Flanagan obeyed, and stood meekly before the tyrant.
"This is the eighth time to-day, Flanagan, I have rebuked you for talking. You are detained for the rest of the term. Hold out your hand, Flanagan!"
It was not often the Henniker inflicted corporal punishment herself; when she did it was pretty smart, as Flanagan found. In the absence of a cane she had used the ruler, and as Flanagan--who unsuspectingly supposed she was merely seized with a desire to inspect his nails--held out his hand knuckles upwards, the ruler descended on his knuckles with such force that the luckless youth howled for astonishment, and performed a dance _solo_ in the middle of the floor.
We were sorry for him, yet we inwardly smiled to think how soon the tables would be turned.
That night, just before we went to bed, as I was in the shoe-room looking for my slippers, I had the satisfaction of hearing the Henniker say to the kitchen-maid, "Matilda, we're getting short of bread. Let the baker know to call on Monday next week."
Things could not have promised better for our desperate scheme!
HOW THERE AROSE A NOTABLE REBELLION AT STONEBRIDGE HOUSE.
Of course we were wrong; of course we were foolish.
But then, reader, please remember we were only boys goaded up to the last pitch, and quite unable, as I have narrated, to stand the Henniker any longer.
It was no game we were embarked on. If you had seen the seriousness of our faces as we inspected the parlour and reconnoitred the Henniker's future prison, that Saturday; if you had heard the seriousness of our voices as we solemnly deliberated whether nails or screws would be best to use in fastening up the doors--you would have found out that, "backward and troublesome" boys as we were, we could be in earnest sometimes.
"Isn't that a thing the captain had better decide?" softly suggested Hawkesbury, turning to Smith.
I always got fidgety when the senior boy and my chum got near each other. Smith had such a way of firing up instinctively at whatever the other might say, even when it meant no harm.
He flared up now with his eyes, and then turning to the two boys, said, shortly, "Screws of course; that's been settled long ago."
Hawkesbury smiled gratefully, and said he was sure a matter like that would not be overlooked.