Buckeridge Antony - Jennings and His Friends

"Wake up, Darbi, wake up!" said Jennings.

"What's the matter?" Darbishire opened his eyes.

"It's my birthday today!"

"Yes, of course. Many happy returns of the day," said Darbishire. He closed his eyes and went back to sleep again.

"Oh, wake up, Darbi! Let's dress quickly and go and meet the postman. I'm going to get a birthday parcel from my parents."went to the washbasin and began to wash. He cleaned his teeth, washed his face and hands, his neck and ears - it was his birthday! - and dried them on the towel. Then he turned from the washbasin and saw that Darbishire was still in bed.

"Get up, quickly, Darbi!"

"I'm coming," said Darbishire.bell rang and the boys in the beds near the washbasin, Venables, Temple and Atkinson, got up.

"I say, you don't know what day it is today," said Jennings.

"It's Friday," answered Venables, a tall boy, too tall for his twelve years. "It's Friday and we are going to have fish for breakfast. We usually have fish for breakfast on Fridays."

"Yes, but what else?" asked Jennings.

"What else? Tea with milk."

"No, I don't mean that. It's my birthday."

"Many happy returns," said Atkinson

"We are going to have a birthday cake today, aren't we" said Venables.

"Certainly," said Jennings. "My mother is sending me a wonderful cake. I'm going to the hall to see if the postman is coming."when Jennings ran up to the door, it opened and the teacher on duty came into the dormitory. It was Mr Wilkins.Wilkins was a large and strong man. He could be pleasant when he wanted to, but he was not a patient man and he did not understand why the boys of twelve could not behave like teachers, for example.

"Why are you making that noise, Jennings?" asked Mr Wilkins. "And why have you already dressed? You know very well that pupils must not get up before the bell."

"Yes, of course. But I hurried to the hall to see..."

"You know well," repeated Mr Wilkins, "that you must stay in bed till the bell rings. Very well, you will stay in class during football this afternoon and do some work for me"

"Yes, sir," said Jennings, but to himself he said: "Boys who have birthdays in the holidays don't know how happy they are."

"Please, sir! Mr Wilkins, sir!" It was Darbishire with one sock on and the other in his hand.

"What's the matter, Darbishire? Hurry up!" said Mr Wilkins.

"It's Jennings' birthday today, sir, and he wanted to go down to the hall to meet the postman."

"Oh! Well, if it's his birthday... Well, let's forget about it."Wilkins looked angrily at those boys who were not celebrating a birthday that morning and left the dormitory.

"Thank you, Darbi," said Jennings. "It was very nice of you to tell Old Wilkie that it was my birthday. I didn't want to stay in class during football on my birthday."

"All right," said Darbishire. "You can call it my birthday present to you if you like."

"Thank you very much. Now put on your left sock and we'll go down to the hall and see if the postman has come."put on his left sock, then his spectacles and the boys hurried to the hall where they saw three letters for Jennings and three parcels

"The big parcel is my birthday cake. But what is in the other two?" said Jennings.opened the parcels at once. There was Jennings' birthday cake in the first parcel, of course. When they opened the second parcel, from his father, Jennings was very happy.

"A camera! That's what I wanted to have for my birthday! We can do a lot of things with a camera, can't we, Darbi?"

"Yes, we can," answered Darbishire, "but let's not do a lot of things with the camera. Let's take photos with it."

"That's what I meant. I can take a photo of you when you are standing up, for example, and then you can take a photo of me when I am sitting down, and then I can take a photo of you when you are sitting down, and you can take..."

"There's another parcel," said Darbishire

"Oh, yes, of course. From Aunt Angela."Two.Junior Printing Outfit.the boys opened the last parcel they saw a square box.

"The Junior Printing Outfit!" read Darbishire.opened the box and saw letters made of small pieces of rubber and a pair of tweezers with which they could take the letters and put them in the printing block.

"How wonderful!" said Darbishire. "Now we can print our names on all our books."

"Yes, but the first thing that I'm going to use it for is to answer all these birthday letters," answered Jennings, "because I usually write the same things to my father, mother and Aunt Angela."took a row of rubber letters with the help of the tweezers from the box and began to look at them. But he could not see much because his spectacles were too dusty.

"I can't see whether these letters are e's or a's," he said. "My father says that..."at that moment he pressed to hard with the tweezers and all the little rubber letters were at once in the four corners of the big hall.

"I'm very sorry," said Darbishire.breakfast bell rang.

"What are we going to do?" asked Jennings.

"I don't know," answered Darbishire. "All those letters were the same - e's or a's."looked in the box and saw that Darbishire was right. There was a row of a's, a row of b's, a row of c's, a row of d's and there wasn't an e in the box!

"We'll come back after breakfast," said Jennings.after breakfast it was too late. When the boys came back to the hall they saw no letters on the floor: the floor was clean.

"Somebody has cleaned the floor with a vacuum cleaner," said Jennings.a moment they stood and looked at the clean floor. Then Jennings turned and went to the common room. Darbishire went after him.

"How am I going to write my letters now?" Jennings said.

"You can write something which doesn't have e's"

"Don't be funny," said Jennings.

"During breakfast I decided to print a Form Three wall newspaper. We can print all the news about Form Three in it and hang it on the wall."

"That will be wonderful."

"Yes, but we can't print any news which has an e in it. Well, I can ask Aunt Angela to send me some e's."tea that evening Jennings sat down at the table in the common room to answer his birthday letters. He wanted to try his printing outfit on his letters before he could begin to print a wall newspaper. He put x's in place of e's and soon the letter was ready. When Darbishire went into the common room Jennings showed him the letter.

"I say," Jennings said. "All that I must do now is..."

"Yes, but I have something to tell you," Darbishire began

"Never mind! Look at this!"

"I was only going to say...put the letter under Darbishire's nose.

"Not bad, is it?" he asked. "Of course we must get these e's before we begin to print our well newspaper."began to read the letter.

"Dxar Aunt Angxla! Thank you for your birthday prxsxnt. I likxd all thx birthday prxsxnts which I had. Fathxr sxnt mx a cavxra and..."stopped and said: "Well, I know what you bean, of course, but..."

"You mean these x's. but I've written P.S. on Aunt Angela's letter. She will understand it."read: "P.S. Plxasx, sxnd mx somx of lxttxrs which comx bxtwxxn d and f."Darbishire finished reading the letter he put his hand into his pocket and took out some rubber letters.

"These are the e's that I lost this morning," he said and he put them on the table.

"What?"

"Yes, I've taken them out of the dust bag of the vacuum cleaner. Now you can write your letters using all the letters, can't you?"

"I can, but now that we have all the letters we must begin a Form Three wall newspaper."Threeand Darbishire go to the Harbourthe pupils of Form Three liked the hobbies' hour because during the hobbies' hour they could do what they liked and how they liked.the hobbies' hour after tea on the next Monday Jennings and Darbishire sat at a table with some paper and pencils in front of them. They sat between Atkinson who was making a toy for his sister's birthday and Venables who was making a great noise.

"Now, Darbi, let's give our wall newspaper a name," Jennings began. "Let's call it the Form Three Times"

"That's a good name," said Darbishire.they decided to print the first issue of the Form Three Times next week.the other boys heard the news about the wall newspaper they came up to Jennings and Darbishire.

"If you want some news you can come to me for it, Jennings," said Temple. "I'm not pulling your leg. There was a disappearance."

"Who has disappeared - Mr Wilkins?" asked Darbishire.

"No, my left football boot has disappeared. And if you want to know how a burglar could do it I can tell you. He left his car in the school yard when we were all in the classroom and... "

"Why did he take only one boot?" asked Jennings.

"Maybe he has only one leg."

"If he has only one leg how can he play football?"could not answer that question.

"Well," Jennings turned to Darbishire, "if we want to make our newspaper interesting we must take some photos and put them in the newspaper."

"Yes," said Darbishire, "I can take a photo of you when you are sitting down and you can take a photo of me when I'm..."

"No," said Jennings. "Who will want to see you when you are sitting down. We must take some interesting photos. We can go to the harbour and take a photo of a ship, for example."

"All right," said Darbishire, "let's ask permission to go to the harbour next Sunday."Sunday came it was raining. But after breakfast the sun came out and Jennings and Darbishire went to Mr Carter, the teacher on duty. They asked permission to go to the harbour. When Mr Carter gave them permission the boys took the camera and hurried to the harbour.they came to the harbour. It was a small harbour and there was only one fishing boat there that afternoon. The name of the boat was "Sainte Marie".

"It's French," said Darbishire when he saw the name of the boat.Frenchmen sat on deck mending their nets. The boys stood looking at them for a long time. At last Darbishire said: "Why are we standing and looking at them? Let's go and ask permission to take a photo of them. My father says you must strike while the iron is hot."

"All right, let's go," said Jennings. And they went to the fishing boat.

"Excuse me," said Jennings when they came up to the boat.was no answer from the boat. Five pairs of hands were working quickly.

"Excuse me," repeated Jennings loudly.hands stopped working and the five fishermen turned their heads towards the boys.

"My friend and I want to ask permission to come on deck and take some photos of you for our newspaper," said Jennings.answer. The fishermen looked at the boys with surprise.

"What I mean is there will be a wonderful picture of you mending your nets."

"Comment?" said one of the fishermen.

"What did he say?" asked Darbishire.

"I don't know. Something like 'come on'."

"No," he said, 'comment' means, 'how many', or 'what' or something else in French."

"I will tell him that I want to take only one photo," Jennings said to Darbishire. And he said loudly, "I want only one photo."the fishermen did not understand Jennings.

"Comment?" another fisherman asked.

"It can't mean 'how many'. I've told him that I wanted to take only one photo and now he has asked again. Maybe he means 'come on'. Let's go," Jennings said to Darbishire.the boys were on deck. The fishermen smiled at their visitors, but did not say a word because they did not speak English.

"Good afternoon, it's very nice to be here," said Jennings.

"Comment?" asked the third fisherman.

"We can't come on. We are already here," said Jennings.

"They don't understand English" said Darbishire.fishermen began to speak French, and then one of them said something in French to Darbishire.

"Maybe he says that they don't speak English and that you must talk to them in French if you want to take a photo," said Darbishire.

"Me talk to hem in French? But you are one of the best pupils in the French class. Ask them if we can take their photo," said Jennings.

"I can't. I don't remember the words."

"Please, Darbi, say something."thought and said what he could.

"Attention, mes braves! Nous voulons du poisson... No, no! What I mean is..."the fishermen began to smile: they understood at last! They turned and hurried below deck.looked at them in surprise: "Where are they all hurrying to?"

"Well.. you see..." began Darbishire, " I think I've made a mistake. I didn't remember the French for 'fisherman' and said 'poisson' which means 'fish'"

"Do you mean you called them 'fish', and they got angry and ran from the deck?"

"No, I think I said we want some fish."

"How could you say that?"did not answer.

"Never mind," said Jennings. "I've taken a good photo of them. They don't know I took it because they were talking to you."

"That's good. Let's go home then. I'm happy it's all over."when they turned to go they saw the five fishermen again. They were coming on deck with fish in their hands.

"Thank you very much," said Jennings, "but..."

"C'est pour votre maman," said one of the Frenchmen.understood. "He says that we must take the fish home to our mothers," he said.

"Tell him we don't have mothers at boarding school. Thank them and tell them we don't want any fish," said Jennings.

"I can't. There are too many words there that I don't know. Let's take the fish and go."

"But we don't want it. What can we do with it?"

"We must take the fish. It is a present. The fisherman think we have come here only for fish. They are happy to give it to us. They will not like it if we don't take the fish."

"All right," said Jennings and took the fish from one of the Frenchmen. Then the others hurried to the boys and gave them the fish they had in their hands.that one of the fisherman took a newspaper out of his pocket and made up a big parcel of the fish. Yes, the men from "Sainte Marie" were very kind people.Fourand Darbishire meet Mr Carter.

"We can't take the parcel to school," Jennings said when the boys left the fishing boat

"Why not? There is no rule about it, is there?" said Darbishire.

"There must be. I think Matron will get angry if we came to tea with the fish. And if there isn't a rule, there soon will be one. Rule number nine hundred and ninety-nine: Any boy who comes to boarding school with a parcel of fish shall stay in class during football."

"Well, let's leave it somewhere before we come to school."this was not so easy. There were no trees or bushes on their way to school, and an old woman with a dog was walking behind them.

"We can't leave it here," decided Jennings. "Well, what shall we do with it?... I'll tell you what, Darbi. We'll take it to school and put it in my tuck-box."

"Yes," said Darbishire, "and then we can take it home to our mothers when we go on holidays." Jennings looked at his friend angrily:

"Sometimes you don't think before you speak."

"I see what you mean. But then why take it with us?"

"To eat, of course."

"What - raw! Thank you, Jen. I'm not a cat."

"I'm not going to eat it raw. I'm not a cat either. What we'll do is this. We'll get up early tomorrow and develop our film in the school dark room. There is a gas-cooker there and we'll fry a nice fish breakfast."

"What shall we fry it in?"

"In developing dishes, of course."

"Where can we get butter?"

"I'll think about that," said Jennings.thought it was a good plan: teachers do not come into the dark room when pupils develop the film there.the boys were near the school Jennings sent Darbishire to see if there was anybody near the building. Jennings put the parcel on the ground. At that moment Darbishire ran back.

"Mr Carter," he said. "He's coming here."wanted to put the parcel quickly under his raincoat. But when he took it from the ground the newspaper dissolved into pulp and the fish fell on the ground. For a moment Jennings did not know what to do. Then, quickly, he began to put the fish into his raincoat pockets.

"Don't stand there, Darbi! Do something!" said Jennings.began to put the fish in his pockets too. Jennings had soon found a place of all except one.that moment he saw Mr Carter. Jennings took of his cap, put the last fish in it, and put the cap on quickly.Carter was a very kind and cleaver man, and all the boys in the boarding school liked him.

"Good afternoon, sir, " said Darbishire and took of his cap.looked at him angrily. "Why did he do that. He knows well that I can't take of my cap," he thought.

"Good afternoon. You've come back early," said Mr Carter. "Did you have a good walk?"

"Yes, thank you, sir. We went to the harbour," said Jennings. " I took very good photos of a fishing boat and some fishermen."that moment Darbishire saw that Mr Carter was looking at Jennings' cap.

"They were Frenchmen, sir," said Darbishire. "And I had a little talk with them."

"Yes, sir," said Jennings, "they were Frenchmen and Darbishire called them 'fish'."

"Oh, sir, I didn't call them that, sir! Jennings doesn't know French well and he couldn't understand what I said to them."

"And could the Frenchmen?" asked Mr Carter.

"Yes and no, sir," said Darbishire.

"Well, the first thing which you two boys can do, is to go and take the fish out of your pockets."Mr Carter knew about the fish!Carter turned to Jennings.

"Fish may be good for the brain, but not when you put them in the head under your cap."

"I'm sorry, " said Jennings. "They are a present. We didn't want to take them but we didn't know how to say it in French."

"I see. Well, I think you must take the fish out of your pockets. After that Jennings, you can hang your coats in the school yard and then wash you hair."

"Yes, sir."Mr Carter left the boys Jennings looked at his friend's sad face and said, "why are you so sad, Darbi? We'll develop the photos and then - well, Mr Carter didn't say we mustn't eat them, did he?"

"The photos?"

"No, you silly. Why don't you listen when I talk to you?"

"Mr Carter said..."

"He didn't say that we mustn't eat the fish. He said that we must take them out of our pockets. We can take them out of our pockets and put them in my tuck-box. Then we can fry them with pepper and salt."tea Jennings and Darbishire began to prepare for the next day. They had to ask permission to use the dark room. They decided not to ask Mr Carter. So they asked Mr Hid, a History an Music teacher. Mr Hid was a good photographer and was only to happy to give his permission. Then the boys had to get some butter. They did not eat any butter at tea-time, but took it out of the dining hall in an envelope.Five

"Wonderful" Breakfast.was seven o'clock when Jennings got out of bed the next morning and began to wake Darbishire up. But Darbishire did not want to get up so early. The weather was bad: it was raining, and his bed was so warm.

"Can't we do it some other time? One day next week, for example," Darbishire said.

"No, we can't. The fish won't keep."got up and began to dress.boys dressed and went out of the dormitory. They went to the tuck-box room for the fish and then to the dark room. When they went into the dark room Darbishire quickly bolted the door.

"It's good we didn't meet any teacher in the corridor," he said. "What shall we do first -fry the fish or develop the film?"

"I've developed the film already," Jennings answered to his friend's surprise. "I came here yesterday after supper. So now we have a lot of time for our wonderful breakfast."

"Are the photos good?" asked Darbishire.

"Y-y-yes," answered Jennings.was not the time to talk about the photos. Jennings took a developing dish and washed it. Then he took the butter from his pocket and some fish from the parcel, and put them on the developing dish.

"Shut the window, Darbi. If there is somebody in the school yard he will know that we are not developing a film if he sees that the window is open."window-panes were black, and when Darbishire shut the window it was dark in the room. Jennings took a candle out of the red lamp, and lit it. Then he lit the gas and held the developing dish over the gas. And then!..of flame were licking the sides of the developing dish and leaping towards the ceiling.dropped the developing dish on the floor.

"What's the matter?" asked Darbishire.did not answer. The developing dish was burning on the floor. Jennings took the parcel of fish from the table and dropped it on the burning developing dish. The boys saw a cloud of smoke but the fire was out.

"What's the matter?" Darbishire repeated his question.

"The developing dish was celluloid," answered Jennings.

"But why did you use a celluloid developing dish, Jen? Every little boy knows that it burns."

"Let's not talk about it. It's all over now."it was not all over. The room was full of smoke. The boys began to cough.

"Open the window, quick," said Jennings.ran up to the widow and put his head out into the cool morning.

"You don't know, Jen, what a nice and cool morning it is!" he said and took off his spectacles.he put his spectacles on again, looked through them and quickly shut the window.

"What's the matter?" asked Jennings.

"Mr Wilkins! He is out in the school yard! He saw my head."

"What shall we do?"boys stood and listened. The room was still full of smoke. Soon they heard a knock on the glass.

"Open the window! It was Mr Wilkins. He couldn't see through the black window - panes.

"Open the window, at once!" repeated Mr Wilkins.answer. What are these silly little boys doing there, he wondered? Had they hurried out of the room when they saw him? He went away from the window, turned the corner of the building and went in the door.

"He's coming," said Darbishire. "What shall we do? He knows we weren't developing: we couldn't do it with the window open."

"Let's open the window," said Jennings. "The room is still full of smoke. He's be near the dark room in a minute, and we'll have to open the door."opened the window and the boys began to clean the room.

"Open this door!" It was Mr Wilkins again. Now he was at the door.

"Where shall we put the parcel?" asked Jennings.was no place for it, and Jennings decided to hold the parcel behind his back under his coat.

"Will you open the door?" Mr Wilkins was very angry.opened the door and Mr Wilkins came in.

"What are you doing here?"boys did not answer. But Mr Wilkins' nose answered the question. "Something is burning."

"Yes, sir. A developing dish caught fire by chance. But now it's all over, sir."

"We'll soon see," said Mr Wilkins and began to walk round the room.walked behind him: he couldn't turn his back on Mr Wilkins.

"I don't know much about photography," said Mr Wilkins. "But if you can burn the building when you develop a film it is not a hobby that I like. Do you have permission to be in here, boys?"

"Yes, sir, yesterday Mr Hind gave us permission to develop the film, but I don't think that he knows that we are here now."

"So you don't have permission to be here now. And you've got up before the bell! Go to my room and wait for me at the door."

"Yes, sir."went out of the room with his back to the door. Darbishire went after him.Six.Hides the Parcel.the boys went along the corridor Darbishire said, "What are we going to do? We can't take this parcel to Old Wilkie's room, can we?"

"We must hide it somewhere."

"But where?"went to Mr Wilkins' door.

"What shall we do? He'll be here in a minute," said Darbishire. Jennings decided to do something.

"Open his door, quick," he said to Darbishire.

"You are not going to hide it in Old Wilkie's room - are you?"

"There is no other place, is there?"opened the door and the boys went into Mr Wilkins' room. It was a small room. There was a table, three chairs, an arm-chair, a cupboard and a bookcase in it. The boys looked around and understood that there was no place to hide the parcel.the corridor they heard Mr Wilkins' footsteps.

"Go out and talk to him," said Jennings.

"What about?"

"I don't know. Something interesting. The weather, for example."

"The weather?..."

"Please, Darbi, do as I say."left his friend and hurried to the corridor. Mr Wilkins was coming up to his room and his face told Darbishire that the teacher was not going to talk to him about the weather.

"What were you doing in my room, Darbishire?" he asked.

"I... I... I... am coming out, sir."

"I can see that. But I told you to wait at my door."Wilkins opened the door and went into his room. Darbishire went after him. He was so frightened that he closed his eyes. When he opened them he was greatly surprised.was standing on the carpet. He had no parcel in his hands. There was no parcel under his coat either. Darbishire looked around the room. "Where has Jennings hidden the parcel?" Darbishire could not answer this question. He looked around the room again.

"What's the matter with you, Darbishire?" asked Mr Wilkins. "Have you lost anything?"

"No, sir. Thank you, sir," answered Darbishire.

"Darbishire and Jennings, you developed the photos without permission, and you did it before the bell. So you will do an hour's work for me on Saturday afternoon."

"Yes. Sir. May we go, sir?"

"You may."the boys went out into the corridor Jennings said, "Well, that wasn't so bad, was it? If he knew that we fried fish in the dark room!"

"Yes, where is it?" asked Darbishire.

"The dark room? You know that well."

"No, where is the parcel of fish?"

"Oh, that! Well, I had to do something, quick."

"And what did you do, quick?"put it in Old Wilkie's chimney."

"What!"

"What could I do? It was all very fine for you to stand at the door, and I..."

"But we can't leave the parcel there for ever."

"No, we can't. but we have to say goodbye to our early breakfast."that moment the breakfast bell rang, and Jennings and Darbishire went down to the dining hall.

"Where have you been?" Venables asked when Jennings and Darbishire sat down at breakfast.

"Yesterday Mr Hind said that I could develop my film in the dark room. And when we were using a developing dish as a frying pan it began to burn. At that moment Old Wilkie came..."

"Why did you fry the photos?" asked Venables.

"Oh, I don't mean the photos. We were frying the fish."

"What fish?"

"The fish in Old Wilkie's chimney."could not understand it. Then Darbishire explained it all to him.

"It will be easy to take it from the chimney when Old Wilkie isn't in the room," said Venables.

"It is all very fine for you to talk," said Jennings. "I'd like to see you do it."course, Jennings had decided to get the parcel from the chimney, but he did not want to let anybody say that it was easy.did not eat much at breakfast that morning. He was thinking about his plan to get the parcel back from Mr Wilkins' chimney. "I'll go to Old Wilkie's room," thought Darbishire, "and knock at the door. If there is no answer it will mean that there is nobody in the room. If there is an answer - well, then I'll see what to do. But I must do in quickly. Today is Monday, and this evening Jennings and I wanted to begin to print the first issue of the Form Three Times."SevenAttemptsWilkins was reading a morning newspaper when he heard the first knock at his door. He called: "Come in!" Nobody came.Wilkins went to the door, opened it, and saw Darbishire who was running along the corridor.

"Darbishire!" he shouted.that moment one of Derbyshire's house-shoes came off and he stopped.

"Yes, sir?"

"What are you doing?"

"I'm putting on my house-shoe."

"I can see that. This doesn't explain why you knocked at my door and then ran along the corridor. Do you want to see me?"

"No, sir."

"Then what do you want?"thought. Of course, he did not want to see anybody in Mr Wilkins' room. But he could not say it. What did he want then? There must be something that he could want.

"I want a stamp, sir. I want to write a letter to me grandmother."

"If you wanted a stamp why didn't you ask for it?" asked Mr Wilkins.went into his room and towards his desk. Darbishire stopped at the door and looked at the fireplace. Mr Wilkins took a stamp from the desk and gave it to Darbishire. Darbishire thanked him and left the room.often visited Mr Wilkins' room that day. But every time Mr Wilkins was in his room. He asked for another stamp, then another and another. During the day Mr Wilkins gave him four stamps. Another time he asked Mr Wilkins for a ruler, then for an eraser. Before dinner he asked Mr Wilkins for his autograph. After dinner he came to ask whether "Sir" could tell him what the time was. It was five o'clock, and Mr Wilkins decided to go for a walk: he was very tired of Derbyshire's visits.

"If that child comes to my room again he will be unlucky." Mr Wilkins said to himself as he was leaving his room.was unlucky. He was also very tired and decided not to go to Mr Wilkins' room any more. He went to the common room and saw Jennings there. Jennings was gathering the news for the first issue of the Form Three Times.

"Where have you been, Darbi?" his friend asked. "Every break when I wanted your help you had gone somewhere."

"I wanted to get that parcel back," said Darbishire.

"Did you get it back?"

"No, I didn't. every time I went to Old Wilkie's room he was there."

"If we can't get that parcel back soon he will not be able to sit in his room. Soon he'll begin to wonder what's going on in his room."

"Let's better think out a plan how we can get the parcel back," said Darbishire.

"Let's." Jennings thought and then said, "We'll have a football game on Wednesday. Old Wilkie will be the referee. At the end of the game I'll hurry to his room, and you'll ask Old Wilkie some questions about the game and keep him on the field. All right?"

"All right," said Darbishire, he liked the plan.they began to print the Form three Times. For a while they put the rubber letters in the printing block. After three quarters of an hour passed they were already tired. They began to understand that to print a short letter was one thing, and to print a big wall newspaper was another.

"We shall never finish it," said Jennings. We must print twelve pages for the newspaper. After three quarters of an hour we are only on the second line of page one. It'll take us..." he thought, "ninety-six weeks to print twelve pages."

"I don't want to say anything bad about your Aunt Angela's present, but if we had had a typewriter..."

"We don't know how to type and we haven't a typewrite."

"No, but Mr Carter has," said Jennings quickly.

"I don't think Mr Carter will let us borrow his typewriter."

"I don't think so either. But I think he may type the newspaper for us."Carter was correcting mistakes in his pupils' exercise-books when he heard a knock at his door.

"Come in!" he called.and Darbishire came into Mr Carter's room.

"Well, boys, what can I do for you?" asked Mr Carter.

"Well, sir, Darbishire and me would like you to do us a favour, sir," Jennings began.

"No, Darbishire and I would like you to do us a favour, Jennings," he corrected.looked at Mr Carter in surprise.

"Did you, sir? Darbishire never told me," said Jennings.

"I mean, Jennings, that you must say 'Darbishire and I', not 'Darbishire and me'."

"Yes, sir. Well, will you do Darbishire and I a favour, please, sir?"

"This time, Jennings, it's correct to say 'Darbishire and me'."

"All right, sir. Darbishire and I or me are writing a wall newspaper and we wondered if you could lend us your typewriter to type the newspaper."

"I don't think I can lend you me typewriter. It's not a toy, you know."

"I know, sir. It's not a toy, sir," said Jennings. "We think so, too. Excuse me, sir."the boys were not going to leave the room. They stood and hoped. Mr Carter understood what that hope meant.

"Of course," he said, "I may type it for you. But let me see what you are going to write in your newspaper."gave Mr Carter the exercise book. Mr Carter read it slowly, then said, "Very well. I'll type it for you. Is this all?"

"No, sir. We want to organize one or two competitions," answered Darbishire, "but we haven't decided yet what they are going to be."

"Why not have a handwriting competition," said Mr Carter.

"Very good, sir," said Darbishire. "That will be one competition. And for the second competition we can have... what?"Carter spoke again.

"Why not ask your readers to write a poem or something like that."

"Wonderful!" said Jennings. "And we can give the winners big cakes."

"But we haven't any big cakes," said Darbishire.

"I know, but if I ask my Aunt Angela to send me two big cakes for the competition she will certainly do it."EightForm Three Timesfollowing morning Jennings and Darbishire hung the first issue of the Form Three Times on the notice-board. There were a lot of boys near it and they liked the newspaper. There was only one boy who did not like it. It was Temple. He did not like it because there wasn't a story about his football boot. He had already found his boot, but he was ready to hide it again because he wanted to read his story in the newspaper.was another boy who could not say anything good about the newspaper. He could not say anything bad about it either. He did not see the newspaper. It was Bromwich.saw him in the tuck-box room. Bromwich was making a toy bus for his little brother.

"Have you seen my newspaper," Jennings began.

"No, I haven't," answered Bromwich. "All the time you lose your things and think that every boy must know where they are."

"No, I haven't lost it! I mean have you seen it up in the wall?"looked at Jennings in surprise.

"How could it get up there?" he asked.explained, and Bromwich decided to go and see the newspaper.they came to the common room a lot of boys were still standing near the wall newspaper. They were talking about the two competitions and the two big cakes.

"I could do with one of these big cakes," said Temple.

"I think I'll try to write a poem," said Atkinson. He turned to Venables who was standing near him. "You can take part in the other competition - you have a beautiful handwriting."

"I don't know," said Venables. "I haven't decided yet which competition I shall take part in." He came up to the notice-board and began to read the rules: "Those who want to take part in the competitions must send their poems or twenty lines of their best handwriting by Friday. Do not write on one side of the paper..." here Venables stopped. "I say, Darbishire, came here. I don't understand this rule. If we can't write on one side of the paper, what can we do?came up. He was the author of the rules. "You can write on the other side, can't you?" he asked.

"How shall we know which the other side is?"

"It doesn't matter. I mean that it will be better if you only write on one side at a time, or.."

"You want to say we mustn't write on more that two sides of the paper?" asked Atkinson.

"No, you mustn't write on more that one side of the paper," said Darbishire.turned to the rules. "Take your poems or twenty lines of your best handwriting to the tuck-box room, and do not forget to write 'Competition' in the top left-hand corner."

"I can't reach the top left-hand corner of the tuck-box room if I don't stand on the table," said Atkinson.

"It doesn't mean that! You don't want to understand," said Darbishire and left the common room.Jennings woke up next morning the first think he thought about was food. Jennings liked to eat and he often thought about food when he woke up. But this time he didn't think about the food that he wanted to eat. He thought about the two big cakes and the parcel of fish.knew that Darbishire could help him to get the parcel back. But how could he get two big cakes? His Aunt Angela was a very kind woman, but she very often forgot things. He decided to write to her at once.began the letter during the first break and finished it during Mr Hind's history lesson.the football game, as Jennings and Darbishire were putting on their football boots, Jennings said to his friend, "Don't forget, Darbi. After the game is over I'll run to Old Wilkie's room and you must keep him on the field. Ask him any questions that you like, but don't let him go before you see me wave from the school yard. That will mean that I've got the parcel from the chimney."

"All right," answered Darbishire.weather was bad that afternoon and Mr Wilkins was not sorry when the game was over. At once Darbishire came up to him.

"Sir, please, sir, will you explain something, please, sir?"

"Well, what is it? Hurry up, I don't want to stay here all day."

"Well, sir, if, for example, I was centre forward for the white shirts and I kicked the ball to Temple who was on my right, and there was nobody in front of him, and he didn't get the ball, and Venables, who was centre forward for the green shirts, got it and kicked it to Jennings who kicked it to Atkinson who played for the green shirts, and Bromwich was coming behind him in a white shirts, and there was nobody in front of him, will it be off side, sir?"

"I don't understand you, Darbishire. Will who be off side?"

"Well, Bromwich, for example, sir. Or if not Bromwich, then one of the others."

"I don't understand what you are talking about. Darbishire. Let's go to my room, and I'll give you a book of rules of the game." He turned and left the football field.

"Oh, don't go, sir. Please, don't go. Do you think I played well this afternoon, sir?"

"No, I don't think so, Darbishire."

"Can you show me how to play football well, sir?"

"Not in these shoes, thank you," Mr Wilkins pointed to his new shoes. "Then it's too cold here. I'm going to my room to light the fire. The Headmaster is going to visit me at 4 o'clock, and... Well Darbishire, where are your spectacles?"

"My spectacles!" exclaimed Darbishire. "I've lost hem. I know I had them when we began to play."Wilkins and Darbishire went back to the football field. After some time they found the spectacles near the goal.

"Jennings has had a lot of time to get that parcel from the chimney, my spectacles helped him," thought Darbishire. He thanked Mr Wilkins for help and let him go.Nineand Darbishire go fishinghurried from the football field and went to Mr Wilkins' room. He opened the door and went in. He looked at the fireplace. A fire was laid and Jennings understood that Mr Wilkins was going to light the fire. "It's a good thing I've come now," he thought.hurried to the fireplace and put his hand up the chimney. There was nothing there.

"Old Wilkie has found it," he said to himself. "No," he thought at once, "Old Wilkie is not a man to keep it a secret."put his head up the chimney but he couldn't see anything.that moment he heard footsteps in the corridor. "Will they pass by or will they come in?" he thought.door opened and Mr Pemberton, the Headmaster, stood in the doorway. Mr Pemberton looked at Jennings and saw soot on his face and hands.

"May I ask what you are doing, Jennings?"

"I... I... was putting my head up the chimney, sir."

"I can see that, but I can't understand why!"

"I wanted to see how far I could see up the chimney."

"I see." Mr Pemberton was an old teacher. He knew that twelve-year-old boys could sometimes do the things that no teacher could hope to understand. So he wasn't surprised when Jennings told him why he was putting his head up the chimney.

"I think, Jennings, that Mr Wilkins has sent you here," said the Headmaster. "But you mustn't come to his room in your football boots. Go down and change them."

"Yes, sir."left Mr Wilkins' room and went to change his football boots.the changing-room he met Darbishire.

"Is everything all right?" asked Darbishire. I kept Old Wilkie out in the field but you didn't wave your hand to me. It's a good thing you took the parcel, because Old Wilkie has gone to his room to light the fire."

"What?"

"Yes, he wants to make the room warm because the Headmaster is going to visit him."

"But I haven't got the parcel from the chimney."

"What?"

"The Headmaster came into the room, saw me in my football boots and told me to go and change them."

"But why didn't you take off your football boot's? No, what I mean is..."

"Never mind, Darbi. I have a new plan. We'll go fishing."

"No, we can't go fishing. We must get that parcel back."

"Yes, I know. Listen, Darbi. If we can't get the parcel from below let's get it from above. All we need is a big hook and a long piece of string."Wilkins chimney was on a flat roof. The boys could get there from an attic-window, drop the hook down the chimney and get the parcel from it. That was Jennings' new plan.boys changed out of their football kit quickly. Then they found a big hook and a long string, went up to the attic-window, then out of the attic-window onto the roof and hurried to Mr Wilkins' chimney.Wilkins sat on a chair near his fire. It was warm in the room and he did not want to light the fire yet. He was listening to the Headmaster who was talking about Algebra lessons in the school.Mr Wilkins looked at the fireplace and saw something. He could not believe it! He closed his eyes, opened them, and looked at the fireplace again, the thing was still there.

"Are you listening to me, Wilkins?" said Mr Pemberton.Headmaster looked at the fireplace too, and saw a big hook. It was swinging from side to side. For a moment Mr Palmerton and Mr Wilkins looked at the hook, in surprise.the Headmaster spoke.

"What is it?" he said.

"It's a hook," said Mr Wilkins.

"Yes, yes, I can see that, Wilkins. But what is it doing in your fireplace? Do you boil kettles in you fireplace?"

"No, no, I don't boil kettles. When I want a cup of tea I usually go to Matron's room. She often makes tea at 5 o'clock, and..."

"Excuse me, Wilkins, but this is not the moment to talk about tea. Somebody is up on the roof. I think you must go and see who it is."

"Yes, yes, of course," said Mr Wilkins and hurried out of the room.he left the room Mr Pemberton looked at the fireplace again. But he did not see the hood there.

"Now, I wonder what is going on up there," he said to himself.Jennings and Darbishire came out onto the roof they saw not one, but more than twenty chimneys.

"Do you know which is Mr Wilkins' one?" asked Jennings.

"No, I don't," answered Darbishire. "But I think Mr Wilkins has already lit his fire. So his chimney must be one of those with smoke."

"Don't be silly, Darbi. If he has lit the fire, the smoke won't come out. It will go into his room. Let's listen at the chimneys without smoke and see if we can hear any coughing."listened at every chimney without smoke but could not hear any coughing. At last Jennings chose a chimney and dropped the hook down.

"It's either this one or the next," he said, "because Mr Wilkins' window looks... Oh, Darbi! There is something on the hook."

"Can you take it up?"

"I don't know. I think I can." Jennings pulled the string. "I've got it," he cried. "I've got it!"began to dance. But he stopped when he saw that it was not the parcel, but a bird's nest.

"Wrong chimney," said Jennings and went to another chimney.dropped the hook again and began to swing it.

"Wrong chimney again," said Jennings. "It's empty: I can swing the hook from side to side. Look, Darbi."

"How can I see what is going on down the chimney" asked Darbishire.course, Darbishire could not see it, but Mr Wilkins could. It was at that moment that Mr Wilkins saw the hook.pulled the hook out. "I'll look down every chimney now," he thought. "If there is nothing in the chimney I'll see the light from the fireplace." He put his face to the chimney and looked down.

"What are you doing?" asked Darbishire.

"I'm looking down the chimney. I want to see the light," , answered Jennings. But Darbishire did not hear the answer because it went straight down the chimney. It was Matron's room. She was making tea when she heard a voice in the chimney. She started and the cup of tea danced in her hands.

"I can't see anything," Jennings said.

"I can," said Darbishire. "I can see Mr Wilkins. He is coming from the attic-window."Ten's well that ends well, but...

"I... I... What the..." Mr Wilkins could not say a word. He was very angry. "What are you two silly boys doing up here on the roof? You know very well that you are not to come here."

"Yes, sir."boys stood unhappily before him.

"I'm sorry, sir," Jennings said at last, "but we were not sure which was your chimney, sir."

"But you - you silly little boy, why do you want to put things down any chimney? You're not Father Christmas, are you?"

"No, sir, I am not Father Christmas, sir. We wanted to see of your chimney was blocked or not. Because if you decide to light your fire..."

"But why did you think that my chimney was blocked?"

"They sometimes are blocked, sir. And we were quite right, because we found this thing in your chimney, sir." Jennings pointed to the bird's nest.Wilkins looked at the bird's nest. Of course, it was an unpleasant thing to have in the chimney.

"Hm... hm..." said Mr Wilkins. Maybe the little boys wanted to do something good. But school rules are school rules, and the boys mustn't break them even if they want to do something good.

"You must leave the roof at once," said Mr Wilkins. "And when you've washed your face, Jennings, I'll give you and your friend some work so that you'll have no time to put things down anybody's chimneys."boys went back through the attic-window and hurried to the wash-room where Jennings washed his face.

"I still can't understand it, Darbi," he said. "If that hook went down Old Wilkie's chimney, why didn't it hit the parcel?"

"It's one of those things that nobody can explain," said Darbishire, "like flying saucers, for example."the boys left the wash-room they met Venables who was going there to wash his hands before tea.

"Where have you been?" asked Venables. "I couldn't find you anywhere, I've done you a great favour."

"Thank you very much; that was very nice of you," said Darbishire. "What was it?"

"Well, Matron didn't let me play football this afternoon because she thought I was ill. So I decided to get that parcel of fish out of Old Wilkie's chimney."

"What!" exclaimed Jennings. "You mean that it was you who took it?"

"Of course it was! Didn't I tell you that it was an easy thing to do? I wanted to tell you about your parcel before, but I couldn't find you. Where have you been?"

"We've been up in the roof," said Darbishire.

"We tried to get the parcel through the chimney from above. We didn't know it had gone. And Old Wilkie caught us up there."

"I'm very sorry," said Venables. "I only wanted to help you."

"Never mind!" said Darbishire. "My father says all's well that ends well."tuck-box room was of course for pupils to keep their tuck-boxes in. It was not very easy to use the tuck-box room for an editorial office. But Jennings and Darbishire put tuck-boxed one on top another and the desk was ready.Friday some envelopes arrived, but the big cakes didn't. The two friends sat down at the desk made of tuck-boxes.

"We'll have to give the prizes tomorrow before tea," said Darbishire.

"Yes," said Jennings. "I can't think that is the matter with Aunt Angela. I wrote her a letter a week ago."

"You said she was absent-minded."

"She is. But I think this time she must remember because it is so important."

"I think absent-minded people must do something about it."was still half an hour before bedtime. So Jennings took the envelopes from his jacket pocket and passed them to his friend.

"See which are the poems and which are for the handwriting competition," said Jennings. "And we'll disqualify anybody who hasn't written 'Competition' in the top left-hand corner."

"Competition, competition, competition" read Darbishire. "Yes, they've all got it on... Oh, wait a minute; here's one that hasn't."

"Put it in the waste-paper basket," said Jennings. "We can't have boys who forget simple things, or they'll grow up absent-minded like Aunt Angela."

"But this letter is to your Aunt Angela. And what's more, it's in your handwriting."

"What?"

"Look. Miss Angela Birkinshaw."opened the envelope and looked at the letter. He couldn't believe his eyes. It was his handwriting: '... please send two big cakes...'

"Oh, you silly! You forgot to post it."

"Don't be funny. How could you post it, if it's here!"

"No, I mean I can remember I meant to post it. Well, what are we going to do now?"

"I don't think the village shop has big cakes, but if we get permission to go to town, we can get them there," said Darbishire.

"And where can we get the money? I've spent all my money on another film for the camera. How much do you have?"

"One-and-fourpence. We can pay the bus fares but we won't have any money when we get to town."

"We'll think of something!" said Jennings. "Let's look at the poems and best handwriting. Maybe they are so bad that we shan't have to give any prizes."were six envelopes. Darbishire took the sheets of paper out of the envelopes and dropped the envelopes in the waste-paper basket. To his surprise all six were poems.

"Nobody has sent in his best handwriting," he said.

"Well, that's a good thing," said Jennings. "It means that we need only one cake."

"But where shall we get this one cake?"

"Let's not think about that now. Let's see whether the poems are good or not."boys began to read the poems and did not like them. All the five poems that they had in front of them on their desk were very poor.

"That only leaves one more. And I hope it's poor too," said Jennings.looked at the handwriting on the last sheet of paper and said: "This one is Venables'. Listen!"

'Break, break, break,thy cold grey stones, O Sea!I would that my tongue could utterthoughts that arise in me!well for the fisherman's boy,he shouts with his sister at play!well for the sailor lad,he sings in his boat on the bay!'

"That's not bad, is it!" said Jennings. "Who did you say wrote it?"

"Venables."

"Don't be funny. Venables couldn't write that."

"I'm sure it's Venables' handwriting. But wait a minute. It's only half of a poem."

"It's quite enough. His poem is certainly a lot better than others," said Jennings.

"We'll have to give him a prize, if we can't find that something is wrong with it," said Darbishire.

"There must be something wrong with it." Jennings looked at the sheet of paper. "Look, Darbi. I don't think it is very good when he repeats all the time 'O well'. He says, 'O well for the fisherman's boy' and 'O well for the sailor lad.' People don't say that, do they?"

"Maybe he couldn't think of anything better. But we can't disqualify him for it, can we?"

"No, we can't. we must think of something else for a prize. Oh well, let's think.."

"There you are," said Darbishire quickly. "You've said it."

"Said what?"

"'Oh well.' You said people didn't say that."that moment the dormitory bell rang and the boys went to bed.Elevento get a big cakeJennings and Darbishire were takings off their clothes in the dormitory that evenings, the boy who took part in the competitions came up to them.

"Have you already read those poems?" asked Bromwich.

"Yes, there was only one good poem," answered Jennings.

"Mine?" asked Bromwich.

"No. Yours went into the waste-paper basket."

"Oh!" exclaimed Bromwich. "I've spent a lot of time on that poem."

"And mine?" asked Temple.

"Yours was very poor, too," said Jennings. "I don't want to tell you who is the winner, because it's still a secret, but if you keep it I'll tell you that Venables' poem is the best."

"Good old Venables!" cried Temple.

"Hey, Venables, you've taken the first prize in the wall-newspaper competition!" cried Atkinson.was washing his face at the washbasin. He turned his head.

"Have I?" he exclaimed. He quickly dried his face on the towel and came up to Darbishire and Jennings.

"When shall I get the cake?" asked Venables.began to take off his shoes. He "did not hear" the question.

"When shall I get the cake?" Venables repeated.

"You see," said Jennings. "We don't have the cakes yet."

"What!" exclaimed Venables. "But you've promised it!"

"Yes, you've promised a big cake. And there must be a big cake," said Atkinson.

"If I don't get my prize, I'll..."

"All right, all right! Don't get angry. You'll get your prize," said Jennings.

"The big cake?" asked Venables.

"No, something ten times better."

"Ten times better? What?"

"It's a secret. You will know tomorrow, and I'm sure you'll like it."that moment Jennings did not know anything about the prize himself. But what could he say? There was no other way open to him.all the boys went to their beds Darbishire said to Jennings:

"It's a good thing you've thought of something, Jen. What is it?"

"I don't know yet."

"But you said...you said we could give him something ten times better than a big cake. What shall we give him?.. Can't we sell something and buy something else for the money?"

"I'm not going to say good-bye to my camera or my printing set, thank you very much."

"No, I mean some old thing that costs a lot because it's old. You'll be surprised to know how much old things sometimes cost. My father knows a man who has a book which was published at the time of Julius Caesar, and he says it costs a hundred pounds."

"Who says - Julius Caesar?"

"No, you silly! My father says. It's a rare first edition, you see."

"But I don't have anything that was published at the time of Julius Caesar. Maybe my Latin textbook."

"Oh, no. I'm talking about some first editions that people buy when they are a hundred years old."

"I don't think my Latin textbook is younger than a hundred," Jennings said with a smile. "And I remember the words 'first edition' on the first page of the book. There are only two books in school like it - Venables' and mine. All the other boys have much newer books."

"Don't be silly, Jennings! You are not going to tell me that your Latin book is valuable."decided to see for himself. There were still some minutes before the lights were put out. He got out of bed, hurried out of the dormitory, went to his desk in the classroom and found the book. He opened it and read: A First Latin Grammar by A. Grimshaw. First Edition MCMLXII (1962).tried to translate Roman numerals. "That must be... Yes, of course: 1852!"took the book and hurried out of the classroom. "First I must find out if the book is valuable," he thought when he ran to the dormitory. "If it is valuable I'll sell it for - well, Darbishire says a hundred pounds - for ten shillings, maybe. So I'll have money to buy Venables his cake and I'll leave some money to buy a newer edition of the book." He read the price: four-and-sixpence. "What will Mr Penberton say if I come into class without my Latin Grammar? So I will have to buy a newer edition of the book."was near the door of the dormitory when he heard a voice.

"Come here, Jennings." It was the Headmaster.was too late to hide the Latin book.

"Do you know, Jennings, that your dormitory light were put out five minutes ago?"said something, which could mean "Yes-sir" or "No-sir"

"Then I don't understand, Jennings, why you are not in bed."

"I went to my classroom to get a book, sir."

"And how are you going to read it in the dark?" asked the Headmaster. But at that moment he looked at the book, which Jennings was holding, and his expression changed. "Grimshaw's Latin Grammar! Well, well, Jennings, I must say that I am surprised. Does this mean that you have at last decided to begin to learn Latin?"

"Oh, I don't know, sir. I... I... I was going to look through it before lights were out if there was time. Or maybe in the morning, before I get up, sir."

"Very good, Jennings. You have left it too late for this evening, but I think that there is no better thing than to read A Latin Grammar in the morning. It's a very valuable book."

"Yes, sir. Do you mean that it's a rare book, sir?"

"I mean that it's very difficult to get it. I ordered some copies many months ago, but I haven't yet got them," answered the Headmaster. "A very interesting man - Mr Grimshaw. I attended his lectures at the university."opened his eyes wide in surprise. "You... you've seen him, sir?"

"Very often."

"Mr Grimshaw must be a hundred and fifty years old," THOUGHT Jennings. "No wonder he was interesting."

"It says here, sir," Jennings pointed to the first page, "that he wrote the book in 1852."Pemberton looked at the page.

"No, Jennings. MCMLXII is - well, try to read it yourself. Good night."Headmaster went away. "He is a good boy, that Jennings," he thought on the way to his room. "Of course it was silly of him to make a mistake of a hundred years when he was translating the Roman numerals. But after

Date: 2015-04-20; view: 889