Since the cricket match in which he had figured so ignominiously26, Saurin had become a confirmed loafer, and frequented the old reprobate’s yard almost daily. And, indeed, a new attraction had been added to the establishment. Wobbler, the pedestrian, a candidate for the ten-miles championship of Somersetshire, was residing there during his training for that world-renowned contest. It cannot be correctly said that Wobbler was very good company, for indeed his conversational27 powers were limited, which was perhaps fortunate, seeing that his language was not very choice when he did speak. But he was a man of varied28 accomplishments29; not only could he walk, but he could run, and swim, and box. Indeed he had only deserted30 the pugilistic for the pedestrian profession because the former was such a poor means of livelihood31, closely watched as its members were by the police. Now, Saurin had long wished to learn to box, an art which was not included in the curriculum of the Weston gymnasium, and here was an opportunity. The professor’s terms were half-a-crown a lesson, provided there was a class of at least four. The ordinary allowance of pocket-money at Weston was eighteenpence a week, plus tips, plus what was brought back to school after the holidays. In the words of Mr Slam, “it wouldn’t run to it.” There were seven occasional frequenters of the forbidden yard who were anxious to acquire the rudiments32 of the noble art of self-defence, but half-a-crown a lesson was a prohibitive tariff33. Indeed it seemed contrary to principle to pay to learn anything. Saurin hit on a way out of the difficulty; he wrote this letter to his guardian:
“My dear Uncle,—I should like to learn gymnastics, fencing, boxing, and those things, but the regular man appointed to teach such things here is a duffer, and makes it a bore, keeping you at dumb-bells and clubs and such stupid work for ever, just to make the course last out, for the charges are monstrous34. And so, hearing about this, Professor Wobbler, a first-rate instructor35, I am told, has engaged a room in the neighbourhood, where he gives lessons at half-a-crown each, or a course of ten for one pound. It has to be kept secret, because the man appointed by the school would have the boys forbidden to go there if he knew. If you don’t mind, will you please send the pound to me or to Professor Wobbler. I will send you his receipt if you pay him through me. Please do not mention the matter if it does not meet with your approval, as I should be very sorry to take the poor man’s bread out of his mouth.”
This part of the epistle, a cunning combination of the suppressio veri and suggestio falsi, was given to all the others who were in the plot to copy. I am sorry to say that in several instances, including those of Saurin and Edwards, it was successful, and the class was formed.
The professor was not beautiful to look at. His forehead was low and projecting, his eyes small, his nose flat, his lower jaw36 square and massive. Neither were his words of instruction characterised by that elegance37 which public lecturers often affect, but they were practical and to the point, which after all is the chief thing to be looked at.
“You stands easy like,” he said to Saurin, who was taking his first lesson in an unfurnished room of Slam’s house, the fine weather having terminated in a thunderstorm, and a wet week to follow. “Don’t plant your feet as if you meant to grow to the floor, and keep your knees straight—no, not stiff like that, I mean don’t bend them. You wants to step forwards or to step backwards38, quick as a wink39, always moving the rear foot first, or else you’d stumble over it and get off your balance, and that would give t’other a chance. You must be wary40, wary, ready to step up and hit, or step back out of reach. Keep your heyes on t’other’s, and that will help you to judge the distance. Take ’em off for a bit of a second and you’ll have his mawley well on your nose at once. Now, your left arm and fut in advance, not too much; keep your body square to the front. Your right arm across, guarding what we calls the mark, that’s just above the belt, where the wind is. Let your left play up and down free, your foot and body moving with it graceful41 like. That’s better. Now, try to hit me in the face as hard as you can; you won’t do it, no fear; I should like to bet a pound to a shilling on that every time, and I won’t hold my hands up neither. It’s just to show yer what judging the distance is.”
Saurin hesitated at first, and hit gently; but urged to try his best he at last struck out sharply, but could not reach the professor’s visage. Sometimes he turned it slightly to the right, sometimes to the left, and the blow went past his ear. Some times he just drew his head back, and the pupil’s fist came to within an inch of what he called his nose, but never touched it. This was a way the professor had of showing his credentials—it was his unwritten diploma proving his efficiency to instruct in the noble art. After this the boxing gloves were put on, and the pupil was directed to walk round the professor in a springy manner, leading off at his face, the instructor throwing off the blows with an upward movement of the right arm. Next, after a pause for rest, they went on again, Saurin leading off, the professor parrying and returning the blow, slowly at first, then quicker as the pupil gained skill and confidence in warding42 off the hit. Then the instructor led off, and the pupil parried and returned. Then one, two, three, four. And so the first lesson ended, and Stubbs, who was another of the class, was taken in hand. Now Stubbs had naturally let his beloved Topper loose as he passed through the yard, and the dog followed him into the room where the lesson was going on. So long as Stubbs led off at the professor Topper was quiet and happy; his master he thought was worrying someone, it was his human equivalent to killing43 a rat; but when the professor led off at him, the case was different, and Topper, without warning, went straight at the supposed assailant’s throat. Fortunately the professor had a bird’s-eye handkerchief round his neck, which protected it from the dog’s teeth, for Topper sprang right up and fixed44 him. It was frightful45 to look at, but Stubbs had the presence of mind to seize his animal round the throat with both hands immediately and drag him away; his teeth were so firmly set in the handkerchief that that came too. No one is a hero at all hours, and Wobbler came as near being frightened as a soldier or a pugilist can be supposed, without libel, to do. This made him angry, and he used language towards the dog and his anatomy46, and his own anatomy, which is not customary in polite society. Stubbs carried the offender47 down to his kennel48 and chained him up, and on his return offered a peace-offering of beer, which was well meant but unkind, seeing that the professor was in training and restricted as to his potations. However, Topper’s fangs49 had not broken the skin, thanks to the handkerchief, though certainly not to Topper. Mr Wobbler recovered his equanimity50, and affably condescended51 to apologise for his remarks.
“I’m almost afeard as I swore, gents,” he observed, and his fear was certainly well founded. “I was a trifled startled, you see, and expressed myself as I felt, strong. Bull-terriers is nice dogs, and I’m very partial to them, in their proper place, but that’s not a hanging on to my wind pipe; at least that’s my opinion. But I’m sorry if I spoke52 rough, which is not in my habits. Nobody can say that Job Wobbler is uncivil to his backers or his patrons.”
A speech which was perhaps rather lacking in dignity for a professor. The lesson then went on, and was succeeded by others, sometimes in the room, sometimes in the orchard53, according to the weather. And when the pupils had attained54 a certain degree of proficiency they were paired off against one another, first for leads-off, at the head, parry and return at the body, stop and return at the head, and so forth55. Finally, for loose sparring, the professor standing56 by and stopping them when they got wild, or began punching indiscriminately. Saurin made considerable progress, and was a long way the best of the class—so much so, indeed, that he had to play lightly with the others, or they would not all set to with him. Even such a critic as Slam expressed his approval, and this superiority was sugar and sack to Saurin, being indeed the first consolation57 he had received since the mortification58 of being turned out of the eleven. But, alas59! sparring was not a recognised item of Weston athletics60, and he could not gain the applause of the whole school by his proficiency, which was only known to a very few of the initiated61. Unless, indeed,—and here a thought which had long lain dormant62 in his mind, for the first time assumed a distinct shape. Suppose he happened to come to an open outbreak with Crawley, and it ended in a fight, what an opportunity it would be to gratify his ambition and his hatred63 at the same time! He did not actually plan anything of the kind, or say to himself that he would pick a quarrel. The idea was merely a fancy, a daydream65. Man or boy must be bold as well as bad deliberately66 to form a scheme for bringing about an encounter with a formidable enemy, and Saurin was not particularly bold, certainly not rashly so, and Crawley would be likely to prove a very awkward customer. Instructors67 of any sort, whether they are professors of mathematics, or Hebrew, or of dancing, or boxing, have this in common, that they are sure to take a special interest in apt pupils; and so Mr Wobbler paid more attention to Saurin than to the others, and showed him certain tricks, feints, and devices which he did not favour everybody with. He also gave him some hints in wrestling, and taught him the throw called the cross-buttock. Saurin used likewise to go to the highroad along which the professor took his daily walks in preparation for his match, and sometimes held the stop-watch for him, and learned how to walk or run in a way to attain the maximum of speed with a minimum of exertion68. The mere64 learning to box, and the necessary association with a man like Wobbler, would not have done the boys much harm of itself. The deception69 practised in order to obtain the money to pay him with, and the skulking70 and dodging71 necessary for approaching and leaving Slam’s premises72 without being seen, were far more injurious to them, especially since the great freedom allowed to the boys at Weston was granted on the assumption that they would not take advantage of it to frequent places which were distinctly forbidden. And to do them justice, the great majority felt that they were on honour, and did not abuse the trust. But for Saurin, and for Edwards and a few others who followed Saurin’s lead, the mischief73 did not end here. Mr Wobbler sometimes unbended—Mr Saurin was such a “haffable gent” there was no resisting him—and told anecdotes74 of his past experiences, which were the reverse of edifying75. It was a curious fact that every action upon which he prided himself, or which he admired in his friends, was of a more or less fraudulent nature; and Mr Slam, who was always present on these occasions, shared these sentiments, and contributed similar reminiscences of his own. It was true that the boys looked upon these two, and upon the young sporting farmers who sometimes dropped in, and boasted of poaching, and horse-cheating exploits in a spirit of emulation76, as “cads,” who had a different code from their own; but it is very difficult to associate with persons of any station in life who think it clever to defraud77 others, and consider impunity78 as the only test of right or wrong, and to laugh at their dishonourable tricks, without blunting our own moral sense. We cannot touch pitch without being defiled79.
Another great evil was the beer-drinking, at any time, whether they were thirsty or not, which went on. Worse still, spirits were sometimes introduced. The frequenters of Slam’s spent all their pocket-money at that place in one way or another; and the pity of it was, that most of them would much rather, certainly at starting, have laid it out in oyster-patties, strawberry messes, and ices, than in forming habits which they would very probably give their right arms to be rid of in after-life. The best hope for them, next to being found out, was that their course of boxing lessons would soon be over, and Mr Wobbler would go away to walk his match and clear out of the neighbourhood, and that then they would give up frequenting this disreputable hole before the bad habits which they were so sedulously80 acquiring got a complete hold upon them. As it was at present, Topper was the only living being that had tried to do a good turn for them; if he had succeeded in worrying the professor, the whole clique would have broken up.
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1
sycophants
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| n.谄媚者，拍马屁者( sycophant的名词复数 ) | |
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benefactors
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| n.捐助者，施主( benefactor的名词复数 )；恩人 | |
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contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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chafed
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| v.擦热（尤指皮肤）( chafe的过去式 )；擦痛；发怒；惹怒 | |
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5
revolve
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| vi.(使)旋转；循环出现 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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boors
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| n.农民( boor的名词复数 )；乡下佬；没礼貌的人；粗野的人 | |
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deferred
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| adj.延期的，缓召的v.拖延，延缓，推迟( defer的过去式和过去分词 )；服从某人的意愿，遵从 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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infancy
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| n.婴儿期；幼年期；初期 | |
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guardian
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| n.监护人；守卫者，保护者 | |
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12
nominally
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| 在名义上，表面地； 应名儿 | |
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orphan
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| n.孤儿；adj.无父母的 | |
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grooms
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| n.新郎( groom的名词复数 )；马夫v.照料或梳洗（马等）( groom的第三人称单数 )；使做好准备；训练；（给动物）擦洗 | |
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15
zest
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| n.乐趣；滋味，风味；兴趣 | |
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16
sipped
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| v.小口喝，呷，抿( sip的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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deference
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| n.尊重，顺从；敬意 | |
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attain
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| vt.达到，获得，完成 | |
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proficiency
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| n.精通，熟练，精练 | |
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persistency
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| n. 坚持(余辉, 时间常数) | |
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clique
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| n.朋党派系，小集团 | |
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follower
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| n.跟随者；随员；门徒；信徒 | |
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23
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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25
coveted
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| adj.令人垂涎的；垂涎的，梦寐以求的v.贪求，觊觎(covet的过去分词)；垂涎；贪图 | |
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ignominiously
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| adv.耻辱地，屈辱地，丢脸地 | |
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conversational
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| adj.对话的，会话的 | |
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varied
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| adj.多样的，多变化的 | |
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accomplishments
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| n.造诣；完成( accomplishment的名词复数 )；技能；成绩；成就 | |
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30
deserted
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| adj.荒芜的，荒废的，无人的，被遗弃的 | |
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livelihood
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| n.生计，谋生之道 | |
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rudiments
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| n.基础知识，入门 | |
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tariff
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| n.关税，税率；(旅馆、饭店等)价目表，收费表 | |
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34
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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instructor
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| n.指导者，教员，教练 | |
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36
jaw
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| n.颚，颌，说教，流言蜚语；v.喋喋不休，教训 | |
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37
elegance
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| n.优雅；优美，雅致；精致，巧妙 | |
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38
backwards
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| adv.往回地，向原处，倒，相反，前后倒置地 | |
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39
wink
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| n.眨眼，使眼色，瞬间；v.眨眼，使眼色，闪烁 | |
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40
wary
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| adj.谨慎的，机警的，小心的 | |
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41
graceful
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| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
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42
warding
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| 监护，守护（ward的现在分词形式） | |
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43
killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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44
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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45
frightful
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| adj.可怕的；讨厌的 | |
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46
anatomy
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| n.解剖学，解剖；功能，结构，组织 | |
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47
offender
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| n.冒犯者，违反者，犯罪者 | |
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48
kennel
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| n.狗舍，狗窝 | |
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49
fangs
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| n.（尤指狗和狼的）长而尖的牙( fang的名词复数 )；（蛇的）毒牙；罐座 | |
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50
equanimity
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| n.沉着，镇定 | |
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51
condescended
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| 屈尊，俯就( condescend的过去式和过去分词 )； 故意表示和蔼可亲 | |
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52
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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53
orchard
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| n.果园，果园里的全部果树，(美俚)棒球场 | |
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54
attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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55
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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56
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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57
consolation
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| n.安慰，慰问 | |
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58
mortification
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| n.耻辱，屈辱 | |
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59
alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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60
athletics
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| n.运动，体育，田径运动 | |
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61
initiated
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| n. 创始人 adj. 新加入的 vt. 开始，创始，启蒙，介绍加入 | |
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62
dormant
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| adj.暂停活动的；休眠的；潜伏的 | |
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63
hatred
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| n.憎恶，憎恨，仇恨 | |
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64
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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daydream
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| v.做白日梦，幻想 | |
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deliberately
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| adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地 | |
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67
instructors
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| 指导者，教师( instructor的名词复数 ) | |
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68
exertion
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| n.尽力，努力 | |
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69
deception
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| n.欺骗，欺诈；骗局，诡计 | |
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70
skulking
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| v.潜伏，偷偷摸摸地走动，鬼鬼祟祟地活动( skulk的现在分词 ) | |
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71
dodging
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| n.避开，闪过，音调改变v.闪躲( dodge的现在分词 )；回避 | |
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premises
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| n.建筑物，房屋 | |
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73
mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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anecdotes
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| n.掌故，趣闻，轶事( anecdote的名词复数 ) | |
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75
edifying
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| adj.有教训意味的，教训性的，有益的v.开导，启发( edify的现在分词 ) | |
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76
emulation
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| n.竞争；仿效 | |
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77
defraud
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| vt.欺骗，欺诈 | |
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78
impunity
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| n.(惩罚、损失、伤害等的)免除 | |
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79
defiled
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| v.玷污( defile的过去式和过去分词 )；污染；弄脏；纵列行进 | |
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80
sedulously
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| ad.孜孜不倦地 | |
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