Ramsey Milholland | Page 8

still other Wesley Benders; nevertheless, he found one of these
and it proved to be flesh. He engaged it wildly at fisticuffs; pounded it
upon the countenance and drove it away. Then he sat down upon the
curbstone, and, with his dizzy eyes shut, leaned forward for the better
accommodation of his ensanguined nose.
Wesley had retreated to the other side of the street holding a grimy
handkerchief to the midmost parts of his pallid face. "There, you ole
damn pup!" he shouted, in a voice which threatened to sob. "I guess
that'll teach you to be careful how you mention Dora Yocum's name on
the public streets!"
At this, Ramsey made a motion as if to rise and pursue, whereupon
Wesley fled, wailing back over his shoulder as he ran, "You wait till I

ketch you out alone on the public streets and I'll--"
His voice was lost in an outburst of hooting from his former friends,
who sympathetically surrounded the wounded Ramsey. But in a
measure, at least, the chivalrous fugitive had won his point. He was
routed and outdone, yet what survived the day was a rumour, which
became a sort of tenuous legend among those interested. There had
been a fight over Dora Yocum, it appeared, and Ramsey Milholland
had attempted to maintain something derogatory to the lady, while
Wesley defended her as a knightly youth should. The something
derogatory was left vague; nobody attempted to say just what it was,
and the effects of the legend divided the schoolroom strictly according
to gender.
The boys, unmindful of proper gallantry, supported Ramsey on account
of the way he had persisted in lickin' the stuffin' out of Wesley Bender
after receiving that preliminary wallop from Wesley's blackjack bundle
of books. The girls petted and championed Wesley; they talked
outrageously of his conqueror, fiercely declaring that he ought to be
arrested; and for weeks they maintained a new manner toward him.
They kept their facial expressions hostile, but perhaps this was more for
one another's benefit than for Ramsey's; and several of them went so far
out of their way to find even private opportunities for reproving him
that an alert observer might have suspected them to have been less
indignant than they seemed--but not Ramsey. He thought they all hated
him, and said he was glad of it.
Dora was a non-partisan. The little prig was so diligent at her books she
gave never the slightest sign of comprehending that there had been a
fight about her. Having no real cognizance of Messrs. Bender and
Milholland except as impediments to the advance of learning, she did
not even look demure.
Chapter V
With Wesley Bender, Ramsey was again upon fair terms before the
winter had run its course; the two were neighbours and, moreover, were

drawn together by a community of interests which made their
reconciliation a necessity. Ramsey played the guitar and Wesley played
the mandolin.
All ill feeling between them died with the first duet of spring, yet the
twinkling they made had no charm to soothe the savage breast of
Ramsey whenever the Teacher's Pet came into his thoughts. He
daydreamed a thousand ways of putting her in her place, but was
unable to carry out any of them, and had but a cobwebby satisfaction in
imagining discomfitures for her which remained imaginary. With a
yearning so poignant that it hurt, he yearned and yearned to show her
what she really was. "Just once!" he said to Fred Mitchell. "That's all I
ask, just once. Just gimme one chance to show that girl what she really
is. I guess if I ever get the chance she'll find out what's the matter with
her, for once in her life, anyway!" Thus it came to be talked about and
understood and expected in Ramsey's circle, all male, that Dora
Yocum's day was coming. The nature of the disaster was left vague, but
there was no doubt in the world that retribution merely awaited its ideal
opportunity. "You'll see!" said Ramsey. "The time'll come when that
ole girl'll wish she'd moved o' this town before she ever got appointed
monitor of our class! Just you wait!"
They waited, but conditions appeared to remain unfavourable
indefinitely. Perhaps the great opportunity might have arrived if
Ramsey had been able to achieve a startling importance in any of the
"various divergent yet parallel lines of school endeavour"--one of the
phrases by means of which teachers and principal clogged the minds of
their unarmed auditors. But though he was far from being the dumb
driven beast of misfortune that he seemed in the schoolroom, and, in
fact, lived a double life, exhibiting in his out-of-school hours a
remarkable example of "secondary personality"--a creature fearing
nothing and capable of laughter; blue-eyed, fairly robust, and