CHAPTER TEN.
That evening after tea, while Mercer and I were down by the gardens,where I found that somebody had been dancing a jig on my newly-rakedbeds, we heard a good deal of chattering and laughing over in theplay-field, and Burr major's voice dominating all the others so queerlythat I laughed.
"I say, isn't it rum!" said Mercer, joining in. "I hope we shan't belike that by and by. Hodson is sometimes. There, hark!"
I listened, and Burr major was speaking sharply in a highly-pitchedvoice, that was all squeak, and then it descended suddenly into a gruffbass like a man's.
"Do you know what old Reb said he was one day?" said Mercer, wiping hiseyes, for a chance to laugh at his tyrant always afforded him the mostprofound satisfaction.
"No. A dandy?"
"A hobbledehoy! and he looks it, don't he? It did make him so savagewhen he heard, and he said he wasn't half such a hobbledehoy as old Rebwas, and Dicksee said he'd go and tell."
"And did he?"
"Did he? You know how my nose was swelled up."
"Of course."
"Well, that was nothing to Dicksee's. His is a nose that a tap willswell up, and when old Eely regularly hammered till it was soft, itlooked dreadful, and when he said he'd go straight to the Doctor, Eelyhammered him again till he went down on his knees and begged Eely'spardon, and promised to say it was done by a cricket-ball. I say, hark!they've got something over there. Let's go and see."
We went down along the hedge to the gate, and as soon as we passedthrough we could see Burr major standing up tall and thin in the midstof a group of boys, to whom he was showing something, and, our curiositybeing excited, we strolled up to the group, to find that a generalinspection was going on of a little bright new silver watch which Burrmajor had received in a box along with some new clothes that day fromhis father in London.
The great tall, thin fellow was giving himself the most ridiculous airs,and talking in a haughty condescending way to the boys about him, justas if watches were the commonest things in the world to him.
"Then, you know," he was saying, as we drew nigh, "you press on thatlittle round place very lightly with your nail, and the back fliesopen--see."
He pressed the spring, the back opened, showing the polished interior ofthe case, and then shut it with a snap two or three times, the caseflashing in the evening light; and as I glanced at Mercer, I quitewondered to see the eager look of interest and longing he directed atthat watch.
"I say, how do you wind it up?" cried a small boy.
"Why, you just push the key in that little hole, and turn it a few timesso. Oh, I forgot--I did wind it up before."
"Why, you wound it up six times," said Dicksee, with a sneer.
"Well, it's my own watch, isn't it, stupid? I can wind it up a hundredtimes if I like," cried Burr major contemptuously.
"I say, how much did it cost?" said Hodson.
"How should I know? I'm not going to ask my father how much a thingcosts when he gives me a present. Lot of money--ten or fifteen pounds,I daresay."
"Yah! Silver watches don't cost so much as that," sneered Dicksee.
"Look here, Dicky," cried Burr major, "you're getting too cheeky. Ishall have to take you down a peg or two."
"Oh, never mind old Fatsides," cried another boy. "Here, Burr, oldchap, show us the works."
"Oh, nonsense, boys! I'm going to put it away now," said Burr major,opening and shutting the back, so as to make a loud snapping noise.
"I say, I should have a gold chain if I were you, Burr," said anotherboy.
"No, I don't think I shall," said the big fellow nonchalantly; "not forschool. Silver would be good enough when a fellow's playing cricket orfootball."
"Oh, I say, do show us the works!" said the boy who had spoken before.
"Oh, very well. What young noodles you are! Any one would think youhad never seen a watch before. You see this is one of the best class ofwatches, and you open the glass by pressing your nail in there. That'sit, you see; and then you stick your nail on that little steel thing,and then it comes open--so. Here, keep back, some of you. Breathing onthe works spoils a watch."
"Oh, what a beauty!" rose in chorus, and I saw Mercer press forward withhis eyes dilated, and an intense look of longing in his countenance, ashe gazed at the bright yellow works, and the tiny wheel swinging to andfro upon its hair-spring.
"Yes, it's a good watch," said Burr major, in a voice full of carelessindifference. "Not the same make as my father's. His is gold, ofcourse, and when you open it, there's a cap fits right over the top--just over there. His is a repeater, and when you touch a spring, itstrikes the quarters and the hours."
Mercer looked on as if fascinated.
"Like a clock," said Hodson.
"Of course it does like a clock," said Burr major contemptuously. "It'sjewelled, too, in ever so many holes. It cost a hundred guineas, Ithink, without the chain."
"Oh!" rose in chorus.
"Is that jewelled in lots of holes?" said one of the boys.
"Of course it is. My father wouldn't send me a watch without it was."
"I can't see any holes," said one.
"And I don't see any jewels," said another.
"Where are they, then?" said Hodson.
"The other side, of course."
"Then what's the good of them?"
"Makes a watch more valuable," said Burr major haughtily. "There, don'tcrowd in so. I'm going to put it away now."
"What jewels are they?" said a boy. "Pearls?"
"Diamonds," said Mercer, with his eyes fixed on the watch, "to make hardpoints for the wheels to swing upon, because diamonds won't wear."
"Oh, hark at him!" cried Burr major. "Old Senna knows all about it.Hardly ever saw a watch before in his life."
"Haven't I?" cried Mercer. "Why, my father has a beauty, with secondhands--a stop watch."
"Ha, ha, ha!" cried Burr major, closing his new present with a loudsnap. "A stop watch! that's an old one that won't go, boys. Poor oldMercer!--poor old Senna Tea! Did your father buy it cheap?"
There was a roar of laughter at this, for the boys always laughed atBurr major's jokes.
"No; I know," said Hodson. "One of old Senna's patients that he killed,left it him in his will."
I saw Mercer turn scarlet.
"Did you ever take it to pieces, and stuff it again, Senna?" and therewas another roar of laughter.
"He did, I know, and that's why it won't go."
"Come along," whispered Mercer to me, for, now that the watch haddisappeared in its owner's pocket, the attraction which had held mycompanion there seemed to have gone, and we began to walk away.
"There they go," cried Burr major; "pair of 'em. Burr junior's gettingon nicely with his stuffing. I say, young un, how many doses of physichas he made you take?"
"Come away," whispered Mercer; "let's go back to the gardens. If I stophere, I shall fly out at him, and get knocked about again."
"Ah! Oh! Go home!" was shouted, Burr major starting the cry, and hisfollowers taking it up in chorus till we had passed through the gate,when Mercer clenched his fists, and gave both feet a stamp.
"And him to have a watch like that!" he cried; "and I've longed for oneever since I was ten. Oh, I do hate that chap! Shouldn't you haveliked to hit him?"
"No," I said. "I felt all the time as if I should have liked to kickhim."
"Oh, I felt that too. But, I say, shouldn't you like a watch the sameas his?"
"Yes," I said, "of course. Perhaps we shall have watches some day."
"Let's save up and buy one between us, and you have it one week, and methe other."
"But you wanted to save up and buy the gun that takes to pieces, so thatwe could go shooting."
"Yes, so I did," said Mercer--"so I do. But I should like that watch."
"Perhaps he'll get tired of it soon," I said, "and want to sell it."
"No; he isn't that sort of fellow. He always sticks to hi
s things, andyou never know him give anything away. But, I say, it is a beautifulwatch, isn't it?"
"Yes; so new and bright. It was going, too."
"Wish he'd lose it when he was jumping or playing cricket, and I couldfind it."
"But you couldn't keep it, if you did find it. You'd know it was his."
"But perhaps I mightn't know he'd lost it, and it was his. Then I mightkeep it, mightn't I?"
I burst out laughing at him.
"Why, you've taken quite a fancy to that watch, Tom," I said, and helooked at me with his forehead all puckered up.
"Yes, I suppose so," he said dreamily. "I felt as if I'd giveeverything I have got to have it."
"Stuffed birds, and the frog, and the ferret, and the boxing-gloves?" Isaid merrily.
"No, no, no! that I wouldn't. There, I'm not going to think about itany more. I say, the gloves--to-morrow morning. Oh!"
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