in the ring, he had to put them all
back and go out. Ernest was kneeling down to take his turn, when
Blackall, tired of his gymnastic exercises, came sauntering by.
"What are you about there, you fellows? I'll join you," he exclaimed.
"How many down? Eight. Oh, very well."
Without more ado he was stooping down to shooting from the offing,
when Ernest observed that he had taken his turn.
"Who are you, I should like to know, you little upstart?" cried Blackall,
eyeing the new-comer with great disdain. "Get out of my way, or I will
kick you over."
"Indeed I shall not," exclaimed Ernest, who had never been spoken to
in that style before, but whose whole spirit rose instantly in rebellion
against anything like tyranny or injustice. Without speaking further, he
stooped down and shot his taw with considerable effect along the edges
of the ring of marbles. It knocked out several, and stopped a little way
outside.
"Didn't you hear me?" exclaimed Blackall furiously. "Get out of my
way, I say."
Ernest did not move, but took his taw and again fired, with the same
effect as before. Blackall's fury was now at its highest pitch. He rushed
at Ernest, and lifting him with his foot sent him spinning along the
ground. Ernest was not hurt, so he got up and said, "I wonder you can
treat a stranger so. However, the time will come when you will not dare
to do it."
"Shame! shame!" shouted several of the little fellows, snatching up
their marbles and running away, for they were accustomed to be treated
in that way by Blackall.
Ernest was left with his first acquaintance standing by his side, while
the bully walked on, observing--
"Very well; you'll catch it another time, let me promise you."
"That's right!" exclaimed Ernest's companion. "I'm glad you treated
him so. It's the only way. If I was bigger I would, but he thrashes me so
unmercifully whenever I stick up against him that I've got rather sick of
opposing him."
"Help me," said Ernest, "and we'll see what can be done."
The other boy put out his hand, and pressing that of the new-comer,
said, "I will." The compact was then and there sealed, not to be broken;
and the boys felt that they understood each other.
"What is your name?" said Ernest. "It is curious that I should not know
it, and yet I feel as if I was a friend of yours."
"My name is John Buttar," answered the boy. "I have heard yours. You
are to be in our room, for the matron told me a new boy was coming
to-day, though I little thought what sort of a fellow he was to be. But
come along, I'll show you round the bounds. We may not go outside for
the next three weeks, for some of the big fellows got into a row, and we
have been kept in ever since."
So Johnny Butter, as he was called, ran on. He let Ernest into the
politics of the school, and gave him a great deal of valuable
information.
Ernest listened attentively, and asked several questions on important
points, all of which Buttar answered in a satisfactory way.
"This is a very jolly place altogether, you see," he remarked; "what is
wrong is generally owing to our own faults, or rather to that of the big
fellows. For instance, the Doctor knows nothing of the bullying which
goes forward; if he knew what sort of a fellow Blackall is he would
very soon send him to the right-about, I suspect. We might tell of him,
of course, but that would never do, so he goes on and gets worse and
worse. The only way is to set up against him as you did to-day. If
everybody did that we should soon put him down."
Ernest was very much interested in all he saw. Notwithstanding the
example he had just had, he thought that it might be a very good sort of
place. Buttar introduced him to several boys, who, he said, were very
nice fellows; so that before many hours had passed Ernest found
himself with a considerable number of acquaintances, and even
Dawson and Bouldon condescended to speak rationally to him.
A number of boys having collected, a game of Prisoners' Base was
proposed. Ernest did not know the rules of the game, but he quickly
learnt them, and soon got as much excited as any one. His new friend
John Buttar was captain on one side, while Tommy Bouldon was leader
of the opposite party. Each chose ten followers. A hedge formed their
base, two plots being marked out close to it, one of which was occupied
by each party. Two circles were formed,
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