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-raked
beds, we heard a good deal of chattering and laughing over in the
play-field, and Burr major's voice dominating all the others so queerly
that I laughed.
"I say, isn't it rum!" said Mercer, joining in. "I hope we shan't be
like that by and by. Hodson is sometimes. There, hark!"
I listened, and Burr major was speaking sharply in a highly-pitched
voice, that was all squeak, and then it descended suddenly into a gruff
bass like a man's.
"Do you know what old Reb said he was one day?" said Mercer, wiping his
eyes, for a chance to laugh at his tyrant always afforded him the most
profound satisfaction.
"No. A dandy?"
"A hobbledehoy! and he looks it, don't he? It did make him so savage
when he heard, and he said he wasn't half such a hobbledehoy as old Reb
was, 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 will
swell up, and when old Eely regularly hammered till it was soft, it
looked dreadful, and when he said he'd go straight to the Doctor, Eely
hammered him again till he went down on his knees and begged Eely's
pardon, 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 passed
through we could see Burr major standing up tall and thin in the midst
of a group of boys, to whom he was showing something, and, our curiosity
being excited, we strolled up to the group, to find that a general
inspection was going on of a little bright new silver watch which Burr
major had received in a box along with some new clothes that day from
his 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, just
as if watches were the commonest things in the world to him.
"Then, you know," he was saying, as we drew nigh, "you press on that
little round place very lightly with your nail, and the back flies
open--see."
He pressed the spring, the back opened, showing the polished interior of
the case, and then shut it with a snap two or three times, the case
flashing in the evening light; and as I glanced at Mercer, I quite
wondered to see the eager look of interest and longing he directed at
that 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 times
so. 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 hundred
times 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 thing
costs 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. I
shall have to take you down a peg or two."
"Oh, never mind old Fatsides," cried another boy. "Here, Burr, old
chap, 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 another
boy.
"No, I don't think I shall," said the big fellow nonchalantly; "not for
school. Silver would be good enough when a fellow's playing cricket or
football."
"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 you
had never seen a watch before. You see this is one of the best class of
watches, and you open the glass by pressing your nail in there. That's
it, 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 on
the works spoils a watch."
"Oh, what a beauty!" rose in chorus, and I saw Mercer press forward with
his eyes dilated, and an intense look of longing in his countenance, as
he gazed at the bright yellow works, and the tiny wheel swinging to and
fro upon its hair-spring.
"Yes, it's a good watch," said Burr major, in a voice full of careless
indifference. "Not the same make as my father's. His is gold, of
course, 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, it
strikes 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's
jewelled, too, in ever so many holes. It cost a hundred guineas, I
think, 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't
crowd 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 hard
points 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 second
hands--a stop watch."
"Ha, ha, ha!" cried Burr major, closing his new present with a loud
snap. "A stop watch! that's an old one that won't go, boys. Poor old
Mercer!--poor old Senna Tea! Did your father buy it cheap?"
There was a roar of laughter at this, for the boys always laughed at
Burr major's jokes.
"No; I know," said Hodson. "One of old Senna's patients that he killed,
left it him in his will."