“Who’s talking about crimes? You’ve got ’em on the brain, Bingley.”
“I thought you said they deserved to be bunked?”
“So they did—for going and getting cobbed.”
“Oh, I see! You’d’ve looked every master in the face, I suppose, without being recognised?”
“I wouldn’t’ve made them look twice at me, by sticking on a false beard,” snorted Jan, stung by the tone he had been the first to employ. Chips understood his mood, and liked him too much to join in the discussion. But Bingley had been longer in the school than either of them, and he was not going to knuckle under in a minute.
“It’s a pity you weren’t here, Tiger,” said he, “to show them how to do it.”
“It’s a thing any fool could do if he tried,” returned Jan. “I’d back myself to get out of this house in five minutes.”
“Not you, old chap!” said Chips, making an unfortunate entry into the discussion after all.
“I would so,” declared Jan hot-headedly. “I’d do it to-morrow if the fair wasn’t going away.”
Bingley began to jeer.