"I wonder if I am to go in, or if I am to have any supper at all," queried the boy, looking anxiously about, as he suddenly awakened to the fact that he was fearfully hungry. "Nobody knows that I am here but the steward and the old man with the book."
His doubts were relieved by the appearance of the brown-robed steward, who beckoned to him from the entrance of the dining-hall.
Samuel sped to his side, and was ushered into the vast apartment where the pupils sat at dinner. Quiet reigned here, broken only by a subdued conversation at the masters' table, and the voice of a tutor who from a desk at the upper end of the room read a Latin oration for the entertainment of those present.
Samuel was conducted to a vacant seat at one of the long tables, where a wooden bowl of soup and a slice of bread awaited him. These he quickly despatched, and turning to the boy on his right, was about to inquire modestly how he should get a fresh supply, when his neighbor hastily pressed his finger to his lips, as a sign that speech was forbidden. Samuel was surprised at this injunction, especially as he was still hungry, and glancing about the board, he discovered that every other bowl was as empty as his own, and that no single crumb of bread was to be seen.
No one addressed him, but he was aware that numerous pairs of eyes were fixed curiously upon him. He shrank from this open scrutiny, although the boys at his table were all near his own age; and reddening, he gazed persistently at his bowl.
"Ss—ss!" came in a soft hiss from a lad across the table.
"Ss—ss! Ss—ss!" cautiously echoed a dozen others.
Samuel wriggled uncomfortably in his chair, but to his surprise, his neighbor on the right reached over and grasped his knee with friendly force. Samuel instantly responded by seizing the stranger's knee, and, fortified by this unlooked-for support, threw back his head and eyed in turn each lad at the table. There was something in his fearless glance that caused the hisses quickly to subside; and when the bell rang, and the students trooped out, no word of challenge was offered to him. Moreover, no other kind of words came either, for it was the hour of recreation, and the boys swarmed the campus, shouting, whistling, singing, and engaging in various athletic games. The most popular sports seemed to be leap-frog and basting-the-bear, for groups everywhere were indulging in these rollicking pastimes.
Samuel stood alone watching, for even his neighbor at table had joined the merry-makers. He decided that if he wished to become one of them he must make a bold move; so, marching up to one of the leap-frog companies, he ventured to enter the game. The effort was quickly foiled, however, for one pupil seized him by the leg, another by the hair, while twenty voices shouted at once,—
"Clear out! Don't you know you can't play with us till you get your blue coat?"