Beating the bully
Tom Merry handled the stump vigorously. The dust rose from Grundy’s garments, and loud yells from George Alfred himself. Tom Merry with great calmness and precision, laid on a dozen of the best. – Adapted from Rough on Railton, by Martin Clifford (a.k.a Frank Richards), The Gem, 7 April 1917. Available to download free-of-charge here.
“Looks like trouble,” remarked Monty Lowther.
And Tom Merry and Manners nodded and grinned.
It did look like trouble for somebody.
The Terrible Three were chatting outside their doorway
in the Shell passage when the army came along. There were eight of them- Shell
fellows and Fourth Formers. And their grim and deadly looks showed that they
were on the warpath.
They did not come on to Tom Merry’s study, however.
They stopped at No.3 – the study shared by Grundy and Wilkins and Dunn.
Some of them carried cricket-stumps. One or two had
walking sticks. One had a fire shovel.
Kerruish kicked a thundering kick at Grundy’s door,
and it flew open. The Terrible Three chuckled and drew near. They were not
surprised that Kerruish & Co. had taken advantage of the absence of masters
and prefects to call upon Grundy. What they intended to do to Grundy, probably,
would not have been approved by masters of prefects.
Nearly everybody in the Shell had fought with Grundy
at one time or another, and generally the great Grundy had been victorious.
Evidently, a collection of Grundy’s victims had taken the opportunity, when
there were no prefects or masters about, to call upon George Alfred Grundy and
tell him what they thought of him. And the cricket-stumps and walking sticks and
fire-shovel looked as if actions would follow words.
The door burst open and the army marched in.
“My hat!” ejaculated Grundy.
“Hallo! What do you want?” asked Wilkins in
astonishment.
“Grundy!” said Kerruish.
“Collar him!” shouted Crooke, keeping a little in the
background.
“Go for him!” yelled Scrope, trying to get behind
Crooke.
Grundy jumped up in wrath.
“What the dickens ....!” he exclaimed.
“We want you, you rotter!” said Gibbons.
Grundy glared.
“I’ve licked you three times this term already, Gibbons
and every one of you once or twice –”
“Exactly!” grinned Kerruish. “You’re too fond of
licking chaps who’re not so big as you are Grundy. We’re going to give you a
lesson! Mind if you cut up rusty you’ll get hurt.”
“My word!”
“You fellows, Wilkins and Gunn, keep out of it,”
continued Kerruish. “We’ve got no row with you. We’re going to make an example
of Grundy, and teach him to keep his paws to himself. We don’t like Huns in the
School House.”
Wilkins and Gunn grinned. They were not surprised by
the visit. In fact, they wondered why a committee of licked juniors had never
dealt with the great Grundy before.
Tom Merry grasped Grundy by the shoulders.
“Let go you cheeky rotter!” shouted Grundy wrathfully.
“Lend a hand here, you fellows,” said Tom quietly.
Manners and Lowther grinned, and lent a hand. Grundy
was bumped on the floor, and Tom Merry picked up the stump.
“Now, Grundy, there’s going to be an end to your
bullying,” he said.
“Are you calling me a bully, you cheeky cad?” bellowed
Grundy, “I’ll lick you for that!”
“Are you going to chuck it?”
“No, I’m not!”
“Roll him over!”
Grundy was rolled over by Manners and Lowther. Wilkins
and Gunn looked on grinning. They felt it was about time Grundy had a lesson.
Tom Merry handled the stump vigorously. The dust rose
from Grundy’s garments, and loud yells from George Alfred himself. Tom Merry
with great calmness and precision, laid on a dozen of the best.
Grundy’s yells drew a crowd round the study doorway.
There was a howl of laughter mingling with the anguished howls of Grundy.
“By jove! What a carpet-beater you would make Tom
Merry!” remarked Arthur Augustus. “Does it hurt Grundy?”
“Ha, ha, ha!”
“Are you going to stop bullying, Grundy?”
“I’m not bullying anybody, am I?”
Whack, whack, whack, whack!
“Yaroooh! Help! Oh, crumbs!”
“What’s you answer now?”
“Yaroogh!”
“Keep it up!” grinned Levison, “Grundy’s bags won’t
want dusting for a long time after this.”
“Rescue!” howled Grundy. “Wilkins – Gunny!”
“Better make it pax,” yawned Wilkins. “It’s your own
funeral, Grundy! You will ask for these things you know.”
“Yowow-owwooop!”
“Are you going to keep the peace,” asked Tom Merry.
“Yow! No. Wow!”
Whack, whack, whack!
The captain of the Shell was in deadly earnest.
Whether Grundy’s peculiar line of conduct was bullying or not, there had been
enough of it, in Tom Merry’s opinion; and he was making his opinion felt. The
crowd of juniors round the doorway grinned approval. It was high time that
Grundy was brought to his senses; and he was being brought now.
“Oh, oh! Ah! Yah!” gasped Grundy. “Will you leave off,
you beast? I – I’ll do anything you like! Yow-ow! I won’t lick the cads!
Yarooogh!”
“Good enough!” said Tom Merry cheerfully.
He pitched the stump into a corner of the study.
“Oh, crikey!” groaned Grundy. “Oh dear, I’ll smash
you!”
“What!”
“I – I mean I won’t smash you!” gasped Grundy.
Manners and Lowther released the great man. The great
man sat up and gasped. The Terrible Three left the study grinning.
Comments
Post a Comment