terical crying. With head down he charged into Stanley, crashing
his fist on the senior prefect's chin.

The outraged prefects lost their heads. They surrounded him as he
fought. Above the turmoil came the cries: "Get hold of the little
devil!" "Pin his hands to his sides!" "He shan't forget this!" "Trip
him up, if you can't do anything else!" "It's not pluck, it's
temper!" "He's down--he's up again!" "By jove, the little blackguard
is going to beat the lot of you!" "Get him on the ground--don't be
afraid to go for him--he's asked for it." "That's right--got his
wrist? Twist it!" "Devil take it, he's wrenched it free again." "Get
out of the light--I'll settle him!" "I've got him--no, by God, I
haven't!"

Stanley, the first to recover himself, fell away from the rest.

"Come away, you fools. There are ten of you. Leave him alone."

"Can't help it!" yelled back Banana-Skin. "It's his fault. Let him
have it. That's right. Get him against the wall."

"Come away, you fools!" And Stanley began to pull them off and fling
them away furiously. Banana-Skin had a shock when he found himself
seized and hurled against the opposite wall.

It had been well had Stanley done this earlier, for Doe, turning
very white, fell forwards.

"Heaven save us!" exclaimed Stanley, as white as Doe. "We've done it
now. What brutes we are! Lock the door. He's fainted. By heaven, I
wish this had never happened!"

Doe had not fainted. He was in a state of semi-unconsciousness when
he knew where he was, but it was a long way off--when he heard all
that was said, but it came from a great distance--when neither his
position nor the sound of voices was of any interest to him, and his
only desire was to pass into complete unconsciousness, which would
bring rest and sleep. He felt them catch hold of him, one by the
armpits and another by the ankles, and knew that he was being lifted
on to a table.

Then the voices began from the top of a great well, while he lay at
the bottom. He could hear what they said; but why would they persist
in talking and keeping him awake? He was indifferent to them: they
were like voices in a railway carriage to a dozing traveller.

"I wouldn't have thought he had so much in him."

"Oughtn't we to undo his collar?"

Then the remarks evaporated into nonsense, but only for a space,
after which the nonsense solidified into sentences again.

"Don't you think we ought to send for Chappy?"

"Wait and see if he'll come r