Page:Stalky and co - Kipling (1908).djvu/125

Rh else. I don't know whether he believes me, but that finishes my case. The rest is your business.'

'Now we find out'—Stalky's voice rose—'that there is apparently an organised conspiracy throughout the house. For aught we know, the fags may be lendin' and borrowin' far beyond their means. We aren't responsible for it. We're only the rank and file.'

'Are you surprised we don't wish to associate with the house?' said McTurk, with dignity. 'We've kept ourselves to ourselves in our study till we were turned out, and now we find ourselves let in for—for this sort of thing. It's simply disgraceful.' 'Then you hector and bullyrag us on the stairs,' said Stalky, 'about matters that are your business entirely. You know we aren't prefects.'

'You threatened us with a prefect's lickin' just now,' said Beetle, boldly inventing as he saw the bewilderment in the faces of the enemy.

'And if you expect you'll gain anything from us by your way of approachin' us, you're jolly well mistaken. That's all Good-night.'

They clattered upstairs, injured virtue on every inch of their backs.

'But—but what the dickens have we done?' said Harrison, amazedly, to Craye.

'I don't know. Only—it always happens that way when one has anything to do with them. They're so beastly plausible.'

And Mr. Prout called the good boys into his study anew, and succeeded in sinking both his and