rnal vengeance, and the very day after
had seized Owen with the avowed intention of "half murdering him." But
before he could once strike him, Owen said in the most chill tone,
"Barker, if you touch me, I shall go straight to Dr Rowlands." The
bully well knew that Owen never broke his word, but he could not govern
his rage, and first giving Owen a violent shake, he proceeded to thrash
him without limit or remorse.

Pale but unmoved, Owen got away, and walked straight to Dr Rowlands's
door. The thing was unheard of, and the boys were amazed at his
temerity, for the Doctor was to all their imaginations a regular _Deus
ex machina_. That afternoon, again, Barker was publicly caned, with the
threat that the next offence would be followed by instant and public
expulsion. This punishment he particularly dreaded, because he was
intended for the army, and he well knew that it might ruin his
prospects. The consequence was, that Owen never suffered from him
again, although he daily received a shower of oaths and curses, which he
passed over with silent contempt.

Now, I do not recommend any boy to imitate Owen in this matter. It is a
far better and braver thing to bear bullying with such a mixture of
spirit and good-humour, as in time to disarm it. But Owen was a
peculiar boy, and remember he had _no_ redress. He bore for a time,
until he felt that he _must_ have the justice and defence, without which
it would have been impossible for him to continue at Roslyn School.

But why, you ask, didn't he tell the monitors? Unfortunately at Roslyn
the monitorial system was not established. Although it was a school of
250 boys, the sixth-form, with all their privileges, had no prerogative
of authority. They hadn't the least right to interfere, because no such
power had been delegated to them, and therefore they felt themselves
merely on a par with the rest, except for such eminence as their
intellectual superiority gave them. The consequence was, that any
interference from them would have been of a simply individual nature,
and was exerted very rarely. It would have done Owen no more good to
tell a sixth-form boy than to tell any other boy; and as he was not a
favourite, he was not likely to find any champion to fight his battles
or maintain his just rights.

All this had happened before Eric's time, and he heard it from his best
friend Russell. His heart clave to that boy. They became friends at
once by a kind of electr