e "Beetle" were Baldry and Sedgefield,
the companions of Plunger. The Beetle was a sturdy, but rather
heavy-featured, boy of fourteen. He wore the St. Bede's cap--dark cloth
with a white shield in front, on which were worked in old English
letters, "St. B.," while beneath these were three Roman capitals--"S. S.
V.," the initials of the school motto, "Suis stet viribus"--"He stands
on his merit."

"Why, it's Mellor," came the cry, so soon as the face of the boy from
St. Bede's could be clearly seen.

Yes, it was Mellor, till recently a pupil at Garside, and formerly an
occupant of the dormitory in which Harry Moncrief, Baldry and the others
slept. He had left Garside last term, and, much to the disgust of his
former associates, had entered as a pupil of St. Bede's. The fact was
that it was not so much Mellor's work as his father's. Mellor was good
at sport, but not quite as keen on learning, so that he had remained for
two years in the same form along with boys who were much younger than
himself. Mellor, of course, put it down to the school, and not to any
lack of diligence on his part. His father fell in with the view of his
son, believing him to be a "clever boy--unmistakably clever"--if the
cleverness were only brought out. In the hope that this cleverness would
be brought out, he had been taken from Garside and turned over to St.
Bede's.

Now the conversion of a "Gargoyle" into a "Beetle" was not an easy
process. He had to fit himself into new surroundings, new conditions,
new methods, with new companions. And while these new companions had
given him a cool reception, his old companions, thinking him fair game
for ridicule and sport now that he had "gone over to the enemy," had
determined on giving him a warm reception at the first opportunity.

It so happened that on the third day of Mellor's entrance at St. Bede's
he chanced to meet Parfitt and a couple of companions of his in the
Fifth. They had promptly seized on Mellor, and after congratulating him
with mock gravity on rising to the "dignity of a Beetle," had ended by
making him crawl on all fours "as a Beetle ought," and, using his back
as a desk, had finally written this note on a slip of paper--"Beetle,
otherwise cockroach--nocturnal insect, concealing itself in holes during
the day, and crawling off at the approach of light."

This flattering description they had pinned to Mellor's back, with an
intimation that he was to crawl back to his brother Beetle