"Well, never mind, I expect I'll think of something," said Jennings.
The next lesson was geography, but Mr Wilkins, who taught this subject to Form Three decided to spend the first ten minutes on an inspection of books and stationery.
"Well, boys! Take out your books in all subjects and lay them on your desks," said Mr Wilkins.
Form Three were surprised.
"All our books, sir? But it's a geography lesson, sir," said Bromwich.
"You heard what I said. And I also want to see your pens, pencils, erasers, rulers, everything."
"Is it an inspection, sir?" asked Atkinson.
"Of course it's an inspection. You don't think I'm organizing an exhibition, do you? I want to be quite sure that each thing has its owner's name on it."
Form Three liked book and stationery inspections as it was a pleasant change. The boys decided to make it last till the end of the lesson.
"Sir, please, sir, what shall I do, sir? I haven't got my name on my algebra book, sir," Temple began.
"Write it on the book at once then," came the answer.
Darbishire decided to ask the next pointless question.
"Please, sir, I've only got two inches of my ruler."
"Well?"
"Well, sir, my name is too long, sir, and I can't write it on one side. So will it be all right if I write Darbi on one side and shire on the other, sir?"
"I... I... Don't ask such silly questions, you silly little boy!"
"But, sir, I was only thinking..."
"Well, don't think!" said Mr Wilkins angrily. "Now the first thing I want to do is to make a list of all boys who need stationery. So, please, be quiet and put your hands up if you need anything."
Now Atkinson was the first. "Please, sir, I would write my name on my ruler, if I had one, but I gave it to Bromwich who says that he has lost it."
"Please, sir, can I ask for a new pencil if mine is only one and three-quarter inches long?" It was Crosby.
When at last Mr Wilkins finished the list, he stood up from the desk.
"I'm going to the staff room to get these things for you. And you, please, write down your names on all your books and stationery," said Mr Wilkins and went to the door.
"Sir, please, sir, how can I put my name on the eraser, sir?" It was Jennings. "You see, I tried to write my name in pencil, sir, but it disappears every time I rub something
out."
"I'm not taking any excuses," said Mr Wilkins. "Think of something!"
"But, sir..."
"Be quiet, Jennings, and do as I told you. If I find any of your things that hasn't your name on when I get back, I'll - I'll... Well, it had better have your name on, that's all," said Mr Wilkins and left the classroom.
For some moments Jennings sat thinking. All his other things had his name on them. How could he put it on the eraser? "And now that Mr Wilkins knows that my eraser hasn't got my name on, he will certainly want to know whether I have written my name on it or not... Shall I take a penknife and carve my name on the eraser?"
But at that moment he looked at the desk in front of him where Bromwich was gathering his books for the inspection. Near the books lay a ruler on which the name of the owner was branded by focusing the rays of the sun through a magnifying glass.
Here was the answer, Jennings decided. It was an autumn day, but the sun was shining brightly that afternoon.
"Hey, Bromo, may I borrow your magnifying glass, please?" asked Jennings.
Bromwich passed him the magnifying glass, and Jennings began to focus the rays of the sun on his eraser. Soon the eraser began to smoke. It worked! It worked! Jennings was happy.
Very slowly he began to move the magnifying glass, and soon the first letter of his name was ready. But he was so absorbed in his work that he did not notice a smell of burning rubber. But the other boys in the classroom noticed it.
"I say," Venables turned to Temple, "something is burning."
"I'm sure rubber is burning somewhere," answered Temple. He began to look around the room and soon found it. "Hey, Jennings, what do you think you are doing? Are you trying to suffocate the whole Form Three?"
Jennings looked at him, surprised.
"I'm only writing my name on my eraser. Don't worry. I've nearly finished. I must only do another... Hey! Help! The whole rubber is on fire!"
In a moment the whole classroom was full of smoke.
"You must be crazy, Jen," said Temple. "What will Old Wilkie say when..."
The door opened and Mr Wilkins came into the classroom with exercise-books and stationery in his hands. But he did not go far. He stopped between the door and his desk and smelt.
"There's something on fire!" he said.
"It's all right, sir," Jennings said quickly.
"It certainly isn't all right. I can smell it." And he smelt again. "Burning rubber, that's what it is."
"Yes, I know, sir, but it was by chance. I was only doing what you told me."
"I never told you to set fire to the building."
"I didn't mean that, sir. I was only writing my name on my eraser, sir."
"What! With a magnifying glass!" exclaimed Mr Wilkins when he saw the magnifying glass on Jennings' desk.
"Yes, sir. It worked well on Bromwich's ruler, sir, so I thought..."
"You silly little boy!" said Mr Wilkins and dropped the exercise-books and stationery on his desk.
Now Form Three decided to use the situation. The boys began to cough loudly.
"May we open the windows, sir?" said Atkinson,. and the boys ran to the windows.
"Be quiet!" said Mr Wilkins loudly. "Stop this nonsense and go back to your places!"
"But, sir, we can't breathe, sir," said Venables. "You said yourself that the whole room was..."
"Do as I tell you and be quiet!"
When everybody was sitting down at their desks, Mr Wilkins said, "You will have to come to the detention class this evening..."
"Oh, sir!" exclaimed Form Three.
"...if you don't behave yourselves now."
Form Three breathed again. Mr Wilkins wasn't a bad man, after all.
"And you, Jennings..." began Mr Wilkins.
"But I was only doing what you told me," said Jennings. "You said I had to write my name on..."
"Don't argue with me, boy! I've had enough nonsense from you, and if I have any more I'll - I'll... Well, there had better not be any more nonsense, that's all."
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The telephone line between dormitory 4 and dormitory 6
When Mr Wilkins went into the staff room after the end of afternoon school he found Mr Hind there.
"What's the matter, Wilkins?" asked Mr Hind. "You look so sad."
"You can't look happy after a lesson in Form Three. Take that boy Jennings for example..."
"Oh, yes! Jennings, as usual!"
"What can you do with a boy like that? I'm really tired of him."
"He doesn't mean to be disobedient. But the harder he tries to be good the worse it is. We can only hope that after some time he'll learn how to behave," said Mr Hind.
But during that week it was not quite so.
After Jennings had invented his home-made telephone the hobby spread through the whole school. Binns and Blotwell organized Form I Home-Made Telephone Line and the boys of Form I spent all their free time with tobacco tins near their mouths or ears. They sat in different parts of the common room and spoke to one another.
That was already not very interesting for Jennings. He was thinking of something new.
"It came to me suddenly in the middle of the history lesson," Jennings said to the boys of Form Three. "I thought we could make a direct line between Dormitory 6 and Dormitory 4. With the help of this line we can send messages after the teacher on duty puts the light out. That's the idea."
It was a good idea, because the window of Dormitory 4 on the floor of the building was directly above the window of Dormitory 6. In Dormitory 4 Jennings and Darbishire tog
ether with Venables, Atkinson, Temple and Bromwich slept. Dormitory 6 was larger, and twelve boys slept there. Among them were Jones and Crosby who were now listening to Jennings' plan.
"When the teacher on duty puts the 1 light out," Jennings explained, "I'll lower (one end of the telephone out of my window to Dormitory 6. A tap of the tobacco tin on the window will tell you that I'm going to start. And you," he turned to Jones and Crosby, "will have to take your end of the telephone. The teacher on duty usually puts out the light in our dormitory and then goes down and does the same in your dormitory. So when I see that your window is dark, I'll begin to lower your .end of the telephone."
"Yes, I understand that part of your plan," said Crosby, a tall boy with red hair and freckles. "But what messages are we going to send each other?"
That was a difficult question and Jennings knew it. "We'll soon think of something to talk about," he said. "For example, you can... you can ring up and ask what the exact time it is. And we can say, 'At the third pip it will be eight twenty-seven exactly!'"
"I'll do the pips," said Darbishire.
"What else can we do?" Jennings thought. The most interesting messages were those, which he and Darbishire had during their lunar expedition.
Jennings turned to Crosby and said, "I'll tell you what. Dormitory 4 can be Mars, and we'll pretend that you and Jones are on Earth."
"Why do we have to pretend that we are on Earth," said Crosby. "We have been down on Earth all our lives."
"Well, you know what I mean. Darbi and I are out in space and we are sending you messages," said Jennings.
"All right," said Jones. "But I don't understand why we have to stay..."
"Don't argue, Crosby. We are on Mars, and you are down on Earth, and when you hear a tap on your dormitory window - you'll know that I've lowered the telephone."
"All right," said Crosby. "We'll do what we can, but it will not be our fault if something goes wrong."
"But nothing can be wrong," said Jennings.
* * *
The members of Dormitory 6 took off their clothes very quickly that evening.
"Hurry up into bed, you boys," Crosby said to his friends: "Mr Wilkins is on duty. So let's not make him wait."
"Why not?" they wanted to know.
"Because there will be a message from Mars after Mr Wilkins puts the light out," explained Crosby.
"So don't ask him questions when he comes in to put the light out," advised Jones. "Say 'good night' and that's all."
Mr Wilkins was surprised when he came into Dormitory 6 and found all the boys in their beds. He was also surprised when he saw that the boys were waiting for him to put out the light. He had noticed the same thing in Dormitory 4 which he had visited some minutes earlier. At the same time Mr Wilkins was very pleased. "The boys now understood at last that they must behave themselves when the teacher on duty is L. P. Wilkins," he thought.
He turned off the light.
"Good night, sir. ... Good night," said Crosby at once.
"What do you mean - good night? I haven't gone yet."
"No, but you are going, aren't you, sir?"
"I'll go when I'm ready, and not before," said Mr Wilkins. "I want to be sure that everybody is going to sleep before I go."
He went to the window and for some minutes stood and looked down at the school yard.
"The dormitory is dark now,, and there will be a tap on the window at any moment," thought Jones.
"You don't have to stay here specially for us, sir," he said.
"That's all right. I'm not in a hurry," said Mr Wilkins. He turned from the window and began to walk about the dormitory.
"I think I heard the bell for teachers' supper," said Crosby.
"Really! Your sense of hearing must be wonderful..."
"Oh, yes, sir; it is, sir."
"...if you can hear sounds before they happen. Now you'll tell me that you can hear..." Mr Wilkins stopped - he heard a tap on the window behind him. "What was that?" he exclaimed. Dormitory 6 wanted to show that they did not hear anything. "What was what, sir?" they asked. "Didn't you hear anything now? Not even you Crosby, with your wonderful sense of hearing?"
Again a tap on the window. "There it is again - a tap," said Mr Wilkins and hurried back to the window.
"Yes, I think it is a tap, sir. The hot tap on the wash-basin often makes a funny noise, sir," said Jones.
"No, no, no. Not a water tap, you silly little boy. Somebody is tapping 'on the window."
Mr Wilkins opened the window and put his head out into the cool evening.
At the last moment Jennings saw that it was not Crosby's head, but Mr Wilkins', and quickly pulled the string up. So when Mr Wilkins looked down, then right and left, and then above his head he certainly did not see anything.
"It's too dark to see anything," he said and shut the window. "I'm going into the yard to see that all is well."
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Jennings and Darbishire give the alarm
Mr Wilkins went out of Dormitory 6 and hurried to the school yard. In the hall he met Mr Carter.
"I say, Carter, something strange is going on in the school yard," said Mr Wilkins. "Somebody is tapping on Dormitory 6 window."
Mr Carter smiled.
"Nonsense, Wilkins. I can't believe it. Nobody could tap on Dormitory 6 window from the ground without a ladder."
"All right, all right. I'm just telling you what happened. I'm not trying to explain it," said Mr Wilkins. "Maybe he used a ladder."
"You think that suddenly during the night somebody had a wish to clean windows. Well, really, Wilkins!"
"Of course not. I think that somebody was in the school yard. Somebody who disappeared when I looked out of the window. It could be a burglar."
"I don't think so," said Mr Carter. "Why did a burglar have to choose that strange time and place."
But Mr Wilkins was sure that there was somebody in the school yard.
"I didn't say there was a burglar. I said there could be," he answered coldly. "And I must find out who it was."
"All right. I'll come with you," said Mr Carter with a smile.
The two teachers went out and closed the door behind them. It was cold and the moon was shining brightly.
For some minutes they walked about the school yard, but, of course, they did not find anybody.
"I think you frightened him away when you put your head out of the window," said Mr Carter and smiled again.
"You don't think there was a burglar, do you?" Mr Wilkins got angry. "I see you don't believe me."
"I certainly think that you were mistaken. But I think you were right to come out and see. And as there is nobody in the yard, let's go back and have our supper."
But when they came up to the door they found that neither of them had a key. Mr Wilkins rang the bell. But there was no answer. Now they had to wait in the cool November evening. Half a minute later Mr Wilkins rang the bell again. After that he knocked and rang the bell again and again, but nobody came to answer. It was not surprising, because everybody was at that time having supper in the dining hall at the far end of the building.
Suddenly Mr Wilkins said, "Never mind, Carter. I've now remembered that I saw an open window. It's a window in Classroom 2 which is on the ground floor. So you stay here, and I'll climb in and open the door for you."
With these words Mr Wilkins hurried down the steps, turned round the corner of the building and came up to the window of Classroom 2. It was really open, and a moment later he was on the window-ledge, his head in the dark room and his feet still hanging over the window-ledge.
If only he had known with what interest two boys watched him from the window of Dormitory 4!
* * *
Fifteen minutes earlier Jennings had been greatly surprised to see Mr Wilkins put his head out of the window of Dormitory 6. He was so surprised that he nearly dropped the telephone on Mr Wilkins' head. Jennings quickly shut the window.
"Old Wilkie is still there," he
whispered to Darbishire.
"Are you sure?" his friend asked him.
"Of course I'm sure. I nearly dropped the telephone on his head when he put it out of the window."
"You don't think he saw you, do you?" "Oh, no, he didn't see me. But let's wait some minutes and give him time to leave the room before we try again."
The dormitory floor was cold and the two boys climbed back into bed.
"What's the matter?" whispered Temple.
"Yes, what has happened?" whispered Venables.
"Everything is all right," said Jennings.
When Darbishire climbed back into his warm bed his only wish was not to get out of it and not to stand in front of an open window.
Not so Jennings! "We must think about our messages now, while we are waiting," he said.
"I don't think it is very important," answered Darbishire. "Well, you may ask them why Old Wilkie didn't go to have his supper, but was looking at the moon."
"Yes, but what are we going to talk about after that?" asked Jennings. "We've just arrived on Mars, you see, and we have to tell them all about it."
"Well, why not say, 'We've just arrived and are having a good time!'"
"We can't say that. You are not sending a postcard home, are you?"
"Well, think about something better, then."
"That's what I'm trying to do," said Jennings. "You can't understand that we are space pilots, and we must say something important to the world which is waiting for our messages."
They were talking about their messages for some time. At last Jennings said:
"I think Old Wilkie has gone to have his supper. So I'll try again." He got out of bed and took his home-made telephone. "Wake up, Darbi! Don't sleep! Come and help me!"
Darbishire got out of bed, put on his slippers ("It's very cold on Mars," he said to himself) and slowly went to the window to help his friend.
At that moment Jennings looked through the window and saw... no, he could not believe his eyes. In the school yard he saw a man climbing through the window of Classroom 2.
"Look, Darbi, look!" he exclaimed.
Darbishire looked out.
Jennings and His Friends Page 10