The Pecks, for reasons of their own, had decided4 that it was essential to the proper development of the Moons that the latters' room be "stacked." Stacking a room, or "ripping it up," as will be acknowledged even by those who disapprove5 of the process, is, when compared with its predecessor6, hazing7, a mild and gentle method of incul[Pg 24]cating humility8 and modesty9. It consists simply in piling together in as big and promiscuous10 a heap as possible whatever movable objects the room contains,—furniture, utensils11, clothing, ornaments,—and leaving this monument as an interesting surprise for the occupants on their return. It involves, of course, a wanton interference with the property rights of others. It often results in permanent injury to valuable possessions, as when books and clothing are soaked with water, or china is smashed, or some memento12 dear to the owner's heart is so damaged as to be rendered wholly incapable13 of ever again suggesting the slightest humanizing sentiment. But the wisdom of boys is not the wisdom of the wise, and the Pecks are not represented in this narrative14 as models of considerateness.
The Moons were "preps." Their father was a manufacturer who dominated the little town in Connecticut in which he lived. Reginald, the younger, timid and childish, was a "kid"; his brother Clarence, sleek15 in figure and dress, and ignorantly pretentious16 by training, foolishly sought to make up for the position of insignifi[Pg 25]cance in which he found himself at school by dwelling17 upon his importance at home. The Pecks, sons of a congressman18 and nephews of a distinguished19 judge, holding this method of self-glorification quite out of place in the school republic, determined20 to make clear to the Moons, by a plain object lesson, the value of humility. While the juniors were safely enclosed for a full hour in the Latin room, the law-breaking twins invaded the Moon rooms and spent three-quarters of an hour in rearing a heap which, from its foundations of bed frames to the dome21 of crockery on top, showed great promise of architectural ability. Then they displayed themselves at the gymnasium and fell in with the Moons on the way homeward, as the swarm22 of Latinists poured forth23 from recitation.
They entered the dormitory in pairs, Duncan and Reginald in front, Clarence delayed by Donald's loitering. At the head of the stairs Duncan parted from his companion, and, with the air of one who had important work to do, entered his room and shut the door hard behind him. Once inside, however, this important work proved to[Pg 26] be nothing more than to glue his ear to the crack of the door and wait. He heard Reggie walk down the entry to his room, he heard the voices of the lagging pair rising from the stairs, then quick steps hurrying to meet them, sudden ejaculations, and the dash of all three toward the preps' room. There was nothing left for him then but to bottle his impatience24 and depend on Donald to give him a fair show.
And Donald proved a safe reliance. The Moons' door opened; voices and steps approached. Duncan had barely time to dart25 to his desk and seize a book when Donald burst in with Clarence at his elbow. In clumsily feigned26 surprise, the student looked up at the invaders27, his glance resting but for an instant on the countenance28 of his brother, whose look of malicious29 joy, poorly cloaked by an unnatural30 trait of solemnity, would have aroused immediate31 suspicion in an acute observer. On Clarence's pink-and-white face anger and fright struggled together for expression. Both twins found relief in Donald's exclamation32:—
"Some one has ripped up the Moons' room. Come in and see it!"
[Pg 27]
The trio hastened back to the dishevelled room.
"Gee33 whiz, what a pile!" exclaimed Duncan in a veritable shock of admiration34 as he came suddenly in sight of the desolation. He had looked upon his finished work but a few minutes before and found it sufficient; but now, as the scene suddenly flashed its fresh impression upon him, his surprise was almost real. As a monument of havoc35 the heap was a work of art.
"They didn't do a thing to you, did they! Who was it, anyway?"
"Some fresh guy!" came in answer from Clarence's trembling lips. "He ought to be fired!"
"That's right," declared Donald. "The only trouble is to find out who it is."
"About everything you own seems to be in the thing, doesn't it?" observed Duncan, throwing a glance about the denuded36 room. "Did they wet it down?"
Wet it down! Poor Clarence gasped37 with horror, but, recovering himself, sprang forward and felt anxiously about amongst the muddle38 of bedstead legs, bureau drawers, books, and blankets. There was no sign of water there. He dropped[Pg 28] upon his knees and examined the floor. It was dry. Meantime Donald had screwed his face into a grimace39 and leered across at Duncan; his double had grinned back and chuckled40. This chuckle41 and the tail-end of the grin Clarence caught as he picked himself up from the floor, and lost in consequence any comfort which he might have derived42 from his inspection43.
"Funny, ain't it!" he cried fiercely. "I guess you wouldn't laugh if it was your room!"
"No, I shouldn't," returned Duncan, sobering instantly. "It's mighty44 mean of me, I know, but I just couldn't help it. The whole mix-up struck me so hard that the laugh slipped out before I knew it. I won't do it again."
"When was it done?" asked Donald, making haste to get away from dangerous ground.
"While we were in Latin," returned Clarence, somewhat mollified. "Were you fellows at the Gym the whole hour?"
"We were here awhile," confessed Donald, looking hard at the leg of a chair that pointed45 reprovingly at him from the depths of the pile.
"Did you hear any one come in here?"
[Pg 29]
In the classroom Donald answered all questions addressed to the Pecks which were not indubitably intended for his brother, but under circumstances like the present, when mother-wit rather than book learning was required, he had the habit of falling back upon Duncan.
"Did we, Dun?" he asked, apparently46 trying to recollect47.
Duncan hesitated. "I guess we were too much interested in what we were doing to listen to outside things," he said at length; and, turning hastily away to avoid his brother's eye, he sauntered around the pile.
Donald likewise sought diversion on his side. "What's this?" he called, pulling out a wad of striped cloth from under the edge of a blanket. "Seems to be wet."
"My pajamas48!" groaned49 Clarence.
Now of course Donald knew what the wad was quite as well as Clarence; but the garments had been so folded and twisted and knotted inside and out that at first sight they offered a very decent impromptu50 imitation of Alexander's famous Gordian puzzle about which the juniors had been[Pg 30] reading that very day in their histories. So it wasn't really so difficult for the evil-minded Peck to counterfeit51 surprise and curiosity as he turned the bundle in his hands and made ineffectual attempts to snap it out.
The other tormentor52 was ready with advice. "You'd better get those knots out right off. If you let 'em dry, you can't blow 'em apart with dynamite53."
Clarence ground his teeth and set to work in silence. Donald was pretending to assist him. Duncan, with hands in his pockets, strolled over to the bedroom door, where it was safe to grin and gloat. This was rare fun! Other fellows had had their rooms stacked,—in fact, the Pecks' own room had been treated in much the same way the first year they were in school,—but no one yet had stacked a room and been present as sympathizer at the moment of discovery. And that fool Clarence needed the humiliation54 if ever a fellow did. "Prince of Bentonville" they called him at home, did they? (This delectable55 fact Reggie had imprudently confided56 to some faithless gossip, who joyously57 published it abroad.)[Pg 31] There was no place for princes here, or babies either.
At the threshold of the bedroom the vandal paused and let his exultant58 gaze sweep the havoc-stricken room, from the glaring unshaded windows on the right, over the rectangles of dust on the floor where the beds had been, along the festoon of knotted neckties strung between light-fixture and radiator59, to the heap of rugs crushed into the corner. On this corner his look hung, and the smirk60 of satisfaction on his pudgy countenance faded abruptly61 away. Here, on the only resting-place the dismantled62 room afforded, lay Reginald, face downward, sobbing63 his grief into the dusty folds.
Now Duncan, malefactor64 that he was, had his heart in the right spot. The sight of the little chap plunged65 in woe66 through his agency stirred him most unpleasantly. He knew at once that it was not vexation that produced the spasm67 of tears, but genuine homesickness, made poignant68 by this wanton act of an unknown enemy; and homesickness appealed to Duncan when weakness and babyishness received no tolerance69. He[Pg 32] had been homesick himself once, when Donald with scarlet70 fever monopolized71 the house and Duncan spent dreary72 weeks of banishment73 with a boy-hating aunt in the country. The misery74 of that exile was still a painful memory. Poor Reggie! They hadn't meant to discipline that little chap!
He put his hand on Reginald's shoulder. "Come, cheer up, Reggie! It isn't so bad as it looks. We'll soon make it all right again." But Reggie, ashamed of his tears, buried his nose still deeper in the rugs.
"Oh, cheer up!" repeated the comforter. "Lots of fellows have had just as big a stack in their rooms and simply laughed at it. Pluck up, and put your traps back and say nothing about it. That's the way to manage a thing like this. You're man enough for that, I know!"
Reggie sat up, struggling to choke back the sobs75. The storm was going by.
"That's the way! Got a handkerchief? Here, take mine. Now let's go out and tackle the mess. I'll take the things down and you put 'em away, see?"
[Pg 33]
Clarence and Donald were still at work on the pajamas when Duncan appeared in the study, pushing before him the flushed, reluctant Reginald. Duncan yanked a chair from the side of the pile, and standing76 on it began to strip off the top layer and pass the articles down to Reginald.
"What're you doing, Dun?" demanded Donald.
"Helping77 these fellows clear up," replied Duncan coolly. "Pitch in, can't you? Here's a pillow, Reggie, catch! and a blanket, too. Get a move on you there, Clarence, and pull out that waste-basket of shirts! We aren't going to do all the work while you stand around with your hands in your pockets. Here! take this towel rack into the bedroom."
Clarence obeyed, though with reluctance78. Reginald was hurrying to and fro on his errands with cheerfulness suddenly restored.
"You big fool!" ejaculated Donald, planting himself before his brother's chair.
"Thank you!" returned Duncan, unruffled, with a warning squint79 in the direction of Clarence. "Why this compliment?"
[Pg 34]
Donald turned and perceived Clarence staring at the pair with all his eyes.
"Because you ought to be doing your Latin," he answered. "You haven't looked at it; you'll flunk80 it dead."
Duncan grunted81. "A bas the Latin. You'll read it to me!"
"Hanged if I will!" retorted Donald, and went out, slamming the door behind him.
Sad to relate, when Duncan returned to his room an hour later, having borne the burden of the restoration of the Moons to order and happiness, Donald read to him not the Latin but a vigorously phrased lecture, bristling82 with slang and exclamation points, which naturally provoked recrimination, and a long and heated argument. And sadder yet, poetic83 justice failed to tip the scales in the right direction; the Latin instructor84 did flunk poor Duncan dead.
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1
habitually
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| ad.习惯地，通常地 | |
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nucleus
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| n.核，核心，原子核 | |
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mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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disapprove
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| v.不赞成，不同意，不批准 | |
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predecessor
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| n.前辈，前任 | |
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hazing
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| n.受辱，被欺侮v.（使）笼罩在薄雾中( haze的现在分词 )；戏弄，欺凌（新生等，有时作为加入美国大学生联谊会的条件） | |
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8
humility
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| n.谦逊，谦恭 | |
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9
modesty
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| n.谦逊，虚心，端庄，稳重，羞怯，朴素 | |
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10
promiscuous
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| adj.杂乱的，随便的 | |
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utensils
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| 器具，用具，器皿( utensil的名词复数 )； 器物 | |
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memento
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| n.纪念品，令人回忆的东西 | |
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incapable
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| adj.无能力的，不能做某事的 | |
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14
narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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15
sleek
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| adj.光滑的，井然有序的；v.使光滑，梳拢 | |
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16
pretentious
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| adj.自命不凡的，自负的，炫耀的 | |
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17
dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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18
Congressman
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| n.（美）国会议员 | |
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19
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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20
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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21
dome
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| n.圆屋顶，拱顶 | |
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22
swarm
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| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
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23
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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impatience
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| n.不耐烦，急躁 | |
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25
dart
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| v.猛冲，投掷；n.飞镖，猛冲 | |
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26
feigned
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| a.假装的，不真诚的 | |
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invaders
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| 入侵者，侵略者，侵入物( invader的名词复数 ) | |
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28
countenance
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| n.脸色，面容；面部表情；vt.支持，赞同 | |
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29
malicious
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| adj.有恶意的，心怀恶意的 | |
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30
unnatural
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| adj.不自然的；反常的 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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32
exclamation
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| n.感叹号，惊呼，惊叹词 | |
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33
gee
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| n.马；int.向右！前进！，惊讶时所发声音；v.向右转 | |
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34
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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35
havoc
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| n.大破坏，浩劫，大混乱，大杂乱 | |
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36
denuded
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| adj.[医]变光的，裸露的v.使赤裸( denude的过去式和过去分词 )；剥光覆盖物 | |
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37
gasped
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| v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 )；喘息；倒抽气；很想要 | |
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38
muddle
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| n.困惑，混浊状态；vt.使混乱，使糊涂，使惊呆；vi.胡乱应付，混乱 | |
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39
grimace
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| v.做鬼脸，面部歪扭 | |
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40
chuckled
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| 轻声地笑( chuckle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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41
chuckle
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| vi.／n.轻声笑，咯咯笑 | |
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42
derived
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| vi.起源；由来；衍生；导出v.得到( derive的过去式和过去分词 )；（从…中）得到获得；源于；（从…中）提取 | |
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43
inspection
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| n.检查，审查，检阅 | |
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44
mighty
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| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
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45
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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46
apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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47
recollect
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| v.回忆，想起，记起，忆起，记得 | |
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48
pajamas
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| n.睡衣裤 | |
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49
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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impromptu
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| adj.即席的，即兴的；adv.即兴的(地)，无准备的(地) | |
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51
counterfeit
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| vt.伪造，仿造；adj.伪造的，假冒的 | |
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52
tormentor
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| n. 使苦痛之人, 使苦恼之物, 侧幕 =tormenter | |
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53
dynamite
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| n./vt.(用)炸药(爆破) | |
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54
humiliation
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| n.羞辱 | |
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55
delectable
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| adj.使人愉快的；美味的 | |
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56
confided
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| v.吐露（秘密，心事等）( confide的过去式和过去分词 )；（向某人）吐露（隐私、秘密等） | |
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57
joyously
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| ad.快乐地, 高兴地 | |
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58
exultant
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| adj.欢腾的，狂欢的，大喜的 | |
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59
radiator
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| n.暖气片，散热器 | |
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60
smirk
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| n.得意地笑；v.傻笑；假笑着说 | |
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61
abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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62
dismantled
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| 拆开( dismantle的过去式和过去分词 )； 拆卸； 废除； 取消 | |
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63
sobbing
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| <主方>Ⅰ adj.湿透的 | |
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64
malefactor
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| n.罪犯 | |
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65
plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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66
woe
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| n.悲哀，苦痛，不幸，困难；int.用来表达悲伤或惊慌 | |
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67
spasm
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| n.痉挛，抽搐；一阵发作 | |
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68
poignant
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| adj.令人痛苦的，辛酸的，惨痛的 | |
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tolerance
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| n.宽容；容忍，忍受；耐药力；公差 | |
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70
scarlet
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| n.深红色，绯红色，红衣；adj.绯红色的 | |
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monopolized
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| v.垄断( monopolize的过去式和过去分词 )；独占；专卖；专营 | |
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dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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banishment
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| n.放逐，驱逐 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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75
sobs
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| 啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 ) | |
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76
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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helping
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| n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的 | |
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78
reluctance
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| n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿 | |
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79
squint
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| v. 使变斜视眼, 斜视, 眯眼看, 偏移, 窥视; n. 斜视, 斜孔小窗; adj. 斜视的, 斜的 | |
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80
flunk
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| v.(考试)不及格(=fail) | |
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81
grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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82
bristling
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| a.竖立的 | |
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83
poetic
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| adj.富有诗意的，有诗人气质的，善于抒情的 | |
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84
instructor
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| n.指导者，教员，教练 | |
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