"Have you many brothers and sisters?"
"I don't know," I again said.
"Where were you born?"
"That's more than I can tell you," I answered, quite quietly, and so I
went on.
"I don't think you have got much out of me," I said, at last. "And now
I want to know who among you can box the compass? Can any of you put a
ship about? Can some one describe the Marquesas? or tell me where
Tahiti and the Sandwich Islands are to be found?"
To none of these or similar questions did I receive any replies.
"Now I find that I have not got much out of you, either," I observed,
"so we are pretty equal. Now, you might have answered my questions,
though no one, as far as I know, could have answered those you put to
me."
"The young fellow has got his wits about him," observed one of the big
boys; and the others at once seemed inclined to treat me with far more
respect than at first.
"Now," said I, gaining courage, "I have spent most of my life at sea,
where we don't play the games you have on shore, but if any of you will
teach me, I shall be very glad to learn them; and perhaps I may show you
how to do a number of things you know nothing about."
From that day forward I was never bothered by having questions put to
me. I soon managed to get hold of a piece of rope, which had lashed up
one of the boy's boxes, and began to initiate several who wished to
learn into the mysteries of knotting and splicing. Before long a
carpenter came to do some work, and I got him to make me a pair of
stilts. Several of the bigger boys ordered others. I would not use
mine till the rest came home. Many then tried to walk about on them.
"Who are going to try their stilts?" I asked.
"We want to see you, Laurel, walk on yours," was the answer.
"No, no; you mount on yours first," I said; and most of them tried to
get up, each with the help of two or three fellows who stood round to
support them. I then brought out mine.
"Shall we help you?" inquired three or four of the boys, who by this
time were my chief friends and supporters.
"Thank you," I said, laughing; while the others who were looking on
expected to see me bungle as the rest had been doing. My friends
collected round me and prepared to help me up. I did not undeceive
them, but suddenly jumping on one side I sprang into my stilts.
"Who's for a race?" I cried out. "Come along; let us start fair."
We were at one end of the playground, and I began to move backwards and
forwards, and in and out among the other fellows. They seemed satisfied
that I was not going to do much better than they were. Several who had
by this time managed to balance themselves, now formed a line.
"Away you go," cried one of the big boys, who expected to see me and the
rest tumble down on our noses.
Off we started. In an instant I felt as much at home as I had been when
making my escape from Motakee's village, and, as might be supposed, away
I went. First one of the boys tumbled down, then another, and another,
while I kept ahead, and, reaching the end of the playground, turned back
again, to find all my competitors rubbing their arms and knees, only two
or three having the courage to make an attempt to stand up again on
their stilts.
"I don't want to laugh at you," I said, as I came back and stalked in
and out among them, looking down with a complacent air from my lofty
elevation. "I ought to have told you, perhaps, that I have had some
experience in walking on stilts, though, as I had not used them for many
months, I did not wish to boast beforehand. You will do as well as I
can in time."
"I should think you must have had experience," cried out two or three of
the big fellows; "and probably you can do a good many more things. We
shall be on the watch not to be taken in again."
Stilt-walking soon became the rage, though I continued to be far
superior to all my companions. They looked up to me in consequence with
even greater respect than before, and I found my position in the school
as satisfactory as I could desire. I was able, consequently, to take
the part of many of the weaker or less courageous boys who were bullied
by the rest. Among others, there was a delicate boy called Henri de
Villereine, and who, because he spoke with a foreign accent, was
nicknamed Frenchy. Though a year or two my senior, he was not nearly so
strong, and was ill able to defend himself against much smaller boys.
He seemed a gentle, well-disposed boy, and when others, on my first
going to school, had attacked me, he had always stood aloof. Though I
had not had much conversation with him, I could not bear to see him
bullied.
One day, when two or three fellows had set upon him, I rushed up to his
assistance, and, without saying a word, knocked over his assailants one
after the other. He gratefully thanked me, and said he was afraid that,
as soon as my back was turned, the fellows would set on him again.
After this no one ventured to attack Henri de Villereine, and I was the
means of rendering his life at school far pleasanter, poor fellow! than
it had been before. He showed his gratitude by every means in his
power, and as I liked him for his many amiable qualities, we became fast
friends.
However, I have not space to give an account of my schoolboy days. I
applied myself diligently to my studies, and while I believe that I was
liked by the boys, I gained credit with the masters, and rose rapidly
towards the head of the school.