“Yes,” I replied.
A shout of laughter was the result of this remark of mine, the reason for which I could not comprehend.
“You’re very clever, I suppose,” said the same boy; “an awful hand at Swat.”
“I can do rule-of-three,” I replied.
“Lor! what a clever fellow!” replied the boy. “I say,” he shouted, “Ansell, James, come here! We have a Sir Isaac Newton here!”
As he called, four or five boys came up and joined the others near me.
“He’s going to be an engineer,” said the same boy; “and he knows rule-of-three! Isn’t he likely to get them?”
“Where have you come from?” asked another boy.
“From the New Forest, Hampshire,” I replied.
“Then you’d better go back to the New Forest, Hampshire, and feed the pigs there.”