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Dear George, said Tom, I am so glad to be let up to see you at last. Ive tried hard to come so often, but they wouldnt let me before. Oh, I know, Tom; Mary has told me every day about you, and how she was obliged to make the Doctor speak to you to keep you away. Im very glad you didnt get up, for you might have caught it; and you couldnt stand being ill, with all the matches going on. And youre in the eleven, too, I hearIm so glad. Yes, aint it jolly? said Tom proudly; Im ninth too. I made forty at the last pie-match, and caught three fellows out. So I was put in above Jones and Tucker. Tuckers so savage, for he was head of the twenty- two. Well, I think you ought to be higher yet, said Arthur, who was as jealous for the renown of Tom in games, as Tom was for his as a scholar. Never mind, I dont care about cricket or anything now youre getting well, Geordie; and I shouldnt have hurt, I know, if theyd have let me come up,nothing hurts me. But youll get about now directly, wont you? You wont believe how clean Ive kept the study. All your things are just as you left them; and I feed the old magpie just when you used, though I have to come in from big-side for him, the old rip. He wont look pleased all I can do, and sticks his head first on one side and then on the other, and blinks at me before hell begin to eat, till Im half inclined to box his ears. And whenever East comes in, you should see him hop off to the window, dot and go one, though Harry wouldnt touch a feather of him now. Arthur laughed. Old Gravey has a good memory; he cant forget the sieges of poor Martins den in old times. He paused a moment, and then went on: You cant think how often Ive been thinking of old Martin since Ive been ill; I suppose ones mind gets restless, and likes to wander off to strange unknown places. I wonder what queer new pets the old boy has got; how he must be revelling in the thousand new birds, beasts, and fishes! Tom felt a pang of jealousy, but kicked it out in a moment. Fancy him on a South-Sea Island, with the Cherokees or Patagonians, or some such wild niggers! (Toms ethnology and geography were faulty, but sufficient for his needs); theyll make the old Madman cock medicine-man and tattoo him all over. Perhaps hes cutting about now all blue, and has a squaw and a wigwam. Hell improve their boomerangs, and be able to throw them too, without having old Thomas sent after him by the Doctor to take them away. Arthur laughed at the remembrance of the boomerang story, but then looked grave again, and said, Hell convert all the island, I know. Yes, if he dont blow it up first. Do you remember, Tom, how you and East used to laugh at him and chaff him, because he said he was sure the rooks all had calling-over or prayers, or something of the sort, when the locking-up bell rang? Well, I declare, said Arthur, looking up seriously into Toms laughing eyes, I do think he was right. Since Ive been lying here, Ive watched them every night; and, do you know, they really do come and perch, all of them, just about locking-up time; and then first theres a regular chorus of caws, and then they stop a bit, and one old fellow, or perhaps two or three in different trees, caw solos, and then off they all go again, fluttering about and cawing anyhow till they roost. I wonder if the old blackies do talk, said Tom, looking up at them. How they must abuse me and East, and pray for the Doctor for stopping the slinging! There! look, look! cried Arthur, dont you see the old fellow without a tail coming up? Martin used to call him the clerk. He cant steer himself. You never saw such fun as he is in a high wind, when |
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