ough he was being continually called upon to
deliver it, he never got beyond the opening "Ahem! Gentlemen," before a
sudden movement of the platform precipitated him into the arms of his
irreverent hearers, or a shout of "Play up at the cocoa-nuts!" followed
by a shower of acorns, bits of stick, and pieces of turf, caused him to
jump down and hastily seek shelter behind the roller.

For two days, especially in the Lower School, the excitement continued
steadily to increase, and small boys being seized in out-of-the-way
corners were made to assert at one time that they would vote for
Thurston, and at another that they would vote for Parkes or Fielding,
and so, in order to escape with a whole skin, were forced to commit
perjury at least a dozen times between the hours of breakfast and tea.

One incident, which as far as the Lower Fourth was concerned tended
considerably to embitter the contest, is worthy of record as a notable
feature of this memorable campaign.

The occupants of dormitory No. 13 were rabid Thurstonians; dormitory No.
14, on the other hand, in which slept the Triple Alliance, Maxton,
"Rats," and Carton, were to a man supporters of Parkes and Fielding.
On Friday evening the two doors, which were exactly opposite to each
other, being left open, the process of undressing was enlivened by a
continual fire of abuse and insulting remarks, which might have led to a
regular scrimmage between the two parties if the presence of the
prefect, patrolling the passage, had not prevented either side from
advancing beyond the threshold of their own doorway.

"I wouldn't vote for a chap like Thurston, who goes boozing in a common
'pub' like the Black Swan," cried "Rats;" "but that's just the sort of
man for you. You're a cheap lot, the whole crew of you!"

"Look here, young 'Rats,'" retorted Fletcher junior from the opposite
room, wandering rather wide of the subject in hand. "Why don't you
write home and ask your people to buy you a new pair of braces,
instead of mending those old ones up with string? You look just like a
young street arab, and that's about what you are!"

"Don't you fellows talk about broken braces, and looking like street
arabs," cried Diggory, "when only yesterday old Greyling sent Stokes out
of class and told him to go down to the lavatory and wash his face.
That's a sample of you Thurstonians!"

"Look here!" shouted the boy alluded to, springing out of bed, and
appearing in his night-shirt