alternate nights, meet his case? He shall have 'em, bless him! He shall
know what crops Horace grew on his little farm, and all the other rot
which gains Perry Exhibitions. Hodgson may strong coffee and wet towel
_per noctem_; but, with John Acton as coach, Raven shall upset the
apple-cart of Theodore Hodgson. There's Todd in for the Perry, too, I
hear. Hodgson may be worth powder and shot, but I'm hanged if Raven need
fear Cotton's jackal! If only half of my plans come off, still that will
put Philip Bourne in a tighter corner than he's ever been in before.
Therefore--_en avant!_"




CHAPTER V

COTTON AND HIS JACKAL


As I said before, the victory of the despised Biffenites over the Fifth
Form eleven--a moderate one, it is true--caused quite a little breeze of
surprise to circulate around the other houses, which had by process of
time come to regard that slack house as hopeless in the fields or in the
schools. Over all the tea-tables that afternoon the news was commented on
with full details; how Chalmers had gained in deadliness just as much as
he had lost in selfishness, and how Raven and Worcester had worked like
horses, and mown down the opposition--"Fifth Form opposition!" said the
fags, with a lift of the eyebrows--like grass, and as for Biffen's new
captain, well, if there was one player who could hold a candle to him it
must be Phil Bourne, and he only.