regard, I suppose, to his age, and not to his size and place in the
school, hadn't put him into tails; and even his jackets were always too
small; and he had a talent for destroying clothes, and making himself
look shabby. He wasn't on terms with Flashman's set, who sneered at his
dress and ways behind his back, which he knew, and revenged himself by
asking Flashman the most disagreeable questions, and treating him
familiarly whenever a crowd of boys were round them. Neither was he
intimate with any of the other bigger boys, who were warned off by his
oddnesses, for he was a very queer fellow; besides, amongst other
failings, he had that of impecuniosity in a remarkable degree. He
brought as much money as other boys to school, but got rid of it in no
time, no one knew how. And then, being also reckless, borrowed from
anyone, and when his debts accumulated and creditors pressed, would have
an auction in the Hall of everything he possessed in the world, selling
even his school-books, candlestick, and study table. For weeks after one
of these auctions, having rendered his study uninhabitable, he would
live about in the fifth-form room and Hall, doing his verses on old
letter-backs and odd scraps of paper, and learning his lessons no one
knew how. He never meddled with any little boy, and was popular with
them, though they all looked on him with a sort of compassion, and
called him "poor Diggs," not being able to resist appearances, or to
disregard wholly even the sneers of their enemy Flashman. However, he
seemed equally indifferent to the sneers of big boys and the pity of
small ones, and lived his own queer life with much apparent enjoyment to
himself. It is necessary to introduce Diggs thus particularly, as he not
only did Tom and East good service in their present warfare, as is about
to be told, but soon afterwards, when he got into the sixth, chose them
for his fags, and excused them from study-fagging, thereby earning unto
himself eternal gratitude from them, and all who are interested in their
history.

And seldom had small boys more need of a friend, for the morning after
the siege the storm burst upon the rebels in all its violence. Flashman
laid wait, and caught Tom before second lesson, and receiving a point
blank "No," when told to fetch his hat, seized him and twisted his arm,
and went through the other methods of torture in use:--"He couldn't make
me cry though," as Tom said triumphantly to the rest of the