forded the townspeople of Riddington
one more glance at an old-fashioned relic.

"That was a piece of pure, boyish mischief," he exclaimed, "and only
deserved a lecture; but the other was bad. You ought to have been
caned. You would have caught it severely here. However, from this day
we start a new book. Turn over that fresh leaf which one so often hears
about. I am your friend--remember that, Phil Western. You will meet
with no harshness here. A piece of pure frolic I can enjoy; but
anything else, any breach of discipline, shall meet with the punishment
it deserves. But we will not talk of that. We shall be excellent
friends, I feel sure. Now come with me and I will introduce you to your
new school-fellows."

Mr Ebden led Phil along a passage and through another room into a
garden, in which were some twenty boys.

"There they are," he said, giving him a push. "Go and make friends with
them too."

Somewhat bewildered with the very pleasant greeting he had already
received, and more than pleased with the difference between his
forebodings and the reality, Phil walked forward and looked at the lads
before him, wondering which one he should address first.

And they too stared hard at Phil, and summed him up in a moment. Here
was a boy with a big loose frame that wanted some filling out, long legs
and arms that looked as though a little exertion would push them far
through his clothing, and a well-tanned and freckled face; not exactly
good-looking, but distinctly pleasing, and possessing eyes which looked
straight at you, and a mouth with a queer little line beneath it, which
told that, though smiling now, it could become hard and stem on
occasion. The whole, capped by close-cropped, almost reddish hair, made
up an appearance which was taking.

"A decent chap. He must be a good fellow," was the half-muttered
thought of the boys, the tallest of whom advanced and at once entered
into conversation with Phil. The others joined in, and in a few minutes
he was quite at his ease, and feeling more certain than ever that the
change of schools was decidedly not for the worst.

Time proved that he was right, for there was no doubt that Mr Ebden had
a wonderful power over his scholars. From the first he made friends of
them, and endeavoured to keep them so. Indeed he seldom failed. A lad
who had elsewhere been sullen and morose, and in many cases
unmanageable, became under the new regime bright and laughing,