or, into which the knights in armour rode on horseback
to meals, that being far less trouble than removing one's armour, and
quite as picturesque. More or less amicably I obtained possession of a
bed in a good location, under a big window which looked out over the
beautiful gardens below. I cannot remember that I experienced any of
those heart-searchings or forebodings which sentiment deplores as the
inevitable lot of the unprotected innocent.

One informal battle during the first week with a boy possessed of the
sanctity of having come up from the lower school, and therefore being
an "old boy," achieved for me more privileges than the actual decision
perhaps entitled one to enjoy, namely, being left alone. I
subsequently became known as the "Beast," owing to my belligerent
nature and the undue copiousness of my hair.

The fact that I was placed in the upper fourth form condemned me to do
my "prep" in the intolerable barrack called "Big School"--a veritable
bear-garden to which about three hundred small boys were relegated to
study. Order was kept by a master and a few monitors, who wandered to
and fro from end to end of the building, while we were supposed to
work. For my part, I never tried it, partly because the work came very
easy to me, while the "repetition" was more readily learned from a
loose page at odd times like dinner and chapel, and partly because,
winning a scholarship during the term, I was transferred to a building
reserved for twenty-eight such privileged individuals until they
gained the further distinction of a place in the house class-room, by
getting their transfer into the fifth form.

Besides those who lived in the big quad there were several houses
outside the gates, known as "Out-Houses." The boys there fared a good
deal better than we who lived in college, and I presume paid more
highly for it. Our meals were served in "Big Hall," where the whole
four hundred of us were fed. The meals were exceptionally poor; so
much so that we boys at the beginning of term formed what we called
brewing companies--which provided as far as possible breakfasts and
suppers for ourselves all term. As a protection against early
bankruptcy, it was our custom to deposit our money with a rotund but
popular school official, known always by a corruption of his name as
"the Slug." Every Saturday night he would dole out to you your deposit
made on return from the holidays, divided into equal portions by the
number of w