Captain Bayley's Heir:

and intelligent, and was altogether free from the expression either of discontent or of shrinking sadness so often seen in the face of those afflicted. Had he been sitt

t passing over his legs above the knees. He was talking to a lad a year or so younger than

exclaimed, as an uproar was heard in the s

l, I suppose,"

r lad ran

ars a-coming back from crick

which rested in hooks at its side when not wanted, swung himself from the bo

el was an old standing one, but had broken out afresh from a thrashing which one of the older lads had administered on the previous day to a young chimney-sweep about his o

laytime expired, they returned in a body. They were some forty in number, and varied in age from the little fags of the Under School, ten or twelve years old, to brawny muscular young fellows of sevent

proceeded to blows, and soon a desperate fight was raging. In point of numbers the "skies" were vastly superior, and many of them were grown men; but the know

he seniors faced their opponents manfully. Even the lads of but thirteen and fourteen years old were not idle. Taking from the fags the bats which several of the latter were carrying, they

and many had retired from the contest with faces which would for many days bear marks of the fight; b

an, quick, down to Dean's Yard; you are sure to find some of them playing at racquets in the Little Yard, tell them tha

e yard, down the side, and then in at another archway into Little Dean's Yard, where some elder boys were playing at racque

ow going on; they are all pitching into the scholars on their way back from Vincent Square, a

from fields. Run up College, James; the fellows from the water have come back." Then he turned to the boys on the steps, "B

d elapsed these, with a few others who had been kept off field and water from indisposition, or other causes, came pouring out at the summons-a body some thirty strong, of whom fully half were big boys. Th

ost crying with excitement and at his own inability to join in the fight going on. His sympathies were wholly with "the boys," towards whose side

ther one down; that is the fifth I have counted. Don't they fight cool and steady? and they almost l

step, and seized more than one hulking fellow in the act of pummelling a youngster half his size, and

ves, yer ought; a whole crowd of y

by the assailants, the boys fighting silently, save when an occasional shout of "Hur

Evan?" the cripp

hey will be 'e

of "Westminster! Westminster!" the re

ining which had lately given them victory over Eton in their annual race-stood them in good stead, and the hard hitting of the "water" soon beat b

to the tall lad in cricketing flannels whose straight hitti

pretty for a fortnight; and, by the look of them, most of the others have fared worse. It's the biggest fight we have had for years. But I don't think the 'skies' will interfere

-boarders, few of whom had shared in the fight, not a single boy, from the Under School to the Sixth, had done an exercise or prepared a lesson. Study indeed ha

for a wonder had for once been up at fields-and Fred Barkley, a senior in the Sixth. But, grievous and general as was the breakdown in lessons next day, no impositions were set; the boarding-house m

o easily. Dr. Litter, in his lofty solitude as head-master, had heard nothing of what had passed; nor was it until the Sixth took their places in the library and began to construe that his attention was called to the fact that something unusu

stic in speech,-a very prodigy in classical learning, and joint author of the great treatise

cannot congratulate you on your appearance. I thought that the Sixth Form of Westminster was composed of gentlemen, but it seems to me now as if it consisted of a number of singularl

attacked by the 'skies,'-I mean by the roughs-and got terribly knocked about. When the news came to us I was

is a body called the police, whose duty it is t

, "half the School would not have been fit to take th

him; and Smart, Robertson, and Barker and Barret are nearly as bad. I suppose you feel satisfied with yourselves, boys, and consider that this sort of thing is creditable to you; to my mind it is simply disgraceful. There! I don't want to hear any more at present; I suppo

uld do nothing. Fights were not uncommon at Westminster in those days, but the number of orders for beef-steaks which the nearest butcher had received on the previous evening had fairly astonished him. I

st, and when nine o'clock struck, and the boys poured ou

said, looking, as was his wont, at some dis

general murm

e habitual to him. "From what I can hear it seems to have been a planned thing; the people ga

again. I do not see that I can punish one boy without punishing the whole School; but, at any rate, for the next week fields must be stopped. I shall write to the Commissioner of Police, asking that when they again go to Vincent Square some policemen may be put on duty, not of course to accompany them, b

at Mr. Sargent's, and two at Carr's, who have gone on the sick list. I sent for the doctor,

olars, put in. "I had not heard about it last night, and was in ignorance of what had taken place until the list of

rded him-"that one cannot trust boys to keep out of mischief for an hour. Of course with small boys this sort of thing is to be expected; but that young fellows li

. Richards said, with a passing thought of his

to say, had never been wild, the study of the Greek particles had absorbed all his thoughts. "Why," he continued, "young men should condescend to take pa

Dean's Yard. There was some grumbling when the head-master's decision was known; but it was, nevertheless, felt that it was a wise one, and that it was better to allow the

bled the reinforcements to arrive in time; and had he been discovered a handsome subscripti

e their bright young faces as they passed home from their cricket; the pluck too with which they had fought was highly appreciated, and so strong a feeling was expressed against the attack made upon them, t

put a stop to fields, two of the younger boys-who were as usual, just before school-time, standing in the archway leading into Little Dean's Yard to warn the Schoo

Norris or Barkley. What a

s and great friends. It would be a big fight, and I ex

ake my bat up to fields,' he says, 'I say, young Fairlie, I wish you would come and pick up balls for a bit, and in a quarter of an hour you can call some other Under School boy to take your place,'

seems to have a disagreeable way with him, a cold, nasty, hard sort of way; he walks along as if he n

's Li

coming." A shout so loud that it was heard not only in College and the boarding-houses in Little Dean's Yard, but at Carr's across by the archway, and even at Sutcliffe's shop outside

ters, and they stood chatting in a group for about two minutes, giving ample time for the boys to go up School, though those from Carr's, having much

er. The walls were massive, and of great height, and were covered from top to bottom with the painted names of old boys, some of which had been there, as was shown by the dates u

f it, was the arm-chair of Mr. Wire. Next came the monitor's desk, at which the captain and two monitors sat. In an open drawer in front of the table were laid the rods, which were not unfrequently called into requisition. Extending up to the end were the seats of the Sixth. The "Upper Shell" occupied the alcove

behind the other, in order of seniority, and the Junior Queen's Scholar whose turn it was knelt in front of them, and in a loud tone read the Lord's Prayer

turbing each other any more than if they had been in separate rooms. The Sixth only were heard apart, retiring into

hearing one of the forms under him the other was supposed to be preparing its next lessons, but a buzz of quiet talk went on steadily. Occasionally, once or twice

hes long; they were formed of birch twigs, very tightly bound together, and about the thickness of the handle of a bat; beyond this handle

th a sweeping force which did its work thoroughly. Four cuts was the normal number, but if it was the third time a boy had been sent up during the term he would get six. But four sufficed to swell the back of the hand, and cover it with narrow weals and bruises.

Scholar ever went up or down school for any purpose without first goin

rty years since, and it has but l