The Professor paid the cabman, who touched his hat, and then, followed by Boy, entered a large building just through the gates. A long corridor ran right through the building, and through the glass doors at the end Boy could see a number of the scholars at play.
“Would you like to join them while I give the First Class in Molluscs their singing lesson?” asked the Professor.
Boy said that he should, and passing out into the playground, was soon surrounded by a number of young fishes, all dressed in College suits similar to those Boy had seen before.
“What’s your name?” asked one, as soon as he came up to Boy, and before he could answer another one had asked, “What’s your father? and how much pocket money do you have a week?” while a third demanded, “Where did you go for your holiday last year?”
Boy thought he had better answer one question at a time, so he replied, “Oh, I went to Broadstairs and had such a jolly time, and one day I went out in a boat and caught such a lot of———” (Fortunately he remembered just in time to prevent himself from saying “such a lot of fish” as he had at first intended.)
“Such a lot of what?” asked one of the little fishes curiously.
“Oh—er—er—such a lot of—er—er—things, shells, you know, and er—er—seaweed,” stammered Boy, feeling very confused.
“Rather funny to go out in a boat to catch seaweed, wasn’t it?” remarked one of the fishes suspiciously. “What did you catch really?”
Boy could not think what to say, but at last he thought that he could see a way out of the difficulty, and said, “Oh, I caught a crab.”
The fishes looked horrified.