t as
well as I do, Wibberly."

"I know it is," retorted Wibberly; "you'd put up with anybody as long as
he wasn't a Parrett fellow."

And so the wrangle went on; and at the end of it the company was as near
agreeing as they had been at the beginning.

Finally one or two of the schoolhouse fellows, such as Fairbairn,
Coates, and Porter, withdrew, and the Parrett faction, having it then
pretty much their own way, drew up the following petition:

"We the undersigned monitors respectfully hope you will reconsider your
decision as to the New Captain. The captain has hitherto always been an
`all-round man,' and we think it would be best for the discipline of the
school to have a fellow of the same sort now. We wish to say nothing
against Riddell except that we do not think he is the best fellow for
the position. We hope you will excuse us for stating our opinion."

To this extraordinary document all the monitors of Parrett's and Welch's
houses present put their names, as well as Gilks and one or two others
of the schoolhouse, and after deciding not to present it till next day,
by which time it was hoped other signatures might be procured, the
august assembly broke up.

The reign of Riddell had not, to say the least of it, opened
auspiciously as far as his fellow-monitors were concerned. And outside
that body, in Willoughby at large, things did not look much more
promising.

The feeling in Parrett's house was of course one of unmingled wrath and
mutiny. When once the heads of the house were known to have declared so
unmistakably against the new captain, it was not much to be wondered at
that the rank and file followed their lead in a still more demonstrative
manner.

It happened that Parson and his friends, Telson (who, though a
schoolhouse boy, seemed to live most of his life in Parrett's), King,
Wakefield, and Lawkins, had planned a little expedition up the river
between third school and "call-over" that afternoon, and the present
state of affairs in the school formed a rather lively topic of
discussion for these worthies as they pulled the Parrett's "Noah's
Ark"--by which complimentary title the capacious boat devoted to the use
of the juniors of the house was known--lazily up on the tide towards
Balsham.

The river was pretty full, as usual at that time of day, and as one form
which the wrath of the youthful Parretts took was to insult, and if
opportunity arose, to run down the craft of either of the other