The King of the School, or, Who will Win? — page 113: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE KING OF THE SCHOOL; OR, WHO WILL WIN? some of his pupils and a number of town-roughs. ‘Fearing that his own authority would be insufficient to quell the riot, he at once hurried to the police office, and obtained the aid of half-a-dozen constables. | As soon as the roughs saw these gentlemen in blue, they fled, or tried to; but half-a-dozen of them fell into the hands of the police, Black-whiskers being among the number. | “Ah, Captain Robinson,” said the man who collared him, “I had lost sight of you for some time. is where you have been hiding re- cently.” “ Hereabouts. But there’s nothing against me.” ‘“‘Rioting and breach of the peace. You must come to the station-house. You will kindly see that these young gentlemen attend in the morning, sir, if you please,” continued the police- man, addressing Doctor Whackley. “Yes,” responded that gentleman, who had been jotting down the names of all those of his pupils who re- mained on the scene, in his note-book. Having finished that task, he looked sternly at the delinquents for a moment. “Back to college, all of you, instantly,” he said, “and wait for me in the dining-hall.” | The leaders, Egerton, Marsham, and the rest, touched their hats an ‘walked away quietly. ; - Doctor Whackley then followed the police escort to the station-house, and had an interview with the magistrates’ clerk, who had apartments there, for the police-station was in reality a por- tion of the town-hall, where the rioters were to appear in the morning and have justice dealt out to them. ~ When Doctor Whackley returned to Lexicon College, he found the culprits waiting rather anxiously for his appear- ance. Some of the younger boys felt almost inclined to cry. They expected nothing less than such a flogging as they had seen Baynes Minds So, this. 107 bate receive only a short time before ; although they could make up thei? nds to endure the pain without flinching, yet the disgrace of being publicly flogged seemed something terrible to contemplate. Frank and the bigver ) such fears. - Sa poys had no They certainly did expect to be punished severely, but not flogged, thinking it very improbable that, Doctor Whackley would undertake to birch from thirty to forty of his pupils mm one batch. Stern, indeed, was aspect, “ Egerton,” he said, “explain the meaning of this disgraceful riot, in which you seem to have been the ringleader.” “Several of the boys have been ill- used in that street, sir. I walked down there and was set upon by a gang of roughs; several others of ours were close by, and in a few minutes there was a general fight.” The doctor looked at him very fixedly. - “ Answer me truthfully. Did you, ordid you not, walk down thatstreet with the intention, and for the purpose, of picking a quarrel, if possible, with these low fellows who had ill-treated Professor Moeritz and some of your schoolfellows?” “We did, sir,” boldly answered at least a dozen of the boys, promptly. In spite of his severity, Doctor Whackley could not help admiring the the pedagogue’s candour with which they acknowledged their misdeeds. ' “T am glad to find that lying and equivocation are vices that meet with no encouragement among my pupils,” said he, after a pause, ‘“* Well, you must all appear at the town-hall, at eleven in the morning, until which time not a boy leaves the school premises under any pretext. I shall not inflict any punishment, but leave that in the hands of the justices, who, no doubt, will deal very impartially with you and your late adversaries,” co DOO EO mn