is, I've never seen you from
that day to this."

"Is that all you want to say?" said Mansfield, turning to Pledge.

"I can only say this," said Pledge: "that I never saw three boys imitate
guilt better. If they hadn't done it, I should like to ask them why
they quaked in their shoes whenever they met me, and why they sent me a
round robin, asking me not to tell about them?"

"I can tell you that!" shouted Dick, springing up.

"You needn't wait, Mr Webster," said Mansfield. "Thank you for coming
up."

"Thank you, gentlemen," said the tradesman.

"I'm sorry to be mixed up in the matter. Mr Pledge can go somewhere
else for his books. Good day, gentlemen."

"Good day," said several voices.

When order was restored, Dick was discovered, red in the face, mounted
on a form, propped up on either side by his faithful allies.

"I can tell him that," he cried, "and all of you, too. We thought he
knew about another row of ours--about Tom White's boat, you know. It
was us let her go; at least I did, and Georgie was there, too, and
Coote's been in it since he came up. Tom White robbed us coming back
from Grandcourt, and we were awfully wild, and were cads enough to slip
his boat on the beach. There's been a regular row, and we expected to
be transported. We backed Tom White up all we could, and tried to get
him off. I told the magistrate it was us did it, and he said I'd put
him in a jolly fix. Pledge was always talking to us about the police,
and the county gaol, and that sort of thing, and we made sure he'd found
out all about it, and was going to do us over it. We never guessed he
was running his head against that pencil business, or we could easily
have put him right. We're awfully sorry about the boat, you know. My
governor came down and squared most of the fellows, and it's all right
now, and Tom's got let off. Pledge has got a spite against all our
'Firm,' because we're not going to let Georgie be made a cad of by him,
and we told him so; didn't we, you chaps?"

"Yes, we did," shouted the "chaps."

"Yes, he thought," continued Dick, warming up, "he'd make Georgie go and
fag for him again, by threatening him about this row; but we backed
Georgie up, and wouldn't let him; and then he promised to show us up at
the 'Sociables,' and so he has."

Dick's oration was too much for the feelings of his audience. They
laughed and cheered at every sentence; and when finally he subsided
between his two support