Chapter 3 PEA-SHOOTING AND WHAT CAME OF IT.

Leslie soon made himself at home with the boys, more especially those of his own age or two or three years his senior; the elders of the school, those who had discarded jackets and sported tailed-coats, he looked at from a distance, and viewed with a certain amount of awe, thinking he should never attain to their size or standing in the school; and although these superfine gentlemen always gave him a friendly nod when they chanced to meet, or employed him in running an errand, he never presumed to be familiar with one of them.

There were also several boys in the school about Leslie's own age, with whom he did not care to associate, whose dispositions, ways of thinking, and ordinary pursuits, were quite opposed to his own. But with Arthur Hall, Johnnie Lynch, Jones, and Moore, he was soon a close and firm friend. He was very pleased to find that he was to occupy the same bedroom as that of his friends.

The doctor, Leslie found to be a very kind but very firm master; while he made every allowance for a boy's incapacity or sheer inability to learn a particular task, he showed no mercy to those who could learn and would not, either from idleness or inattention. There were three other masters beside the doctor, who followed in the steps of their principal.

Mrs Price extended many acts of kindness towards Leslie, for his father's sake at first, but after she knew him better, for his own, so that Leslie wrote home glowing accounts of the pleasures of school life; his races on the river, the long country walks with the doctor, and the tales told in bed.

During his first month, everything was too fresh, pleasant, and exciting, for Leslie even to think about having "a lark;" but in the first week of his second month he gave evident proof that this fault had not disappeared from, or been overcome in his character. He forgot the promise he had made to his papa, or the nearly fatal results of his last "lark;" he forgot all about the many good resolutions he had made in his own heart; all which led him into fresh trouble.

Near to Ascot House was a small market-town, which the boys were allowed to visit during play hours and on half-holidays; but after dusk no one was permitted to be absent from the playground, and after the names were read over for the evening, without special leave, no one could absent himself from the school-house; this rule was rigorously enforced by the doctor.

The market-town consisted mainly of three streets in the form of a triangle; but on the outskirts of the town were long rows of cottages, principally tenanted by farm-labourers and working-men. The outer door of each of these cottages opened into the sitting-room without any passage intervening, so that any boy so disposed, by placing one eye at the keyhole, could see all the inmates of the room. Leslie had observed this during his various visits to the town.

One evening, after each name had been called over and answered to, and the boys were preparing lessons for the next day, Leslie shut up his books with a bang, saying to Johnnie Lynch, who sat next to him, "There, those are done; now, what shall I do?"

"One moment, Ross, and I shall be finished, then we'll both do something."

A minute or two after, Lynch put his books into the desk, saying, "Now, Ross, what is it to be?"

"Follow me, Lynch, and I will show you; mind Wilson don't see you, or he'll want to know where we are going."

The two boys watched for an opportunity, and when the master's head was turned on one side, slipped silently and unobserved from the room, and without detection made their way to the playground.

"Where are you going?" inquired Lynch.

"Into the town," replied Ross.

"But that is against rules, and if discovered we shall be punished."

"Oh, we shan't be found out; but don't come if you are afraid."

"I am not afraid, but I don't see we are doing exactly right."

"But it will be no end of a lark."

"Then I'm all with you."

"Run beneath the shadow of the hedge, so that we are not seen," said Leslie.

"All right; go a-head."

Away the boys ran, Leslie informing Lynch of his plan as they went, which seemed to meet with Lynch's entire approbation. The outskirts of the town were speedily reached, when, stopping before the first cottage was gained, Leslie pulled two long pieces of round hollow tin from his pocket,-which are known by the name of pea-shooters,-and a handful of peas.

Giving one of the pea-shooters and some of the peas to Lynch, Leslie whispered, "Do you take the right hand side, and I the left; mind and aim straight at the face of the clocks: don't laugh, or the peas will get into your throat and choke you."

"We had better begin a little higher up, so that the road may be clear for a run," said Lynch.

Very silently the boys each approached a cottage, and inserting their pea-shooter in the keyhole, fired a whole mouthful of peas at the glass face of the old-fashioned eight-day clock, with which each cottage was furnished.

There was a start, and a sudden cry of, "Lor-a-mercy, what's that?" from the cottage, which highly amused the boys, who glided on to the next, and then to the next, producing a similar sensation and exclamation in each, until they reached the last on their list, which they favoured with an extra number of shot.

"Run for it, Leslie," said Lynch, "I hear some one coming."

Neither of them could run with their usual speed, their suppressed laughter was so great; but this soon gave way to alarm as they heard the steps of their pursuer drawing nearer and nearer.

"We shall be caught, Leslie, let us turn into the field and cut straight across to the school."

They soon clambered through the hedge; Leslie catching his foot in a bramble, pitched head foremost into the grass, but before he could recover himself Lynch was lying by his side whispering, "Lie still, he's now passing."

As soon as they thought their pursuer had got to a safe distance, they scrambled on to their feet and darted across the meadow, straight as the crow flies, and in a few minutes gained the school-house without any farther adventure.

"I fancy I must have broken some of those glasses," said Leslie, "I fired so hard; but what a lark! how they all cried 'Lor-a-mercy!'" and the two boys burst into uncontrollable fits of laughter.

"Come, Leslie," said Lynch, who was the first to recover himself, "let us go in, or Wilson will find we are absent."

No one, however, appeared to have noticed their absence, and the two adventurers gained the school-room and resumed their seats unobserved.

The next morning, as Dr Price was in the act of seating himself at his desk, preparatory to the commencement of school work, a servant entered and informed him that he was wanted on particular business for a few minutes. The doctor was absent for a short time, and then returned accompanied by a man and a boy dressed in the smock-frock of farm labourers. The doctor commanded silence. Leslie's heart gave a quick throb, and he felt a tremor run through his whole frame as his eye alighted upon the group at the principal's desk.

"Boys," began the doctor, in a clear but stern voice, looking round upon his scholars, "boys, I have been informed that some two or three of my pupils perpetrated a very annoying trick at several of the cottages at the entrance of the town last evening. I am unwilling to believe that any of my scholars are guilty, as the hour when the trick was accomplished, was one when no boy has leave to absent himself from the school grounds, or even house; but my informant is so confident it was some of you, that I am compelled for the sake of arriving at the truth to ask whether it is so; are any of you boys guilty of this trick?"

There was a dead silence.

Leslie whispered to Lynch, "I think we had better tell."

"You are sure the boys ran in the direction of the school?" inquired the doctor, turning to the man and boy.

"Ees, I'm sure and certain," replied the boy, "for I chased 'em, I did, most 'alf the way; so I bee's sure like."

"You hear, boys," said the doctor; "if any of you are guilty you had better confess it at once."

For a minute or two a complete silence again reigned, at the end of which Leslie rose from his seat, and with a face quite scarlet in colour, said, "If you please, I am the guilty one!" and then sat down again.

"And who was your companion, Ross?"

"If you please, sir, I would rather not tell."

"I was, sir!" said Lynch.

"Lynch; and who else?"

"There was no one else, sir."

"And may I ask what motive induced you to play such a trick, as shooting peas at eight-day clocks."

"It was only a lark, sir," said Leslie.

"A lark! and do you know what your 'lark' has done?"

"No, sir."

"Besides the annoyance you have caused these good people and their families, you have broken three of the clock-glasses."

"Aye, and cracked neighbour Hodge's, and neighbour Smith's as well, 'ee have," interrupted the man, "besides frightening Master Sparrow's good 'ooman, who has been that ill for a month as nothing was like afore."

"I am sorry, sir," said the doctor, addressing the man, "that any of my pupils should have been guilty of such a thoughtless action; tell your friends from me that they shall be amply compensated, while the boys themselves shall be duly punished."

When the visitors had departed, the doctor said, "Ross, and Lynch, do you know why rules are made? Do you think they are made to be broken or kept? Your conduct last evening fully answers the question; and as you have thought proper to break one, that of being absent from school after the proper hours, you must also bear the consequences; recollect no wrong can be done without punishment following it; you will, therefore, each of you confine yourself to the school grounds for one month, and bring me twenty lines each day; besides which, you will have to make good the damage you committed. Boys, to your lessons."

"This is more than I bargained for," said Lynch, making a wry face to Leslie.

"Or I either," replied Leslie, returning the grimace.

"Fancy a whole month!"

"Bad as being in prison."

"I wish we had kept in, now," sighed Lynch.

"Yes, so do I, but it can't be helped."

"No, we've had the 'lark,' and must now be physicked."

When morning school was over the doctor took Leslie into his study, and seating himself, laid one hand upon his shoulder, and in a kind but grave voice said, "Ross, I am sorry, more so than I can express, that you should have been guilty of so thoughtless an action as that of last night; what do you think your father will say? If you do not overcome this weakness of yours it will lead you into many more troubles. You must keep watch and guard upon yourself. When tempted you must ask yourself whether the action is right, and what are likely to be its results. He that over-cometh himself, is stronger than a man who taketh a walled city."

When Leslie left the doctor's study it was with the fall determination never to indulge in another "lark."

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