little concerned, either with the
cheers of his friends or the few howls of his mutinous juniors. He was
used to noises, and they made very little difference to him one way or
another. Cresswell, on the contrary, seemed decidedly pleased, when
cheers and cries of "Well run!" greeted his appearance; and most of the
other monitors--Cartwright, the quick-tempered, warm-hearted Templeton
football captain; Freckleton, the studious "dark man;" Bull, the
"knowing one," with his horse-shoe pin; Pledge, the smirking "spider;"
of the Sixth, and others--seemed to set no little store by the reception
the school was pleased to accord them.

At last all were in their places, the door was shut--a traditional
precaution against magisterial invasion--and Pontifex lounged to his
feet.

"Well, you fellows," said he, with a pleasant smile and in a pleasant
voice, "here we are again at another Election. We're always glad to see
one another after the holidays--at least I am (cheers)--and I hope we've
got a good year coming on. They tell me I'm captain of Templeton this
year. (Laughter and cheers.) I can tell you I'm proud of it, and only
wish I wasn't going to Oxford in the autumn. (Cheers and cries of
'Don't go.') The comfort is, you'll have a rattling good captain in
Mansfield when I'm gone. (Cheers and a few howls.) I don't wonder some
of the young 'uns howl, for he'll make some of you sit up, which I could
never do. (Great laughter among the Seniors, and signs of dissension in
the Den.) But I've not got to make a speech. There's a lot of
business. The first thing is the cricket captain. There's only one man
fit for that, and I won't go through the farce of proposing him. Those
who say Mansfield's the right man for cricket captain, hold up your
hands."

A forest of hands went up, for even the malcontents who didn't approve
of Mansfield as a monitor had nothing to say against his cricket, which
was about as perfect as any that had been seen in the Templeton fields
for a dozen years.

With similar unanimity Cresswell was re-elected Whipper-in of the
Harriers, and no one held up his hand more enthusiastically for him than
did Dick, who shuddered to think how he could ever have imagined himself
on such a lofty pedestal.

Then followed in quick succession elections to the other high offices of
state in Templeton--Cartwright to the football captaincy, Bull to the
keepership of the fives and tennis, Freckleton to be warden