“But it’s always a score to know what your examiner’s keen on,” Howell said, and illustrated it with an anecdote. “’Uncle of mine stayin’ with my people last holidays——”
“Your Uncle Diderot?” Stalky asked.
“No, you ass! Captain of Engineers. He told me he was up for a Staff exam. to an old Colonel-bird who believed that the English were the lost Tribes of Israel, or something like that. He’d written tons o’ books about it.”
“All Sappers are mad,” said Stalky. “That’s one of the things the guv’nor did tell me.”
“Well, ne’er mind. My uncle played up, o’ course. ’Said he’d always believed it, too. And so he got nearly top-marks for field-fortification. ’Didn’t know a thing about it, either, he said.”
“Good biznai!” said Stalky. “Well, go on, Beetle. What about Steele?”
“Can’t I keep anything for myself?”
“Not much! King’ll ask you where you got it from, and you’d show off, an’ he’d find out. This ain’t your silly English Literature, you ass. It’s our marks. Can’t you see that?”
Beetle very soon saw it was exactly as Stalky had said.