Of course we were wrong; of course we were foolish.
But then, reader, please remember we were only boys goaded up to the
last pitch, and quite unable, as I have narrated, to stand the Henniker
any longer.
It was no game we were embarked on. If you had seen the seriousness of
our faces as we inspected the parlour and reconnoitred the Henniker's
future prison, that Saturday; if you had heard the seriousness of our
voices as we solemnly deliberated whether nails or screws would be best
to use in fastening up the doors--you would have found out that,
"backward and troublesome" boys as we were, we could be in earnest
sometimes.
"Screwing's quieter," said Rathbone.
"Nailing's quicker," said Philpot.
"Isn't that a thing the captain had better decide?" softly suggested
Hawkesbury, turning to Smith.
I always got fidgety when the senior boy and my chum got near each
other. Smith had such a way of firing up instinctively at whatever the
other might say, even when it meant no harm.
He flared up now with his eyes, and then turning to the two boys, said,
shortly, "Screws of course; that's been settled long ago."
Hawkesbury smiled gratefully, and said he was sure a matter like that
would not be overlooked.
Well, the Henniker went on having her fling that Saturday and Sunday.
We caught it right and left, and took it all meekly. Nay, some of us
took it so meekly that I was once or twice afraid our secret would be
suspected.
The regulation-reading in the parlour on Sunday evening was a shocking
time for me. I had no intention of being bad, but somehow, what with
the excitement of our scheme, and the dreariness of the reader's voice,
and the closeness of the room, I fell asleep and nearly rolled off my
form.
The Henniker put down her book.
"Batchelor," said she, "you shall be punished. Stand on the form and
read aloud."
And so saying, she handed me the book and pointed to the place.
This was the very refinement of torture, and I draw a veil over the sad
spectacle which followed. Nor was I the only victim standing there
struggling and perspiring through the long sentences, turned back
whenever I made a mistake, to begin the page over again, till the end of
the chapter seemed to get farther and farther away; the other boys, too,
came in for part of the tragedy, for the Henniker, being now free of her
book, had no occupation for her eyes but to glare at them, and no
occupation for her tongue but to level bad marks and rebukes and
punishments at the head of every offender.
"Reading" lasted that evening until ten o'clock, and to this day I
cannot imagine how it ever came to an end even then. I know I never got
to the end. This sad experience gave a considerable additional zest to
our hopes of freedom on the following day.
Smith was not the sort of fellow to undertake what he did not mean to
carry through, and I was astonished to see how carefully his plans were
laid, and how precisely he had allotted to every one of us our
respective duties.
Monday dawned at length, and we rose from our beds like patriots on the
morning of a battle which is to decide their freedom or slavery.