CHAPTER VII
JIM UNPACKS
Holler-days Were made for boys to holler!
Jim's room was a rather vast place, with two long windows opening uponthe balcony, two exceedingly plain iron bedsteads in different corners,and in the midst a wide, vacant space, where a punching-ball was fixedwhenever the owner was at home. There was a very shabby old leatherarmchair by one window, and near the other an even shabbier leathercouch, very wide and solid. Jim used to declare that they were the mostcomfortable in the house, and nothing would have induced him to havethem altered in any way.
One wall held a medley of various articles: Jim's rifle, the sportinggun his father had given him when he was fifteen, a revolver that hadbeen through two wars, and a cavalry sword his grandfather had carried,together with an assortment of native weapons from variouscountries--assegais, spears, boomerangs, throwing sticks, sjamboks andSouth Sea Island clubs and shields. A special nail held Jim's ownstockwhip, to which Norah always attended after he had gone away, lestthe supple thong should become harsh through disuse. Then there wereweapons of peace--hockey sticks, rackets, cricket-bats--the latter anassortment of all Jim had used, from the tiny one he had begun with atthe age of eight to the full sized beauty that had split honourably inan inter-State school match the preceding summer.
All over the other walls were plainly framed photographs. Mr. Lintonand Norah were there, in many positions, with and without horses; thenthere were pictures of all the favourite horses and ponies and dogs onthe place, and a big enlargement of Billabong house itself. The otherswere school photographs, mostly football and cricket teams, tennisfours, the school crew, and some large groups at the yearly sports. Innearly all you could find Jim himself--if you looked closely enough. Jimloathed being photographed, and always retired as far out of sight in agroup as his inches would permit.
The room held many of Jim's own manufactured ideas--his "contraptions,"Brownie used to call them. There was a telephone he had rigged up whenhe was twelve, communicating with Norah's room by the balcony; andoutside was a sort of fire escape, by which he could--and generallydid--descend without using the stairs. There were various pieces of bushcarpentry--a table, a candlestick and a book-case of his ownconstruction, which in Norah's eyes were better than beautiful. Therewas an arrangement by which he could open his door or his windowswithout getting out of bed--which was ingenious, but quaint, since Jimwas never known to shut his windows, and very rarely his door.Altogether it was an interesting room, and very typical of Jim.
At present it resembled a maelstrom, for Wally and Jim were unpacking.Brownie, putting in her head, described it as "a perfick shambles," andaffected great horror at the havoc occasioned by having boys in thehouse--beaming all the while in a manner calculated to destroy theeffect of any lecture. Norah, perched on the end of the sofa, which wasthe only free spot in the room, looked on at the operations with deepinterest. Occasionally, when some special parcel was unearthed, one ofthe boys diverted her attention laboriously, since it was nearChristmas-time, which is ever a season of mysteries. The parcel stowedaway hastily in a cupboard, Norah was permitted to gaze once more,unrestricted.
"What's that, Jim?" she asked, catching a glimpse of silver in therecesses of a suitcase.
"Oh, nothing."
"I believe it's your cup," said his sister excitedly. "Do make him showme, Wally!"
"The mug it is!" said Wally, diving in under Jim's nose, and snatchingthe article in question. "Don't be an ass, Jimmy--d'you expect to keepit always in your boot-bag?"
"Very nice place for it," Jim was understood to mutter.
"Ripping--but you'll want it for your boots. Catch, Norah!"
The big silver cup flew across the room, and was deftly fielded by thelady on the end of the sofa.
"Oh, isn't it a beauty!" she said delightedly. "Jimmy, I'm so proud toknow you!"
"You ought to have seen him going up to get it," Wally said. "Lovelysight--he blushed so prettily!"
"Blush be hanged!" said the victim.
"Don't be ashamed, my child; it's a very nice thing to be able toblush," Wally grinned. "No one would ever dream you could, either, soit's a happy surprise as well!"
"There's not a blush about you, that's one thing," said Jim, from thedepths of his big box.
"Wore out all my powers that way blushing over you!" was Wally's promptreply. "Norah, will you use that thing for cocoa, or what?"
"Don't be disrespectful--I'm admiring it," Norah answered, turning thecup round. "Dad will like it awfully."
"Has he shown you his prizes?"
"Prizes!" Norah exclaimed, falling off the arm of the sofa inamazement. "Jim, you horrid boy, you never told us. Show me at once!"
"Never thought about 'em," said the unhappy Jim, un-earthing tworesplendent books. "Here you are, anyhow--and Wally needn't talk; he'sgot three!"
"I'm faint in the presence of so much learning!" Norah said, sittingdown on a golf bag. "Who'd ever have suspected you? French andPrefect's Prize--oh, I'm so glad you got that one, Jim, dear." Her quickear caught a step, and she called her father excitedly.
Mr. Linton entered, to be greeted by incoherent tidings of his son'ssuccess, to the meaning of which the two books lent aid.
"That's especially good news, old chap," he said quietly, whereat Jimgrinned happily, blushed with fervour, and muttered something entirelyinaudible. "The cup, too! that's a beauty, and no mistake!" He lookedround the "perfick shambles," and laughed a little. "I don't thinkthey're very safe here," he said. "With your permission, I'll takecharge of them." He left the room, carrying the books and the cup withhim.
At the door he paused.
"Don't forget Cecil," he said quietly, and was gone.
The trio looked blank.
"Cecil!" said Wally.
"Hang Cecil!" from Jim disgustedly.
"Oh, he's such a bore!" Norah said. "And he'd simply hate to be inhere--he wouldn't see any fun in it. I--I really think I've had anoverdose of Cecil."
"Poor old kid!" said Jim. "Well, we'll hurry up unpacking and then findhim." They dismissed the "bit of a drawback" airily from their minds,and proceeded with the business in hand, hampered slightly by muchenergetic conversation. Jim's boxes were full of interesting things,the result of his six years at school; his packing, he said, withpained recollection, had been a "corker."
"Lucky I had that extra chest of drawers put in here," remarked Norah,stowing away numerous small articles. "Jim, how many boys gave youknives as farewell gifts?"
"Sorra a one of me knows," said her brother. "I lost count--and lostsome of the knives, too. I've an idea Bill Beresford picked up one Idropped--the one Lance Western gave me; it's got a tortoise-shellhandle, and a nick out of the big blade--and gave it to me for himself."
"It sounds the sort of economical thing Bill would do," Wally remarked.
"Then there are five magnifying glasses, seven pencil cases, and sixpens," said Norah. "All tokens of affection, Jim? I'll put them in themiddle drawer."
"What on earth I'm going to do with 'em all," said their harassedowner, "I'm sure I don't know. Does any one chap use five magnifiers inhis life? Never used one yet! I wish the fellows hadn't been so kind--itwas awfully brickish of them, though, wasn't it? And the Doctor gave methis." He held up a large and solemn--looking book.
"What is it?"
"'Self Help,' by a chap named Smiles. Shouldn't have thought there weremany smiles about a book looking like that, but it shows you can't telleverything by the cover. And Mrs. Doctor gave me this tie--knitted itherself. It was jolly decent of her, wasn't it? She's always beenawfully kind to me," said the big fellow, who had no idea of what "Mrs.Doctor" thought of his cheerful habit of picking up two or three of herbabies and treating them to a wild ride round the school grounds on hisback; and who had on one occasion sat up all night with a sickthree-year-old who had cried unreasonably for "Yinton" to come andcarry him. The boy had recovered, somewhat against expectations, andJim had thought no mor
e of the matter, except to drop gently and firmlyinto a gorse bush a fellow who had chaffed him for being a nursemaid.He had been amazed, and greatly embarrassed, by the tears in little"Mrs. Doctor's" eyes as she bade him good-bye. Nothing on earth wouldhave induced him to mention them.
"If the Doctor ever gives me anything barring the length of his tongue,I'll have apoplexy!" remarked Wally. "We don't twin-soul a bit betterthan we did. He caught me beautifully the other day. Three or four ofus were going to have a supper. I'd been into town to the dentist, andwas bringing home a lobster. Coming out, that idiot Bob Greenfield wasnext me on the train, and he amused himself by rubbing the lobstergently until the thin brown paper they wrap 'em in had worn through inplaces. I was talking cricket for all I was worth, and never noticedhim. I'd bought an evening paper, and given him my lobster to holdwhile I looked up some scores."
"Yes?" said Norah, happily.
"Well, we came to the school, and off I jumped, and just inside thegate I ran into the Doctor. He was very affable, and we walked uptogether, and he asked me quite affectionately how I'd got on with thedentist, and altogether he might have been my long lost uncle!Presently he glanced down at my parcel, and said, 'Been getting a bootmended, Meadows?' I didn't know what to say for a moment. And while Iwas floundering in my mind the string broke, and down went my parcelwith a clatter on the asphalt!"
"Why do I miss these things?" asked Jim, plaintively.
"I wish I'd missed it instead of you!" said his chum. "I picked it upin a hurry, and the paper had burst pretty well all over-and-well, youknow, there's no disguising the colour of a lobster! I just held it,and looked a fool, and the Doctor put up his eyeglass and looked it andme all over. Then he said, 'Curious colour for a boot, Meadows'--and Ipromptly turned the same shade as the lobster."
"Did you get into a row?" Norah asked.
"No; I will say for the old chap that he was a perfect brick," Wallysaid. "He just grinned, and walked off, remarking that there was noneed to push investigations too far. And I fled, and the lobster wastip-top, thank you."
"I don't see why you've any cause to grumble at the Doctor," wasNorah's comment.
"That's you, feminine ignorance," returned Wally. "He made me feelsmall."
"Well, if I get a head mistress as easy-going--" said Norah, dolefully.
"Don't you get the idea into your mind that our revered Head'seasy-going!" Wally retorted. "He thinks nothing of skinning a fellow onoccasion--only he didn't happen to think a lobster was occasion--thatnight, anyhow. You see, it was near the end of term, and even Heads getsoft!"
"Lots of em," said Jim; "look at your own!" He dodged a hairbrushneatly. "Have a little sense, young Wally; don't you see I'm busy?Norah, old chap, did you see my blazer?"
"I hung it in your wardrobe," said Norah promptly "Also your overcoat,also your straw hat, also your cadet uniform--what are you going to dowith that, by the way, Jim?"
"Get photographed in it," said Wally, wickedly.
"I'm likely to!" Jim said, with fine scorn. "Goodness only knows--I mayfind some fellow it'll fit. It certainly wouldn't fit me much longer."
"It's been the anxiety of the whole battalion," said Wally. "It creakedand began to split whenever he drilled in it, and for the last sixparades we've always taken out a blanket in case we should need todrape his tattered form on the way home! It's an uncommonly good thinghe's left. Most demoralizing for a young corps to see its corpulentlieutenant bursting out of his uniform!"
"He's not corpulent," said Norah indignantly, whereat Jim, whopersonified leanness with breadth of shoulder, grinned even more widelythan Wally, and patted her on the head as he passed with an armful ofclothes, which he stowed into his wardrobe much as he might have dumpedsacks of potatoes into a barn. Even Norah's wide and free views on thesubject of garments were not proof against the sight.
"Are those your good suits, Jim?"
"Yes," said her brother, cheerfully. "They're used to it. Chuck me thatcoat, Wally."
Wally complied, and the coat--which happened to be the one belonging toits owner's evening suit--was added to the heap in the wardrobe.
"I'll sort 'em out some time or other," said Jim. "I'm so jolly sick ofunpacking. Wally, you animal, you're not finished, are you?"
"Ages ago," said his chum. "Hadn't anything like your quantity, yousee. My clothes are neat and trim, and my pyjamas have blue ribbon inthem and I have put out my lace pin cushion and my tulle slippers, andall is well! Now I feel I can go and play with Cecil with a quietmind!"
"I really don't know why I brought a lunatic home with me," Jim said,patiently. "Sorry, Nor.; but we'll take him out in the scrub and losehim. Meanwhile--" He closed the last drawer with a bang, and advancedwith slow deliberation upon the hapless Mr. Meadows.
For the next few minutes the air in the room was murky with pillows,other missiles and ejaculations. Out of the turmoil came yelps, muchenergetic abuse, and shrieks to Norah for aid to which that maiden, whowas enjoying herself hugely, lent a deaf ear. Finally, the combatrestricted itself principally to Wally's bed, from which the bedclothesgradually disappeared, until they formed a tight bundle on the floor,with Wally in the centre. Jim piled the mattress on top, and retreatedto the door.
"Beast!" said Wally, disentangling himself with difficulty, until hesat on the pile, considerably dishevelled, and wearing a broad grin."It's only your vile brute force--some day I'll get even with you!" Herose, hurled the mattress upon the bed, and looked inquiringly at hisblankets. "How do you imagine I'm going to sleep there to-night?"
"Oh, we'll fix it up when we come to bed," laughed Jim. "Come on--weought to go down to Cecil."
"Hold on till I brush my hair," said Wally, attacking his disturbedlocks, and settling his tie. "All right; lead on, Macduff!"
"Ready, Nor.?"
Norah hesitated.
"I'm going to my room for something," she said. "I'll be after you in afew minutes, boys."
She disappeared within her room, and the boys clattered downstairs.When they had gone, Norah slipped back noiselessly to Jim's apartment,which gave the impression of having recently been the scene of acyclone. She laughed a little, looking at it from the doorway.
"It certainly is a 'perfick shambles'," she said. "Poor old chaps--andthey'll be so tired when they come up to bed!"
Moving quietly, she sorted out the tangled bedclothes and made up thebed, and reduced to order some of the chaos in the room. Then sheopened the wardrobe and took out the mass of clothes, sorting out thesuits and putting them away carefully, with a shake to the coats toremove creases. The dress suit she laid in a drawer, running to her ownroom for a tiny lavender bag to keep away the moths. She was closingthe drawer when she started at a step, and Jim came in.
"What on earth are you up to?" was his question. His eye travelledround the room, taking in the open door of the wardrobe, and the dresscoat in the drawer, where stood his small sister, rather flushed.
"Well!" he said, and paused. "Weren't we beasts?"
"No, you weren't," said Norah indignantly.
"H'm," said Jim. "It's a jolly good thing when a fellow has a sister,anyhow." He came over to her and put his arm round her shoulders. "Dearold chap!" he said. They went down the stairs together.