Rupert and I were now the best of good friends again. I cared more for his favour than for the goodwill1 of any one else, and kept as much with him as I could.
I played cricket with him in the school matches. At least I did not bat or bowl, but I and some of the junior fellows "fielded out," and when Rupert was waiting for the ball, I would have given my life to catch quickly and throw deftly2. I used to think no one ever looked so handsome as he did in his orange-coloured shirt, white flannel3 trousers, and the cap which Henrietta made him. He and I had spent all our savings4 on that new shirt, for Mother would not get him a new one. She did not like cricket, or anything at which people could hurt themselves. But Johnson Major had got a new sky-blue shirt and cap, and we did not like Rupert to be outdone by him, for Johnson's father [41]is only a canal-carrier.
But the shirt emptied our pockets, and made the old cap look worse than ever. Then Henrietta, without saying a word to us, bought some orange flannel, and picked the old cap to pieces, and cut out a new one by it, and made it all herself, with a button, and a stiff peak and everything, and it really did perfectly5, and looked very well in the sunshine over Rupert's brown face and glossy6 black hair.
There always was sunshine when we played cricket. The hotter it was the better we liked it. We had a bottle of lemon-kali powder on the ground, and I used to have to make a fizzing-cup in a tin mug for the other boys. I got the water from the canal.
Lemon-kali is delicious on a very hot day—so refreshing7! But I sometimes fancied I felt a little sick afterwards, if I had had a great deal. And Bustard (who was always called Bustard-Plaster, because he was the doctor's son) said it was the dragons out of the canal water lashing8 their tails inside us. He had seen them under his father's microscope.
The field where we played was on the banks of the canal, the opposite side to the town. I believe it was school property. At any rate we had the right of playing there.
We had to go nearly a quarter of a mile out of the way before there was a bridge, and it was very vexatious to toil9 a quarter of a mile down on one side [42]and a quarter of a mile up on the other to get at a meadow which lay directly opposite to the school. Weston wrote a letter about it to the weekly paper asking the town to build us a bridge. He wrote splendid letters, and this was one of his very best. He said that if the town council laughed at the notion of building a bridge for boys, they must remember that the Boys of to-day were the Men of to-morrow (which we all thought a grand sentence, though MacDonald, a very accurate-minded fellow, said it would really be some years before most of us were grown up). Then Weston called us the Rising Generation, and showed that, in all probability, the Prime Minister, Lord Chancellor10, and Primate11 of the years to come now played "all unconscious of their future fame" in the classic fields that lay beyond the water, and promised that in the hours of our coming greatness we would look back with gratitude12 to the munificence13 of our native city. He put lots of Latin in, and ended with some Latin verses of his own, in which he made the Goddess of the Stream plead for us as her sons. By the stream he meant the canal, for we had no river, which of course Weston couldn't help.
How we watched for the next week's paper! But it wasn't in. They never did put his things in, which mortified14 him sadly. His greatest ambition was to get something of his own invention printed. John[43]son said he believed it was because Weston always put something personal in the things he wrote. He was very sarcastic15, and couldn't help making fun of people.
It was all the kinder of Weston to do his best about the bridge, because he was not much of a cricketer himself. He said he was too short-sighted, and that it suited him better to poke16 in the hedges for beetles17. He had a splendid collection of insects. Bustard used to say that he poked18 with his nose, as if he were an insect himself, and it was a proboscis19 but he said too that his father said it was a pleasure to see Weston make a section of anything, and prepare objects for the microscope. His fingers were as clever as his tongue.
It was not long after Rupert got his new shirt and cap that a very sad thing happened.
We were playing cricket one day as usual. It was very hot, and I was mixing some lemon-kali at the canal, and holding up the mug to tempt20 Weston over, who was on the other side with his proboscis among the water-plants collecting larvae21. Rupert was batting, and a new fellow, who bowled much more swiftly than we were accustomed to, had the ball. I was straining my ears to catch what Weston was shouting to me between his hands, when I saw him start and point to the cricketers, [44]and turning round I saw Rupert lying on the ground.
The ball had hit him on the knee and knocked him down. He struggled up, and tried to stand; but whilst he was saying it was nothing, and scolding the other fellows for not going on, he fell down again fainting from pain.
"The leg's broken, depend upon it," said Bustard-Plaster; "shall I run for my father?"
I thanked him earnestly, for I did not like to leave Rupert myself. But Johnson Major, who was kicking off his cricketing-shoes, said, "It'll take an hour to get round. I'll go. Get him some water, and keep his cap on. The sun is blazing." And before we could speak he was in the canal and swimming across.
I went back to the bank for my mug, in which the lemon-kali was fizzing itself out, and with this I got some water for Rupert, and at last he opened his eyes. As I was getting the water I saw Weston, unmooring a boat which was fastened a little farther up. He was evidently coming to help us to get Rupert across the canal.
Bustard's words rang in my ears. Perhaps Rupert's leg was broken. Bustard was a doctor's son, and ought to know. And I have often thought it must be a very difficult thing to know, for people's legs don't break right off when they break. My first feeling had been utter bewilderment and misery22, but [45]I collected my senses with the reflection that if I lost my presence of mind in the first real emergency that happened to me, my attendance at Rupert's lectures had been a mockery, and I must be the first fool and coward of my family. And if I failed in the emergency of a broken leg, how could I ever hope to conduct myself with credit over a case of drowning? I did feel thankful that Rupert's welfare did not depend on our pulling his arms up and down in a particular way; but as Weston was just coming ashore23, I took out my pocket-handkerchief, and kneeling down by Rupert said, with as good an air as I could assume, "We must tie the broken leg to the other at the—"
"Don't touch it, you young fool!" shrieked24 Rupert. And though directly afterwards he begged my pardon for speaking sharply, he would not hear of my touching25 his leg. So they got him into the boat the best way they could, and Weston sat by him to hold him up, and the boy who had been bowling26 pulled them across. I wasn't big enough to do either, so I had to run round by the bridge.
I fancy it must be easier to act with presence of mind if the emergency has happened to somebody who has not been used to order you about as much as Rupert was used to order me.
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1
goodwill
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| n.善意，亲善，信誉，声誉 | |
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deftly
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| adv.灵巧地，熟练地，敏捷地 | |
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flannel
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| n.法兰绒；法兰绒衣服 | |
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savings
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| n.存款，储蓄 | |
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5
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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6
glossy
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| adj.平滑的；有光泽的 | |
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7
refreshing
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| adj.使精神振作的，使人清爽的，使人喜欢的 | |
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8
lashing
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| n.鞭打；痛斥；大量；许多v.鞭打( lash的现在分词 )；煽动；紧系；怒斥 | |
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9
toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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10
chancellor
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| n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长 | |
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11
primate
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| n.灵长类（目）动物，首席主教；adj.首要的 | |
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12
gratitude
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| adj.感激，感谢 | |
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13
munificence
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| n.宽宏大量，慷慨给与 | |
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14
mortified
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| v.使受辱( mortify的过去式和过去分词 )；伤害（人的感情）；克制；抑制（肉体、情感等） | |
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15
sarcastic
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| adj.讥讽的，讽刺的，嘲弄的 | |
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16
poke
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| n.刺，戳，袋；vt.拨开，刺，戳；vi.戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢 | |
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17
beetles
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| n.甲虫( beetle的名词复数 ) | |
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18
poked
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| v.伸出( poke的过去式和过去分词 )；戳出；拨弄；与（某人）性交 | |
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19
proboscis
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| n.（象的）长鼻 | |
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tempt
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| vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣 | |
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21
larvae
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| n.幼虫 | |
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22
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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23
ashore
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| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
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24
shrieked
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| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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25
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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bowling
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| n.保龄球运动 | |
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