“‘Thank you, sir,’ I replied, ‘I’d rather keep it on.’
“He lost all control of himself then, and sprang for me with the whip. My father had told me never to submit to a flogging, so I grabbed for the whip, and we had a struggle for it.
“I managed to break his spectacles, and convinced him that I was pretty strong for a boy. But what frightened him most was this—I pulled out a toy pistol from my pocket, and the doctor became pale as a sheet.
“‘Put that down, sir!’ he cried. ‘I will dispose of your case to-morrow!’
“That was all I wanted. That very evening I walked to the station and took the cars for London, buying my ticket with the money you sent me. When I told my father what led me to leave the school he told me I had done right, and he sent the doctor a letter which he won’t be very glad to read.”
“Dr. Musgrave seems to be a very unwise man,” said Guy.
“All the boys are getting dissatisfied,” rejoined Rawdon. “I know four who have written to their fathers to take them away. Dr. Musgrave will soon find himself deserted.”
On this point we will anticipate matters a little by saying that Rawdon’s statement proved prophetic. Dr. Musgrave’s temper was so aggravated by what had occurred that he increased his severity to such an extent as to induce a rebellion of the pupils.
The directors were finally obliged to take cognizance of the complaints made by parents, and the result was that Dr. Musgrave was removed from the post of head master. He found it impossible to get another position, and was compelled to live, or attempt to live, on the income of a small sum which he had been able to accumulate in his twenty years’ service.
His successor was a man of high scholarship and enlightened views, who had assisted Dr. Arnold at Rugby School.