Many were the fears lest not only should Percy fail to secure the services of the Classic juniors, but should himself be too late to take part in the siege. However, much to their relief, this was not so; as presently he came over arm in arm with Wally (who carried a parcel under his arm), followed at a respectful distance by D’Arcy, Ashby, and Fisher minor, the bulkiness of whose pockets gave promise of a further addition to the sinews of war.
By general consent the visitors slipped in, not in a body, but casually one by one, and so escaped special observation. As soon as they were all assembled, Percy gave the order to screw up, and pile on the barricades.
Wally, who was disposed to be patronising, snuffed up somewhat at his brother’s calm assumption of the command.
“Why didn’t you say you wanted screws?” said he; “we’ve got one or two long ones. That’s not the way to stick it in, young Lickford; make the hole more sideways. Here, I’ll do it for you.”
“I’ll tell you what,” said D’Arcy, “you chaps had better begin to move up the bed against the door, in case they come before we’re fast in. Fire away. Stick it close up, and young Lickford can stand on to it to put in the screw.”
“Come on, Cash; stick these parcels out of the way,” said Ashby, handing out the provender; “they’ll be better in the cupboard. Mind how you put them in.”
“You’ve got a knife, Cottle,” said Fisher minor. “Cut these bits of wood into wedges to go under the door. They’ll make it pretty secure.”
In this manner the Classic auxiliaries coolly took charge of the arrangements before ever their hosts had time to realise that they had been relegated to a back seat.
However, just now there was no time for arguing questions of precedence and authority. The enemy might be upon them at any moment, and they had a lot to do before their outworks could be said to be in a proper state of defence.
The screws in the door were driven hard home into the wainscot; the wedges underneath were tightly fixed. The bed, with bedding complete, was drawn against the entry. A second line of defence was thrown up of chairs, chest of drawers, book-case, and wash-stand. Beyond that were stacked against the wall cricket bats, stumps, boxing-gloves, and other dangerous-looking implements, for use in a last emergency. At Percy’s suggestion, and under Wally’s direction, an additional loophole was bored in the panel of the door (in flagrant forgetfulness of the rights of School property), through which, as well as through the ventilating holes above, the enemy might be reconnoitred and operated on.