The Reformation of Study Sixteen

“What they want, of course,” said Clowes, “is exercise.”

“They get out of that with their beastly doctor’s certificates,” said Trevor. “That’s the worst of this place. Any slacker who wants to shirk games goes to some rotten doctor in the holidays, swears he’s got a weak heart or something, and you can’t get at him. You have to sit and look on while he lounges about doing nothing, when he might be playing for the house. I bet Bellwood and Davies would both make good enough forwards if one could only get them on to the field. They’re heavy enough.”

“I don’t wonder, considering the amount they eat and the little exercise they take. I should say there was about twice as much of Bellwood as there ought to be. And he’s the sort of chap you don’t want more of than’s absolutely necessary.”

Study sixteen was under discussion, not for the first time. Bellwood and Davies, its joint occupants, had been a thorn in Trevor’s side ever since he had become captain of football. It was bad enough that two such loafers should belong to the school. That they should be in his own house was almost more than he could bear.

It was his aim to make Donaldson’s the keenest and most efficient house at Wrykyn, and in this he had succeeded to a great extent. They had won the cricket cup, and were favourites for the football cup. Everyone in Donaldson’s was keen except Bellwood and Davies. They, sheltered behind doctor’s certificates, took life in their own slack way, and refused to exhibit any interest whatever in the doings of the house.

“It’s a rummy thing about that study,” said Clowes, “it’s always been like that. I believe anybody who’s a slacker or a bad lot goes there naturally; wouldn’t be happy anywhere else. Do you remember, when we first came to the house, Blencoe and Jones had it? They got sacked at the end of my first term. After that it was Grant and Pollock. They didn’t get sacked, but they ought to have been. Now it’s these two. Let’s hope they’ll keep up the tradition and get turfed out at their earliest convenience!”

“It makes me so sick,” said Trevor poking the fire viciously, “to think of two heavy chaps like that being wasted. They might make all the difference to the House second. We want weight in the scrum.”

In addition to the inter-house challenge cup there was a cup to be competed for by the second fifteens of the houses. Donaldson’s had a good chance of this, but were handicapped by a small pack of forwards. Seymour’s, their only remaining rival, were big and weighty. Clowes got up and stretched himself.

“Well,” he said, “I don’t think you’ll get much help from Bellwood and pard. They remind me of the man who slept well and ate well but who, when he saw a job of work, was all of a tremble. They won’t do a stroke if they can help it, and I don’t see how you can get them in the teeth of their certificates. Well, I must go and work. I like to do a Greek book unseen if possible, but the Agamemnon is too tricky. I shall have to prepare it. By the way, have you got a copy to spare? I left mine over at school.”