On my entering the room he said,—“Shut the door and turn the key!” I did so, and then saw that Snipson looked pale with rage, and that something unpleasant was in store for me.
The room in which we were was not more than about ten feet square; the window, like all others at the Academy, was guarded by iron cross-bars, and the furniture of the room consisted of two stools, a small table, a fender and poker, and a bed. Snipson was at that time nearly two years and a half my senior, and was much taller and stouter than I was. He had, however, an awkward way about him, and was not given to any muscle-developing games, such as cricket, football, or rackets.
As soon as I had locked the door Snipson said,—
“Look here, Shepard; you are a young blackguard, and I’m going to lick you! What do you mean by telling lies about me?”
“I have told no lies about you,” I said. “You told the fellows at your squad that I was one of the greatest bullies at the shop, so it’s no use your telling another lie to save yourself a licking?” I was taken aback at this remark, for I now remembered what I had said at the dinner-table about his being a bully. I could not, however, see how this remark could be turned into a lie, for there was no doubt about the fact of Snipson being one of the greatest bullies at the Academy; but I did not know how to argue so as to own to having called him a bully, and yet to show I was not guilty of falsehood.
“You see you’re caught?” said Snipson; “so now just put one of those stools on the other!” I hesitated a moment, and said,—“I remember saying you were a bully, but I didn’t think you would mind that, and I don’t call that a lie.”
“Ah, now you acknowledge saying what you before denied! That’s three lies you’ve told since you have been here! Now, get onto the top of that uppermost stool?”
So great had been the influence of the authority of old-cadetism on me that I obeyed Snipson’s orders, and with some difficulty climbed to the top of the stool. In an instant Snipson kicked over the lower stool, and I fell heavily on my side from a height of about five feet, the leg of the stool striking me on the shin.
Before I could recover myself, and when the pain from the blow I had received was gradually spreading, as it were, over my whole body, Snipson, who was grinning maliciously, said,—
“Put the stools in order and up again! Look sharp!” he shouted, as I hesitated to obey.