his velveteen jacket, and held it up, twisting and writhing to get free and down into one of the rabbit-holes.

"Throw it down and shoot it," said the General.

"No, sir, please don't do that!" cried Mercer excitedly, "It's such a good ferret--please don't kill the poor thing!"

The General looked at him sharply.

"Not kill it?"

"No, sir. Please let it go."

"To live on my rabbits, eh? There, put it in your pocket. And now, you be off with you, and if I don't have your skins well loosened to-morrow, I'll--You'll see."

He marched off in one direction, while our guard took us in the other, talking at us all the time.

"Disgraceful!" Mr Rebble said. "The Doctor will be nearly heart-broken about such a stigma upon his establishment. I don't know what he'll say."

"They will be expelled, I presume," said Mr Hasnip softly. "It is very sad to see such wickedness in those so young."

"I'm afraid so," replied Mr Rebble; and they kept up a cheerful conversation of this kind till we reached the school, where we were at once ordered up to our dormitory, and dropped down upon the sides of our beds to sit looking at each other.

"I say, you've done it now," said Mercer at last; "and I did think we were going to have such fun."

"Fun!" I said; "it's dreadful!"

"It was capital fun till they all came and spoiled it for us. I wouldn't care about being expelled--at least not so much, only my father will be so disappointed."

This made me think of my mother, and of what my uncle would say if I were dismissed from the school in disgrace; and I shivered, for this was the most terrible part of all.

"I tell you what," said Mercer, "we're in for it, and no mistake; and we didn't do it to steal. We only wanted a bit of sport and some rabbits to stuff. Let's tell the doctor we're very sorry, and ask him to flog us. It would be too bad to expel us in disgrace. What do you say?"

"They may flog me," I said sadly; "but I couldn't go home again in disgrace like that."

"Of course not; and it's too bad to call it poaching. I'm sorry we went, though, now."

"Yes," I said, "I'm sorry enough;" and we sat there, miserable enough, waiting till the other boys came up, and it was time to go to bed.

We had not begun to undress, when the door was opened, and three heads were thrust in, and to our disgust, as we looked up, we saw that they belonged to our three principal tormentors, who began at us in a jeering way.

"Hallo, poachers!" said Burr major; "where are the rabbits?"

"I say," cried Hodson, "you fellows are going to be expelled. Leave us the stuffed guys, Senna."

"He won't," cried Dicksee; "he'll want the skins to make a jacket--a beggar!"

"You're a set of miserable cowards," I said indignantly, "or you wouldn't come and jump upon us now we are down."

"You give me any of your cheek, Burr junior, and I'll make you smell fist for your supper."

"Pst! Some one coming!" whispered Hodson, and the three scuffled away, for there were footsteps on the stairs, and directly after Mr Rebble appeared.

"Mercer, Burr junior," he said harshly, "Doctor Browne requests that you will not come down till he sends for you in the morning. As for you, young gentlemen, you will take no notice of the door being fastened; I shall be up here in time to let you out. Good-night."

He went out, and closed and locked the door, and we heard him take out the key and go down the stairs.

"Well, that's a rum one!" cried Mercer. "I say, Burr, old Rebble made an Irish bull, or something like it. How can we go down if the door's locked?"

"It's because they're afraid we shall run away," I said bitterly. "They needn't have thought that."

And somehow that first part of our punishment seemed to be the most bitter of all. It kept me awake for hours, growing more and more low-spirited; and, to make me worse, as I lay there listening to the loud breathing of the boys, Mercer having gone off like the rest, as if nothing was the matter, I could hear an owl come sailing about the place, now close at hand, and now right away in the distance, evidently in Sir Hawkhurst's old park, where, no doubt, it had a home in one of the great hollow beeches. Every now and then it uttered its mournful _hoi, hoi, hoi, hoi_! sounding exactly like some one calling for help, and at times so real that I was ready to awaken Mercer and ask him if he thought it was a bird; but just as I had determined to do so, he spoke half drowsily from his pillow.

"Hear the old owl," he said. "That's the one I told you about the other night. It isn't the same kind as we saw in old Dawson's oast-house. They screech. Get out, you old mouser! I want to sleep."

The owl kept on with its hooting; but Mercer had what he wanted, for he dropped asleep directly, and I must have followed his example immediately after, for the next thing I remember is feeling something warm on my face, which produced an intense desire to sneeze--so it seemed, till I opened my eyes, to find that the blind had been drawn, and Mercer was tickling my nose with the end of a piece of top string twisted up fine.

"Be quiet. Don't!" I cried angrily, as I sat up. "Hallo! where are the other fellows?"

"Dressed and gone down ever so long ago. Didn't you hear the bell?"

"No; I've been very sound asleep," I said, beginning to dress hurriedly. "Shall we be late? Oh!"

"What's the matter?"

"I'd forgotten," I said; for the whole trouble of the previous evening had now come back with a rush.

"Good job, too," said Mercer. "That's why I didn't wake you. Wish I was asleep now, and could forget all about it. I say, it ain't nice, is it?"

I shook my head mournfully.

"It's always the way," continued my companion, "one never does have a bit of fun without being upset after it somehow. We went fishing, and nearly got drowned; I bought the ferret, and we lost it; we went in for lessons in boxing, and I never grumbled much, but oh, how sore and stiff and bruised I've often been afterwards. And now, when we go for just an hour to try the ferret, we get caught like this. There's no real fun in life without trouble afterwards."

"One always feels so before breakfast," I said, as dolefully as Mercer now, and I hurriedly finished dressing. Then we went to the window, and stood looking out, and thinking how beautiful everything appeared in the morning sunshine.

"I say, Tom," I said at last, "don't you wish you were down-stairs finishing your lessons, ready for after breakfast?"

"Ah, that I do!" he cried; "and I never felt so before."

"That's through being locked up like in prison," I said philosophically.

"Yes, it's horrid. I say, the old Doctor won't expel us, will he?"

"I hope not," I said.

"But he will old Magglin. You see if he don't."

"Well, I'm not sorry for him," I said; "he has behaved like a sneak."

"Yes; trying to put it all on to us."

We relapsed into silence for some time. We had opened the window, and were looking out at the mists floating away over the woods, and the distant sea shining like frosted silver.

"Oh, I do wish it was a wet, cloudy morning!" I said at last.

"Why?"

"Because everything looks so beautiful, and makes you long to be out of doors."

We relapsed into silence again, with our punishment growing more painful every moment, till our thoughts were chased away by the ringing of the breakfast-bell.

"Ah, at last!" cried Mercer, and he turned to listen for footsteps.

"I say," he cried crossly, "ain't they going to let us go down to breakfast?"

"No; we're prisoners," I said bitterly.

"Yes; but they don't starve prisoners to death," cried Mercer; "and I want something to eat."

In spite of my misery, I too felt very hungry, for we had gone through a great deal since our evening meal on the previous day, and I was standing watching my companion as he marched up and down the bedroom like an animal in a cage, when we heard steps on the stairs.

"Here's breakfast," cried Mercer joyfully, but his face changed as the door was opened, and Mr Rebble appeared, followed by one of the maids bearing a tray, which she set down on a little table and went away, leaving Mr Rebble looking at us grimly, but with the suggestion of a sneering laugh at the corners of his cleanly-shaven lips.

We both glanced at the tray, which bore a jug and two mugs and a plate with a couple of big hunches of bread. Then Mercer looked up half reproachfully at Mr Rebble, who was moving toward the door.

"They've forgotten the butter, sir," he said.

"No, my boy, no," replied the usher; "butter is a luxury reserved for the good. The Doctor will send for you both by and by."

He went out and locked the door, while we stood listening till the steps had died away.

"It's a jolly shame!" cried Mercer. "I'm not going to stop here and eat dry bread."

"Never mind," I said; "I don't mind for once;" and, taking one of the pieces of bread, I lifted the jug to fill a mug, but set it down again without pouring any out.

"What's the matter?"

"Look," I said.

Mercer darted to the table, looked into the jug, poured out a little of its contents, and set the vessel down, speechless for the moment with rage.

"Water!" he cried at last, and dashing to the table again, he ran with it to the window, and threw both jug and contents flying out into the shrubbery below.

"Oh!" he ejaculated, directly after; "I didn't know you were there."

I ran to the window now, and looked down to see the cook's red face gazing up at us.

"Eh? what say?" said Mercer, leaning out.

"Hush! be quiet. All at breakfast. Got any string?"

"Yes. Oh, I know," cried Mercer joyfully, and he ran to his box and from the bottom dragged out a stick of kite string, whose end he rapidly lowered down to where cook stood, holding something under her apron.

This proved to be a little basket with a cross handle when she whisked her apron off, and, quickly tying the end of the string to it, she stood watching till the basket had reached our hands, and then hurried away round the end of the house.

"Oh, isn't she a good one!" cried Mercer, tearing open the lid, after snapping the string and pitching the ball quickly into the box. "Look here; four eggs, bread and butter--lots, and a bottle of milk--no," he continued, taking out the cork and smelling, "it's coffee. Hooray!"

"What's that in the bit of curl paper?" and I pointed to something twisted up.

"Salt," cried Mercer, "for the eggs. Come on, eat as fast as you can."

I took a piece of bread and butter, and he another, eating away as he poured out two mugfuls of what proved to be delicious coffee.

"Who says we haven't got any friends?" cried Mercer, with his mouth full. "What lots of butter. 'Tis good. I say, wonder what old Rebble would say if he knew! Have an egg."

"No spoons."

"Bet a penny they're hard ones."

So it proved, and we cracked them well all over, peeled off the shells, which for secrecy we thrust into our pockets, and then, dipping the eggs into the salt, we soon finished one each, with the corresponding proportion of bread and butter. Then the other two followed, the last slice of bread and butter disappeared, and the wine-bottle was drained. It was an abundant supply, but at our age the time consumed over the meal was not lengthy, and we then busied ourselves in rinsing out the bottle, which was hidden in my box, after being carefully wiped on a towel, the basket was placed in Mercer's, and as soon as the last sign of our banquet had disappeared, we looked at the two hunches of bread, of which mine alone had been tasted, and burst into a laugh.

"I don't want any--do you?" said Mercer, and I shook my head. "Oh, I do feel so much better! I can take the Doctor's licking now, and hope it will come soon."

"I don't," I said.

"Why not? It's like nasty physic. Of course you don't like it, but the sooner you've swallowed it down, the sooner it's gone, and you haven't got to think any more about it. That's what I feel about my licking."

"Hist! here's some one coming."

Mercer turned sharply round and listened.

"Old Reb," he whispered, and we went and stood together near the window as the steps came nearer; the key was turned, and Mr Rebble appeared, glanced at the tray with its almost untouched bread, and then smiled maliciously.

"Ho, ho! Proud stomached, eh? Oh, very well, only I warn you both you get nothing more to eat until that bread is finished. Now, then, young gentlemen, this way please."

He held the door open, and then led us into a small room at the end of the passage used for spare boxes and lumber. Here we were locked in and left, and as soon as we were alone Mercer burst into a fit of laughter.

"Oh, what a game!" he panted, wiping the tears from his eyes. "I say, though, he never missed the water-jug. What's the matter?"

"Matter!" I cried; "it's a shame to lock us up here like two prisoners in this old lumber-room."

"Oh, never mind! it's only old Reb's nasty petty way. I don't believe the Doctor knows. He isn't petty; he scolds you and canes you if you've done anything he don't like, but as soon as you've had your punishment, it's all over, and he forgets what's past. I say!"

"Well?"

"He will not expel us; I'm not afraid of that."

In about half an hour, we heard Mr Rebble's steps again.

"Now then, the physic's ready," whispered Mercer. "Don't you cry out. It hurts a good deal, and the Doctor hits precious hard, but the pain soon goes off, and it will only please old Rebble if you seem to mind."

Just then the door was opened, and our gaoler appeared again.

"This way," he said shortly, and we went out into the passage once more, while my heart began to flutter, and I wondered whether I could bear a caning without showing that I suffered, and, to be frank, I very much doubted my power in what would be to me quite a new experience. I set my teeth though, and mentally vowed I would try and bear it manfully.

It was all waste energy, for Mr Rebble threw open the door of our dormitory again, drew back for us to enter, and said, with a nasty malicious laugh, as if he enjoyed punishing us,--

"Not a morsel of anything till that bread is eaten."

Then the door was closed, sharply locked, the key withdrawn, and his steps died away.

"What a take in!" grumbled Mercer, as we looked round the neat, clean bedroom, and realised that we had only been locked up in the other place while the maids came to make the beds. "I was all screwed up tight, and would have taken my caning without so much as a squeak. Couldn't you?"

"I don't know," I said, "but I felt ready to go on with it, and now I suppose we shall have to wait."

To our great disgust, we did have to wait hour after hour. We heard the fellows go out from school, and their voices came ringing through the clear summer air, and then we heard them come in to dinner; but we were not called down, nothing was sent up to us, and, though we kept watch at the window looking down into the shrubbery, there was no sign of the cook, and the kite string remained unused.

"But she's sure to come some time," said Mercer. "She won't let old Reb starve us. Hi! look there. Old Lomax. There he goes."

Sure enough, the old sergeant marched down the road, and we watched till he was out of sight, but he did not see us.

"I wonder what he thought when we did not go for our lesson this morning," I said.

"Oh, he had heard of it, safe," cried Mercer. "Hark, there they go out from dinner. I say, I'm getting tired of this. They must have us down soon."

But quite an hour passed away, and we stood sadly looking out at the beautiful view, which never looked more attractive, and we were trying to make out where the hammer pond lay among the trees, when I suddenly nipped Mercer's arm, and we began to watch a light cart, driven by a grey-haired gentleman, with a groom in livery with a cockade in his hat seated by his side, and a big dark fellow in velveteen behind.

"Is he coming here?" whispered Mercer, as we drew back from the window.

We knew he must be, and, peering from behind the white window-curtains, we saw the great fiery-looking roan horse turn at a rapid trot through the open gates, then the wheels of the light, cart seemed to be pulled up at the front entrance, where we saw the groom spring down, and heard the jangle of the big front door bell.

Then we sat down on our chairs by the heads of our beds and waited, and not long, for we soon heard steps on the stairs.

"It's coming now," said Mercer, drawing a long breath.

"Yes, it's coming now," I echoed softly, as a curious sensation of dread ran through me, and directly after the door was unlocked, and Mr Rebble appeared.

"Now, young gentlemen," he said, with a perfectly satisfied air, "the Doctor will see you both in his room." _

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