The Cock-House at Fellsgarth | Page 9

oh dear! How was he ever to recover his
reputation for sanity? Whatever induced him to sing that song?
Poor Fisher minor devoutly wished himself home again, within reach
of his mother's soothing voice and his sisters' smiles. They understood
him. These fellows didn't. They knew he was not an idiot. These
fellows didn't.
Further reflection was cut short by a loud call to order and cheers, as
Yorke, the captain, rose to his feet.

Every one liked Yorke. As captain of the School even the Moderns
looked up to him, and were forced to admit that he was a credit to
Fellsgarth. In Wakefield's, his own house, he was naturally an idol.
Prodigious stories were afloat as to his wisdom and his prowess.
Examiners were reported to have rent their clothes in despair at his
answers; and at football, rumour had it that once, in one of the
out-matches against Ridgmoor, he had run the ball down the field with
six of the other side on his back, and finished up with a drop at the goal
from thirty yards.
But his popularity in his own house depended less on these exploits
than on his general good-nature and incorruptible fairness. He scorned
to hit an opponent when he was down, and yet he would knock down a
friend as soon as a foe if the credit of the School required it. A few,
indeed, there were whose habit it was to sneer at Yorke for being what
they called "a saint." The captain of Fellsgarth would have been the last
to claim such a title for himself; yet those who knew him best knew
that in all he did, even in the common concerns of daily school life, he
relied on the guidance and help of a Divine Friend, and was not
ashamed to own his faith.
The one drawback to his character in the eyes of certain of his fellow-
prefects and others at Wakefield's was that in the standing feud
between Classics and Moderns he would take no part. He demanded the
allegiance of all parties on behalf of the School, and if any man refused
it, Yorke was the sort of person who would make it his business to
know the reason why.
Now as he got up and waited for the cheers to cease, no one could deny
that he wasn't as fine a captain as Wakefield's could expect to see for
many a day. And for the first time some of those who even feared him
realised with a qualm that this was the last "first-night" on which he
would be there to make the usual speech.
"Gentlemen," he said, "we are all glad to be back in the old place,"
(cheers). "At any rate I am," (loud cheers). "On first-night, as you know,
we always combine business with pleasure. We have just had the
pleasure," (laughter, in the midst of which Fisher minor pricked up his

ears and wondered if his song wasn't going to be appreciated after all).
"The lambs have bleated and done their level best, I'm sure," (renewed
laughter, and cries of "How now?"). "Now for the business. Gentlemen,
the house clubs demand your support." (Fisher minor turned deadly
green as he remembered the Modern boy and his half-crown. He looked
round wildly for Ashby, but Ashby was standing between Wally and
D'Arcy, and the proximity was not encouraging for Fisher's purpose.
The idea occurred to him of appealing to his brother. But Fisher major,
pen in hand, sat at the receipt of custom, and he dare not approach).
"We hope there will be no shirking. Every fellow in the house is
expected to back up the clubs. If the House clubs are not kept up to the
mark, the School clubs are sure to go down," (cheers). "We don't ask
much. The seniors pay 5 shillings, the middle-boys 3 shillings 6 pence,
and the juniors 2 shillings 6 pence." (Fisher minor glanced frantically in
the direction of the door, and began to edge that way.) "Now,
gentlemen, one word more. You know, last term, there was a lot of bad
blood between Classics and Moderns," (great cheers and three groans
for the Moderns). "Of course it's open to any idiot who likes to make a
fool of himself, and quarrel with anybody he likes. He's welcome to do
it up to a certain point, if it gives him pleasure. But I want to say
this--and I'd say it if the whole of the school was here--that if these
rows once begin to interfere with the honour of the School in sports or
anything else, as they nearly did last term, the fellows who indulge in
them will be dropped on pretty heavily, no matter what side or what
house they belong