ched; and when the hour struck, one
hundred and fifty boys were hard at work. Then the balls were held, the
master of the week came down in cap and gown to calling-over, and the
whole school of three hundred boys swept into the big school to answer
to their names.

"I may come in, mayn't I?" said Tom, catching East by the arm, and
longing to feel one of them.

"Yes, come along; nobody'll say anything. You won't be so eager to get
into calling-over after a month," replied his friend; and they marched
into the big school together, and up to the farther end, where that
illustrious form, the lower fourth, which had the honour of East's
patronage for the time being, stood.

The master mounted into the high desk by the door, and one of the
prepostors of the week stood by him on the steps, the other three
marching up and down the middle of the school with their canes, calling
out, "Silence, silence!" The sixth form stood close by the door on the
left, some thirty in number, mostly great big grown men, as Tom thought,
surveying them from a distance with awe; the fifth form behind them,
twice their number, and not quite so big. These on the left; and on the
right the lower fifth, shell, and all the junior forms in order; while
up the middle marched the three prepostors.

Then the prepostor who stands by the master calls out the names,
beginning with the sixth form; and as he calls each boy answers "here"
to his name, and walks out. Some of the sixth stop at the door to turn
the whole string of boys into the close. It is a great match-day, and
every boy in the school, will he, nill he, must be there. The rest of
the sixth go forwards into the close, to see that no one escapes by any
of the side gates.

To-day, however, being the School-house match, none of the School-house
prepostors stay by the door to watch for truants of their side; there
is carte blanche to the School-house fags to go where they like. "They
trust to our honour," as East proudly informs Tom; "they know very well
that no School-house boy would cut the match. If he did, we'd very soon
cut him, I can tell you."

The master of the week being short-sighted, and the prepostors of the
week small and not well up to their work, the lower-school boys employ
the ten minutes which elapse before their names are called in pelting
one another vigorously with acorns, which fly about in all directions.
The small prepostors dash in every now and then, and generally chast