Through the Fray: A Tale of the Luddite Riots. Henty George Alfred

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СКАЧАТЬ he said he would keep on so till he found out who did it, if it was months.

      “So at last we could not stand it any longer, and we all agreed that we wouldn’t do the extra tasks, and that we would stick together when we told him so. He rushed at me with his cane, and gave me one with all his might, and I threw an inkstand at him, and it caught him on the shoulder, and he says it has broken it, and that he would send for a constable. So I told him to do so if he dared, and here I am.”

      “This is a very serious business, Ned,” his father said gravely. “In the first place, there is something like a rebellion in the school, of which, I suppose, you were one of the leaders or he would not have singled you out. In the second place, you threw a missile at him, which has broken his shoulder, and might have killed him had it struck him on the head. I have warned you, my boy, over and over again against giving way to that passionate temper of yours, and have told you that it would lead you into serious trouble.”

      “I can’t help it, sir,” Ned said doggedly. “I’ve put up with a tremendous lot there, and have said nothing about it, because I did not wish to give you trouble; but when it came to downright tyranny like this I would rather be killed than put up with it. I warned him fairly that if he struck me I would throw the inkstand at him, and he brought it on himself.”

      Captain Sankey seeing that in his son’s present state of mind talking would be useless to him, ordered him to remain in his study till his return, and putting on his hat went toward the school. Ned’s temper had always been a source of anxiety to him. The boy was, no doubt, of a passionate nature, but had he had the advantage of a proper supervision and care when he was a child the tendency might have been overcome. Unfortunately this had not been the case. His mother had left the children entirely to the care of ayahs, he himself had been far too occupied with his regimental duties to be able to superintend their training, while Abijah’s hands had been too full with the management of the house, which entirely devolved upon her, and with the constant attention demanded by Mrs. Sankey, to give them any close superintendence. Thus like most children born in India and left entirely in the charge of colored nurses, Ned had acquired the habit of giving way to bursts of ungovernable passion; for the black nurses have no authority over their young charges, unless seconded and supported by the firmness of their mothers. In this case no such support had been forthcoming.

      Mrs. Sankey hated being troubled, and the ayahs always found that any complaints to her recoiled upon themselves, for she always took the part of her children, and insisted that the fault lay on the side of the nurses and not on them. The natural result was, that the ayahs ceased to trouble her, and found it easier to allow the children to do as they chose, and to give way quietly to Ned’s outbursts of passion.

      Captain Sankey knew nothing of all this. Ned was very fond of him, and was always bright and good tempered when with his father, and it was not until he left India and was thrown more with him that Captain Sankey discovered how grievously Ned’s disposition, which was in other respects a fine one, was marred by the habit which had been encouraged by indulgence and want of control. Then he set to work earnestly to remedy the mischief, but the growth of years is hard to eradicate, and although under the influence of the affection for his father and his own good sense Ned had so far conquered himself that his fits of passion were few and far between, the evil still existed, and might yet, as his father felt, lead to consequences which would mar his whole life.

      Thinking the matter sadly over, Captain Sankey was proceeding toward the school when he met one of the constables. The man touched his hat and stopped.

      “This be a moighty oonpleasant business, captain,” he said; “your boy, he ha’ been and battered schoolmaister; and t’ doctor says he ha’ broke his collarbone. Oi ha’ got to take him afore t’ magistrate.”

      “Very well, Harper,” Captain Sankey said quietly; “of course you must do your duty. It is a sad business, and I was on my way to the school to see if the matter could not be arranged; however, as it has been put in your hands it is now too late, and things must take their course; the magistrates are not sitting today. I will guarantee that my son shall be present at the sitting on Thursday, I suppose that will be sufficient?”

      “Yes, oi supposes if you promises to produce him, that will do,” the constable said. “Oi doan’t suppose as nought will come o’t; these schoolmaister chaps does thrash t’ boys cruel, and oi ain’t surprised as t’ little chaps roises ag’in it soometoimes. T’others all seem moighty glad o’ it: oi heard ‘em shouting and, cheering in t’ yard as if they was all mad.”

      Captain Sankey shook his head. “I’m afraid the magistrates won’t see it in that light, Harper; discipline is discipline. However, we must hope for the best.”

      The story that there had been a rebellion among the boys at Hathorn’s, that the schoolmaster had his shoulder broken, and that Captain Sankey’s son was to go before the magistrates, spread rapidly through Marsden, and the courthouse was crowded at the sitting of the magistrates on Thursday.

      There were two magistrates on the bench. Mr. Thompson the local banker, and Squire Simmonds of Lathorpe Hall, three miles from the town. Several minor cases were first disposed of, and then Ned’s name was called. Captain Sankey had been accommodated with a seat near the magistrates, with both of whom he had some personal acquaintance. Ned was sitting by the side of the lawyer whom his father had retained to defend him; he now moved quietly into the dock, while Mr. Hathorn, with his arm in a sling, took his place in the witness box.

      Ned had recovered now from his fit of passion, and looked amused rather than concerned as the schoolmaster gave his evidence as to the fray in the schoolroom.

      “I have a few questions to ask you, Mr. Hathorn,” Mr. Wakefield, Ned’s lawyer, said. “Had you any reason for expecting any outbreak of this kind among your boys?”

      “None whatever,” Mr. Hathorn said.

      “You use the cane pretty freely, I believe, sir.”

      “I use it when it is necessary,” Mr. Hathorn replied.

      “Ah, and how often do you consider it necessary?”

      “That must depend upon circumstances.”

      “You have about thirty boys, I think?”

      “About thirty.”

      “And you consider it necessary that at least fifteen out of that thirty should be caned every day. You must have got a very bad lot of boys, Mr. Hathorn?”

      “Not so many as that,” the schoolmaster said, flushing.

      “I shall be prepared to prove to your worships,” the lawyer said, “that for the last six months the average of boys severely caned by this man has exceeded sixteen a day, putting aside such minor matters as one, two, or three vicious cuts with the cane given at random. It fortunately happened, as I find from my young friend in the dock, that one of the boys has, from motives of curiosity, kept an account for the last six months of the number of boys thrashed every day. I have sent round for him, and he is at present in court.”

      Mr. Hathorn turned pale, and he began to think that it would have been wiser for him to have followed Ned’s advice, and not to have brought the matter into court.

      “Your worships,” the lawyer said, “you have been boys, as I have, and you can form your own ideas as to the wretchedness that must prevail among a body of lads of whom more than half are caned daily. This, your worships, is a state of tyranny which might well drive any boys to desperation. But I have not done with Mr. Hathorn yet.

      “During the ten days previous to this affair things wore even more СКАЧАТЬ