NUMBER 12 BILLINGS
The woods had given way to open fields, and they could follow with their
eyes the course of the road ahead as it turned to the left and ran,
almost parallel to the railroad, past where a pair of stone gate-posts
guarded the entrance to the Academy. From the gate a drive went winding
upward, hidden now and then by trees and shrubs, to where, at the crest
of a hill, a half-dozen buildings looked down upon them with numberless
windows.
"That's Main Hall," said Tom, "the big one in the centre. I remember it
in the catalogue."
"And that's the gym at this end," added Steve. "It's a pretty good
looking place, isn't it? What's the building where the tall chimney is,
driver?"
"Torrence. There's rooms upstairs and a dining-room on the first floor.
That chimney's from the kitchen at the back. Then the building in the
middle's Main Hall, as they call it. That was the original building. I
remember when there wasn't any others. The one to the left of it's
Hensey Hall. The fellows that lives there are called 'Chickens,'"
chuckled the man. "Then there's Billings beyond Hensey, and The Cottage,
where Mr. Fernald lives, is just around the corner, like. You can see
the porch of it if you look."
But they couldn't, for at that moment the carriage turned to enter the
gate and their view was cut off by a group of yellowing beeches.
Presently the carriage stopped in front of a broad flight of stone steps
and the boys climbed out.
"Fifty cents, gentlemen," said the driver as he lifted the bags out.
"Thank you, sir. Thank _you_, sir! I'll have your trunks up first thing
in the morning. Just walk right in through the door and you'll find the
office on your right. They'll look after you there. Much obliged,
gentlemen. Any time you want a rig or anything you telephone to Jimmy
Hoskins. That's me. Good-night, gentlemen, and good luck to you!"
Steve had contributed an extra quarter, which doubtless accounted for
Mr. Hoskins' extreme affability. Bags in hand they climbed the well-worn
granite steps and entered a dim, unlighted corridor. An open door on the
right revealed a room divided by a railing, in front of which were a
half-dozen wooden chairs and beyond which were two desks, some filing
cabinets, a book-case, a letter-press, some chairs and one small,
middle-aged man with a shining bald head which was raised inquiringly as
Steve led the way to the railing.
"How do you do, boys," greeted the sole occupant of the office in a
thin, high voice. "What are the names, please?" As he spoke he took a
card from a pile in front of him and dipped a pen in the ink-well.
"Stephen D. Edwards, sir."
"Full name, please."
"Stephen Dana."
"Very good. Place of residence?"
"Tannersville, Pennsylvania."
"A wonderful state, Pennsylvania. Parents' names, please."
"Charles L. Edwards. My mother isn't living."
"Tut, tut, tut!" said the school secretary regretfully and
sympathetically. "A great misfortune, Edwards. Now, you are entering by
certificate?"
"Yes, sir, from the Tannersville High School."
"And your age?"
"Fifteen; sixteen in----"
"Fifteen will do, thank you." He drew out a drawer in a small cabinet
set at the left of the broad-topped desk and ran his fingers over the
indexed cards within it, finally extracting one and laying it very
exactly above the one on which he had been setting down the information
supplied by Steve. For a moment he silently compared the two. Then he
nodded with much satisfaction. "Quite so, quite so," he said. "You will
room in Billings Hall, Number 12, Edwards. You are provided with linen
and other articles required?"
"Yes, sir, but my trunk hasn't got here yet."
"Quite so. One moment." He drew a telephone toward him, pressed a button
on a little black board set at one end of the desk, glanced at the clock
between the two broad windows and spoke into the transmitter: "Mrs.
Calder? Edwards, 12 Billings, hasn't his trunk yet. Will you have his
room made up, please? Eh? Quite so! Yes, 12 Billings. Just a moment." He
turned to Steve. "May I ask whether the young gentleman with you is your
room-mate, Hall?"
"Yes, sir."
"And his trunk, too, is missing?"
"Yes, sir."
"Quite so. Yes, Mrs. Calder, both beds, please. Thank you." He hung up
the receiver and pushed the instrument aside. "That is all, Edwards. I
trust you will like the school. Should you want anything you may come
to me here or you will find your Hall Master, Mr. Daley, in Number 8
Billings. Now, if you please, Hall."
Tom, in turn, answered the little man's interrogations and at last they
were free to seek their room.
"Billings is the last dormitory to your right as you leave this
building," said the secretary, "and you will find Number 12 on the
second floor at the further end. Supper is served at six o'clock in the
dining-room in Wendell, which is the last building in the other
direction. As we have very few students with us yet, the supper hour is
shortened and it will greatly assist if you will be prompt."
The boys thanked him and sought their room. A broad flagstone walk ran
the length of the row of six buildings and along this they strode past
the first building, which was Hensey, to the one beyond. The dormitories
were uniform in material and style of architecture, each being three
stories in height, the first story of stone and the others of red brick.
The entrance was reached by a single stone step, above which hung an
electric light just beginning to glow wanly in the early twilight.
Inside, two slate steps led to the first floor level and here a
fireproof door divided the staircase well from the corridor. A flight of
stone stairs took them to the second floor. "Rooms 11 to 20" was
inscribed on the door and Steve pushed it open and led the way down to a
very clean, well-lighted corridor to Number 12. There could be no
mistake about it, for the figures were very plainly printed on the white
door. Under the room number was a little metal frame which they
afterwards discovered was for the purpose of holding a card bearing the
names of the occupants. Steve pushed the door open and, followed by Tom,
entered.
There was still enough light from the one broad window to see by, but
Steve found a switch near the doorway and turned on the electricity. It
was a pretty forlorn looking place at first glance, but doubtless the
fact that the two beds were unmade, that the window-seat was empty of
cushions and that the two slim chiffoniers and the desk-table were bare
had a good deal to do with that first impression. The boys set their
bags down and looked about them rather dejectedly. Finally,
"I suppose when we get our things around it'll look different," murmured
Tom.
Steve grunted and tried a bed. "That feels pretty good," he said. "I
hope Mrs. Thingamabob won't forget to make it. Which side do you want?"
"I don't care," replied Tom. "There isn't any difference, I guess."
There didn't appear to be. The door was at the right as you entered, and
beside it was a good-sized closet. The room was about fifteen feet long,
from closet to window, by some twelve feet wide. A brown grass rug
filled most of the floor space. The wainscoting, of clean white pine,
ascended four feet and ended in a narrow ledge or shelf, devised, as
they afterwards discovered, to hold photographs or small pictures which
the rules prohibited them from placing on the walls. The walls were
painted a light buff. The furniture consisted of two single-width beds,
two chiffoniers, a study table and two straight-backed chairs. The beds
were against the opposite walls, the table in the geometrical centre of
the rug, the chiffoniers occupied a portion of the remaining wall space
on each side and the two chairs were set between beds and bureaus. The
window was in a slight bay and there was a six-foot seat below it. The
room was lighted by a two-lamp electrolier above the table, but from one
socket depended a green cord, suggesting that a previous occupant had
used a drop light.
"I wonder," said Steve, "where we are supposed to wash."
"Let's look for the bathroom," suggested Tom. So they returned to the
silent corridor and presently discovered a commodious bath and wash-room
at the farther end. There were six set bowls and four tubs there, and
Tom thought it was pretty fine. Steve, however, was in a mood to find
fault and he objected to the bathroom on several different counts. For
one thing, it was too far away. Then, too, he didn't see how twenty
fellows were going to wash at six bowls. Tom, however, promptly
demonstrated how one fellow could do it by returning to Number 12 and
bringing back his wash-cloth. In his absence Steve had been
experimenting with the liquid soap apparatus with which each bowl was
supplied, and by the time Tom got back was able to tell him why he
didn't approve of them! By the time they had both cleaned up it was time
to find the dining-hall, and so, leaving the light burning in brazen
disregard of a notice under the switch, they clattered downstairs again
and set off for the other end of the Row, as the line of buildings was
called.
Two or three boys were standing on the steps of Wendell when they
reached it and they were aware of their frankly curious gaze as they
passed them. The dining-hall wasn't hard to find, for its double doors
faced them as they entered the building. They left their caps on one of
the big racks outside and rather consciously stepped inside the doorway.
It was a huge room, seemingly occupying the entire first floor of the
building, and held what appeared to be hundreds of tables. Only four of
them were occupied now, two across the hall from the door and two at one
end. A boy of about seventeen or eighteen, wearing an apron and carrying
a tray of dishes, saw them, and, setting down his burden, conducted them
to one of the tables nearby. There were already five boys at the board
and they each and all stared silently while Steve and Tom slid into
their chairs. The newcomers surmised that they, too, were new boys, for,
unlike the fellows at the next table beyond, who were laughing and
chatting quite light-heartedly, they applied themselves grimly and
silently to their food and seemed to view each other with deep distrust.
Steve and Tom, striving against the embarrassment that held them,
conversed together in whispers. "It's a whaling big room," said Steve.
"Just like a hotel, isn't it? Wonder what we get to eat."
"Bet you I'll eat it, whatever it is," replied Tom. "I'm as hungry as a
bear!"
They weren't left long in doubt, for a second waiter appeared very
promptly and set their repast before them. There was cold roast beef, a
baked potato apiece, toasted muffins, milk and cocoa, preserves and
cookies. By the time they were half through their supper most of the
others had finished and hurried away, removing much of the embarrassment
of the situation. Steve ventured to stretch his legs comfortably under
the table and turn his head to regard the occupants of the tables at the
far end of the hall.
"I guess some of those are teachers," he said. "Gee, but I'd like some
more meat. Would you ask for it?"
"I don't know. No one else did. These muffins are bully, only there
aren't enough of them. I wonder if we'll sit here regularly."
"I don't suppose so. We'll probably be shoved to one of those tables
over there by the wall. What time do you suppose they have breakfast?
We'll have to ask someone, I guess. Didn't he say something about a Hall
Master?"
"Yes, in Number 8. We'll stop and ask him when we go back." There was a
scraping of chairs at the end of the room and several older boys and
two or three men came down the room toward the door. Steve and Tom
turned to look and suddenly Tom seized his companion's arm.
"It's him!" he exclaimed.
"Who?" asked Steve.
"Or--anyway it looks lots like him," continued Tom breathlessly.
"Who looks like what?" demanded the other impatiently.
"Why, the tall fellow just going out now! See him? He--he looks just
like the fellow in the station, the fellow who took your bag! The
confidence-man!"