misbegotten poacher, ye'll be teaching me my A B C next! Roarin' like a
bull in the bushes down there! Boys? Boys? Boys? Keep your boys at home,
then! I'm not responsible for your boys! But I don't believe it--I
don't believe a word of it. Ye've a furtive look in your eye--a furtive,
sneakin', poachin' look in your eye, that 'ud ruin the reputation of an
archangel! Don't attempt to deny it! Ye have! A sergeant? More shame to
you, then, an' the worst bargain Her Majesty ever made! A sergeant, to
run about the country poachin'--on your pension! Damnable! Oh, damnable!
But I'll be considerate. I'll be merciful. By gad, I'll be the very
essence o' humanity! Did ye, or did ye not, see my notice-boards? Don't
attempt to deny it! Ye did. Silence, Sergeant!"

Twenty-one years in the army had left their mark on Foxy. He obeyed.

"Now. March!" The high Lodge gate shut with a clang. "My duty! A
sergeant to tell me my duty!" puffed Colonel Dabney. "Good Lard! more
sergeants!"

"It's King! It's King!" gulped Stalky, his head on the horsehair pillow.
McTurk was eating the rag-carpet before the speckless hearth, and the
sofa heaved to the emotions of Beetle. Through the thick glass the
figures without showed blue, distorted, and menacing.

"I--I protest against this outrage." King had evidently been running
up hill. "The man was entirely within his duty. Let--let me give you my
card."

"He's in flannels!" Stalky buried his head again.

"Unfortunately--most unfortunately--I have not one with me, but my
name is King, sir, a house-master of the College, and you will find me
prepared--fully prepared--to answer for this man's action. We've seen
three--"

"Did ye see my notice-boards?"

"I admit we did; but under the circumstances--"

"I stand _in loco parentis_." Prout's deep voice was added to the
discussion. They could hear him pant.

"F'what?" Colonel Dabney was growing more and more Irish.

"I'm responsible for the boys under my charge."

"Ye are, are ye? Then all I can say is that ye set them a very bad
example--a dam' bad example, if I may say so. I do not own your boys.
I've not seen your boys, an' I tell you that if there was a boy grinnin'
in every bush on the place, _still_ ye've no shadow of a right here,
comin' up from the combe that way, an' frightenin' everything in it.
Don't attempt to deny it. Ye did. Ye should have come to the Lodge an'
seen me like Christians, instead of chasin' your dam' boys through the