“What?”
“I don’t know. Let’s go across the field there and get under the elms. There are a whole lot of the fellows there. They have got some game on. There’s Slegge yonder.”
“Oh, I don’t want to go where Slegge is.”
“But you should want to go where Slegge is. I know he’s a nasty, disagreeable fellow; but you needn’t notice that. If he’s civil—well, that will be right enough. If he isn’t, treat him with good-humoured contempt. You aren’t afraid of him, are you?”
“I! Afraid of him!” cried Singh indignantly, and he emitted quite a puff of angry breath.—“What did you do that for?” he continued angrily, for, as if by accident, Glyn, with a quick gesture, had knocked off his cap, and then stooping quickly snatched it from off the grass and put it carefully on again. “You did that on purpose,” cried Singh angrily.
“Oh, it’s all right. It was the stopper came off, and I put it on again.”
“Bah!” cried Singh with a snort; but he walked quietly on, gradually calming down as his companion half-guided him towards the group of boys who were idling about under the elm-trees, pretty close to where the new piece of fence marked the place where the elephant went through.
Yielding to Glyn, Singh would have walked quietly up with him and been ready enough under his friend’s guidance to embark on any sport or game that was going on; but as Glyn afterwards said when he was laughing it over, “old Slegge” made the pepper-stopper shoot out at once, for, after evidently seeing who were approaching, he slowly edged himself round till his back was to the companions, and began talking aloud, measuring the time by means of his ears till he came to the conclusion that Singh was near enough to catch everything he said, and even Glyn winced as he heard the lad say:
“Oh, by the way, you fellows, I suppose you have done it for a lark, and you mean to put it back in my box; but I have missed my turban, the one with the big pearl in it that fastens the plume of feathers.”
The boys were silent, staring at the speaker, for they did not catch the point of the remark; and Slegge continued: