by Harold Avery
CHAPTER II.
THE PHILISTINES.
The Triple Alliance, the formation of which has just been described, wasdestined to be no mere form of speech or empty display of friendship.The members had solemnly sworn to stand by one another whateverhappened, and the manner in which they carried out their resolve, andthe important consequences which resulted from their concerted actions,will be made known to the reader as our story progresses.
Poor Mugford certainly seemed likely to be a heavy drag on theassociation; he was constantly tumbling into trouble, and needing to bepulled out again by those who had promised to be his friends.
An instance of this occurred on the day following Diggory's arrival atThe Birches. He and Vance had gone down after morning school into whatwas called the playroom, to partake of two more of the latter'smince-pies, and on their return to the schoolroom found a crowdassembled round Acton, who, seated on the top of a small cupboard whichalways served as a judicial bench, was hearing a case in which Mugfordwas the defendant, while Jacobs and another boy named Cross appeared asplaintiffs.
The charge was that the former was indebted to the latter for the sum ofhalf a crown, which he had borrowed towards the end of the previousterm, in separate amounts of one shilling and eighteen pence, promisingto repay them, with interest, immediately after the holidays. The moneyhad been expended in the purchase of a disreputable old canary bird, forwhich Noaks, the manservant, had agreed to find board and lodging duringthe Christmas vacation. Now, when the creditors reminded Mugford of hisobligations, they found him totally unable to meet their demands forpayment.
"Now, look here," said Acton, addressing the defendant with greatseverity, "no humbug--how much money did you bring back with you?"
"Well, I had to pay my brother before I came away for my share in atelescope we bought last summer, and then--"
"Bother your brother and the telescope! Why can't you answer myquestion? How much money did you bring back with you?"
"Only five bob."
"Then why in the name of Fortune don't you pay up?"
"Because I had to pay all that to Noaks for bird-seed."
"D'you mean to say that that bird ate five shillings' worth of seed infour weeks?"
"Well, so Noaks says; he told me he'd kept scores of birds in his time,but he'd 'never seen one so hearty at its grub before.' Those were thevery words he used, and he said it was eating nearly all the day, andthat's one reason why it looks such a dowdy colour, and never sings."
"Well, all I can say is, if you believe all Noaks tells you, you're afool. But that's no reason why these two chaps should be done out oftheir money; so now, how are you going to pay them?"
"If they only wait till pocket-money's given out--" began Mugford.
"Oh no, we shan't!" interrupted Cross. "He only gets sixpence a week,and he's always breaking windows and other things, and having itstopped."
There seemed only one way out of the difficulty, and that was to put asit were an execution into Mugford's desk, and realize a certain amountof his private property.
"Look here," said Acton, "he must sell something.--Now, then," he added,turning to the defendant, "just shell out something and bring it here atonce, and we'll have an auction."
The boy walked off to his desk, and after rummaging about in it for somelittle time, returned with a miscellaneous collection of small articlesin his arms, which he proceeded to hand up one by one for the judge'sinspection.
"What's this?"
"Oh, its a book that was given me on my birthday, called 'Lofty Thoughtsfor Little Thinkers.'"
"Lofty grandmother!" said Acton impatiently.
"What else have you got ?"
"Well, here's a wire puzzle, only I think a bit of it's lost, and theclasp of a cricket belt, and old Dick Rodman's chessboard and some ofthe men, and some stuff for chilblains, and--"
"Oh, dry up!" interrupted Acton; "what bosh! Who d'you expect would buyany of that rubbish? Look here, we'll give you till after dinner, andunless you find something sensible by then, we shall come and hunt forourselves."
"That's just like Mug," said Jack Vance to Diggory, as the group of boysslowly dispersed; "he's always doing something stupid. But I suppose aswe made that alliance, we ought to try to help the beggar somehow."
They followed their unfortunate comrade to his desk, which when openeddisplayed a perfect chaos of ragged books, loose sheets of paper, brokenpen-holders, pieces of string, battered cardboard boxes, and otherrubbish.
"Look here, Mug, what have you got to sell? you'll have to fork outsomething."
"I don't know," returned the other mournfully, stirring up the contentsof the desk as though he were making a Christmas pudding. "I've gotnothing, except--well, there's this book of Poe's, 'Tales of Adventure,Mystery, and Imagination,' and my clasp-knife; and perhaps some onewould buy these fret-saw patterns or this dog-chain."
He turned out two or three more small articles and laid them on theform.
"Are there any of these things you particularly wish to keep?" askedDiggory; "because, if so, Vance and I'll bid for them, and then you canbuy them back from us again when you've got some more money."
"That's awfully kind of you," answered Mugford, brightening up. "I'lltell you what I should like to keep, and that's my clasp-knife and thebook; they're such jolly stories. 'The Pit and the Pendulum' alwaysgives me bad dreams, and 'The Premature Burial' makes you feel certainyou'll be buried alive."
"All right; and did you bring a cake back with you?"
"Yes."
"Well, then, sell that first, and you can share our grub."
The auction was held directly after dinner. The cake fetched ashilling, and Diggory and Vance bid ninepence each for the book andpocket-knife; so Mugford came out of his difficulty without sufferingany further loss than what was afterwards made good again by thegenerosity of his two comrades. They, for their part, made no fuss overthis little act of kindness, but handed the book and clasp-knife overto Mugford without waiting for the money, and little thinking what animportant part these trifling possessions would play in the subsequenthistory of the Triple Alliance.
The sale had not long been concluded, and the little community werepreparing to obey Acton's order to "Come outside," when the latterrushed into the room finning with rage.
"I say," he exclaimed, "what do you think that beast of a Noaks hasdone? Why, he's gone and put ashes all over our slide!"
In their heart of hearts every one felt decidedly relieved at thisannouncement; still it was necessary, at all events, to simulate some oftheir leader's wrath, and accordingly there was a general outcry againstthe offender.
"Oh, the cad!"--"What an awful shame!"--"Let's tell Blake!" etc., etc.
"Who is Noaks?" asked Diggory. "Is he that sour-looking man who bringsthe boots in every morning?"
"Yes, that's so," answered Vance. "He hates us all--partly, I believe,because his son's a Philistine. I wonder old Welsby doesn't get anotherman."
"His son's a _what?_" asked Diggory; but at that moment Acton camemarching round the room ordering every one out into the playground, andJack Vance hurried off to get his cap and muffler without replying tothe question.
Sliding was out of the question, and the "House of Lords" having amusedthemselves for a time by capturing small boys and throwing them into thesnow-drift, some one remarked that it would be good fun to build a snowman; which proposition was received with acclamation, and all hands weresoon hard at work rolling the big balls which were to form the base ofthe statue. As the work progressed the interest in it increased, themore so when Diggory suggested that the figure should be supposed torepresent the obnoxious Noaks, and that the company could then relievetheir feelings by pelting his effigy as soon as it was completed.Every one was pleased with the project, and even Acton, who as a rulewould never follow up any plan which was not of his own making, tookspecial pains to cause the snow man to bear some likeness to theoriginal. He had just, by way of a fin
ishing touch, expended nearlyhalf a penny bottle of red ink in a somewhat exaggerated reproduction ofthe fiery hue of Noaks's nose, when the bell rang for afternoon school,and the bombardment had to be postponed until the following day.
It was no small trial of patience being thus obliged to wait nearlytwenty-four hours before wreaking their vengeance on the effigy; stillthere was no help for it. The boys bottled down their feelings, andwhen at last the classes were dismissed, and the dux cried, "Come on,you fellows!" every one obeyed the summons willingly enough. There hadbeen a slight thaw in the night, and the statue stood in need of sometrifling repairs. Acton suggested, therefore, that the half-hourbefore dinner should be devoted to putting things to rights, and tomaking some small additions in the shape of pebbles for waistcoatbuttons, and other trifling adornments.
Mr. Welsby kept the boys at the table for nearly a quarter of an hourafter the meal was finished, talking over his plans for the coming term,and when at last he finished there was a regular stampede for theplayground. Acton was leading the rush; he dashed through the gardendoorway, and then stopped dead with an exclamation of dismay. All thosewho followed, as they arrived on the spot, did the same. Every vestigeof the snow man, which had been left barely an hour ago standing such awork of art, had disappeared. Certainly a portion of the pedestal stillremained, looking like the stump of an old, decayed tooth; but thefigure itself had been thrown down, trodden flat, and literally stampedout of existence!
The little crowd stood for a moment speechless, gazing with woebegoneexpressions on their faces at the wreck of their hopes and handiwork;then the silence was broken by a subdued chuckle coming from the otherside of the wall on their left, and every one, with a start and a suddenclinching of fists, cried simultaneously: "The Philistines!"
The words had hardly been uttered when above the brickwork appeared thehead and shoulders of a boy a size or so bigger than Acton;a dirty-looking brown bowler hat was stuck on the very back of his head,and rammed down until the brim rested on the top of his ears; and itwill be quite sufficient to remark that his face was in exact keepingwith the manner in which he wore his hat. Once more everybody gave ventto their feelings by another involuntary ejaculation--"Young Noaks!"
The stranger laughed, pulled a face which, as far as ugliness went, washardly an improvement on the one Nature had already bestowed upon him,and then pointed mockingly at the remains of the masterpiece.
His triumph, however, was short-lived. Jack Vance, as he left thehouse, had caught up a double handful of snow, which he had beenpressing into a hard ball as he ran down the path, determining in hisown, mind to be the first to open fire on the snow man. Without amoment's hesitation he flung the missile at the intruder's head, and, tothe intense delight of his companions, it struck the latter fairly onthe mouth, causing him to lose his precarious foothold on the wall andfall back into the road.
It needed no further warning to inform the Birchites that thePhilistines were upon them, and every one set to work to lay in a stockof snowballs as fast as hands could make them. "Look out!" criedKennedy. Young Noaks's face rose once more above the top of the wall,and the next moment a big stone, the size of hen's egg, whizzed pastDiggory's head, and struck the garden door with a sounding bang.
"Oh, the cad!" cried Acton; "let's go for him."
The whole garrison combined in making a vigorous sortie into the road;but it was only to find the enemy in full retreat, and a few droppingshots at long range ended the skirmish.
"I say, Vance," exclaimed Diggory, "who are they? Who are thesefellows?"
Now, as the aforesaid Philistines play rather an Important part in theopening chapters of our story, I propose to answer the question myself,in such a way that the reader may be enabled to take a more intelligentinterest in the chain of events which commenced with the destruction ofthe snow man; and in order that this may be done in a satisfactorymanner, I will in a few words map out the ground on which this memorablecampaign was afterwards conducted.
Take the well-known drawing of two right angles In Euclid's definition,and imagine the horizontal line to be the main road to Chatford, whilethe perpendicular one standing on it is a by-way called Locker's lane.In the right angle stood The Birches; the house itself faced theChatford road, while behind it, in regular succession, came first thesloping garden, then the walled-in playground, and then the small fieldin which were attempted such games of cricket and football as thelimited number of pupils would permit. There were three doors in theplayground--one the entrance from the garden, another opening into thelane, and a third into the field, the two latter being usually keptlocked.
Locker's Lane was a short cut to Chatford, yet Rule 21 in The BirchesStatute-Book ordained that no boy should either go or return by thisroute when visiting the town; the whole road was practically put out ofbounds, and the reason for this regulation was as follows:
At the corner of the playing field the lane took a sharp turn, and abouta quarter of a mile beyond this stood a large red-brick house, shut inon three sides by a high wall, whereon, close to the heavy double doorswhich formed the entrance, appeared a board bearing in big letters thelegend--
HORACE HOUSE, Middle-Class School for Boys. A. PHILLIPS, B.A., Head-master.
The pupils of Mr. Phillips had been formerly called by Mr. Welsby's boysthe Phillipians, which title had in time given place to the presentnickname of the Philistines.
I have no doubt that the average boy turned out by Horace House was asgood a fellow, taking him all round, as the average boy produced by TheBirches; and that, if they had been thrown together in one school, theywould, for the most part, have made very good friends and comrades.However, in fairness both to them and to their rivals, it must be saidthat at the period of our story Mr. Phillips seemed for some time pastto have been unusually unfortunate in his elder boys: they wereundoubtedly "cads," and the character of the whole establishment, as faras the scholars were concerned, naturally yielded to the influence ofits leaders.
It had been customary every term for the Birchites to play a matchagainst them either at cricket or football; but their conduct during avisit paid to the ground of the latter, back in the previous summer, hadbeen so very ungentlemanly and unsportsmanlike that, when the nextchallenge arrived for an encounter at football, Mr. Welsby wrote back apolite note expressing regret that he did not see his way clear topermit a continuation of the matches. This was the signal for anoutbreak of open hostilities between the two schools: the Philistinescharged the Birchites in the open street with being afraid to meet themin the field. These base insinuations led to frequent exchanges oftaunts and uncomplimentary remarks; and, last of all, matters werebrought to a climax by a stand-up fight between Tom Mason, Acton'spredecessor as dux, and young Noaks. The encounter took place justoutside the stronghold of the enemy, the Birchite so far getting thebest of it that at the end of a five minutes' engagement he proclaimedhis victory by dragging his adversary along by the collar and bumpinghis head a number of times against the very gates of Horace House.Unfortunately a rumour of what had happened got to the ears ofMr. Welsby. Mason was severely reprimanded, and his companions wereforbidden, under pain of heavy punishment, to walk in Locker's Lanefurther than the corner of their own playing field.
"But who is young Noaks?" asked Diggory, as Jack Vance finished a hastyaccount of this warfare with the Philistines.
"Why, that's just the funny part of it," returned the other. "This SamNoaks is the son of our Noaks, but he's got an uncle, called Simpson,who lives at Todderton, where I come from. This man Simpson made a lotof money out in Australia, and when he came back to England he adoptedyoung Noaks, and sends him here to Phillips's school."
By this time the home forces had all struggled back into the playground.In one corner stood a wooden shed containing a carpenter's bench, achest for bats and stumps, and various other things belonging todifferent boys. Acton, as head of the school, kept the ke
y, and havingunfastened the door, summoned his followers inside to hold an impromptucouncil of war and discuss the situation. There was a grave expressionon each face, for every one felt that things were beginning to lookserious. Mason, the only one of their number who had been physicallyequal to the leaders of their opponents, was no longer among them, andthe enemy, evidently aware of their helpless condition, had dared forthe first time to actually come and beard them in their own den.
"What I want to know first is this," began Acton. "You can see by thefootmarks that they came in through that door; of course it's alwayskept locked, and here's the key hanging up inside the shed. Now whoopened it for them, and how was it done?"
"Perhaps it wasn't fastened," suggested Morris.
"Yes, it was," answered Kennedy excitedly. "I noticed that thismorning, when we were picking up stones for the snow man's buttons."
"Then I tell you what it is," continued Acton solemnly: "some one here'splaying us false, and my belief is it's old Noaks. D'you remember lastterm when Mason and Jack Vance and I made a plot for going down andthrowing crackers into their yard? Well, they must have heard of itfrom some one; for they were all lying in wait for us behind the wall,and as soon as we got near to it they threw cans of water over us andpelted us with stones."
There was a murmur of suppressed wrath at the memory of the fate of thisgallant expedition.
"Yes," added Shaw, "and I believe some one told them about this snowman."
"Well, one thing's certain," said Acton--"we must serve 'em out somehowfor knocking it down. They evidently think now Mason's gone they can dowhat they like, and that we shall be afraid of them. Now what can wedo?"
There was a silence; every one felt that a serious crisis had arrived inthe history of the Birchites, and that unless some immediate steps weretaken to avenge this insult they would no longer be free men, but livein constant terror of the Philistines;--every one, I say, felt that somebold action must be taken, yet nobody had a suggestion to make.
"Well, look here," said Acton, "something's got to be done. We must allthink it over, and we'll have another meeting in a week's time; then ifany one's made a plan, we'll talk it over and decide what's to be done."
"Jack," said Diggory two evenings later, "you know what Acton said aboutthe Philistines; well, I've got part of a plan in my head, but I shan'ttell you what it is till Wednesday."