ding yourself."

"So I did, of course, only he would come in, too, to see the nest. We
left six eggs in; they'll be hatched in a day or two."

"Hang the eggs!" said Tom; "a fellow can't turn his back for a moment,
but all his work's undone. He'll be laid up for a week for this
precious lark, I'll be bound."

"Indeed, Tom, now," pleaded Arthur, "my feet aren't wet, for Martin
made me take off my shoes, stockings and trousers."

"But they are wet and dirty, too--can't I see?" answered Tom, "and
you'll be called up and floored[1] when the master sees what a state
you're in. You haven't looked at second lesson, you know." Oh, Tom,
you old humbug! you to be upbraiding any one with not learning his
lessons. If you hadn't been floored yourself now at first lesson, do
you mean to say you wouldn't have been with them? and you've taken
away all poor little Arthur's joy and pride in his first birds' eggs,
and he goes and puts them down in the study, and takes down his books
with a sigh, thinking he has done something horribly wrong, whereas he
has learnt on in advance much more than will be done at second lesson.

[1] #Floored#: silenced or put back in his lesson for not
having learned it properly.

But the old Madman hasn't, and gets called up and makes some frightful
shots, losing about ten places, and all but getting floored. This
somewhat appeases Tom's wrath, and by the end of the lesson he has
regained his temper. And afterward in their study he begins to get
right again, as he watches Arthur's intense joy at seeing Martin
blowing the eggs and glueing them carefully on to bits of cardboard,
and notes the anxious, loving looks which the little fellow casts
sidelong at him. And then he thinks, "What an ill-tempered beast I am!
Here's just what I was wishing for last night come about, and I'm
spoiling it all," and in another five minutes has swallowed the last
mouthful of his bile,[2] and is repaid by seeing his little sensitive
plant expand again, and sun itself in his smiles.

[2] #Bile#: here, anger.

After dinner the Madman is busy with the preparations for their
expedition, fitting new straps on to his climbing-irons, filling large
pill-boxes with cotton-wool, and sharpening East's small axe. They
carry all their munitions[3] into calling-over, and directly
afterward, having dodged such praepostors as are on the look-out for
fags at cricket, the four set off at a smart trot down the Lawford
footpath s