t dissimilar articles, a
muff and a spoon. In converse such as this, the time slipped away, till
we suddenly discovered that we had only a quarter of an hour left
in which to walk back to Langdale Terrace, and prepare for dinner;
whereupon a race began, in which my longer legs gave me so decided an
advantage over Coleman that he declared he would deliver me up to
the tender mercies of the "Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Animals," for what he was pleased to call "an aggravated case of
over-driving a private pupil".

We had not more than five minutes left when we arrived at Dr. Mildman's
door, Coleman affording a practical illustration of the truth of
the aphorism, that "it is the pace that kills"; so that Thomas's
injunction, "Look sharp, gentlemen," was scarcely necessary to induce
us to rush upstairs two steps at a time. In the same hurry I entered
my bedroom, without observing that the door was standing ajar rather
suspiciously, for which piece of inattention I ~27~~was rewarded by a
deluge of water, which wetted me from head to foot, and a violent blow
on the shoulder, which stretched me on the ground in the midst of a
puddle. That I may not keep the reader in suspense I will at once inform
him that I was indebted for this agreeable surprise to the kindness
and skill of Lawless, who, having returned from his pigeon-match
half-an-hour sooner than was necessary, had devoted it to the
construction of what he called a "booby trap," which ingenious piece of
mechanism was arranged in the following manner: The victim's room-door
was placed ajar, and upon the top thereof a Greek Lexicon, or any other
equally ponderous volume, was carefully balanced, and upon this was set
in its turn a jug of water. If all these were properly adjusted, the
catastrophe above described was certain to ensue when the door was
opened.

[Illustration: page27 Caught in a Trap]

"Fairly caught, by Jove," cried Lawless, who had been on the watch.

"By Jupiter Pluvius, you should have said," joined in Coleman, helping
me up again; for so sudden and unexpected had been the shock that I
had remained for a moment just as I had fallen, with a kind of vague
expectation that the roof of the house would come down upon me.

"I suppose I have to thank you for that," said I, turning to Lawless.

"Pray, don't mention it, Pinafore," was the answer; "what little trouble
I had in making the arrangement, I can assure you, was quite repaid by
its succ