To hold fast where a steel chain snaps
And leave the grand white neck no gash.

(Full stop.)"

"'Don't understand a word of it," said Stalky.

"More fool you! Construe," said McTurk. "Those six bargees scragged
the Czar, and left no evidence. _Actum_est_ with King."

"He gave me that book, too," said Beetle, licking his lips:

"There's a great text in Galatians,
Once you trip on it entails
Twenty-nine distinct damnations,
One sure if another fails."

Then irrelevantly:

"Setebos! Setebos! and Setebos!
Thinketh he liveth in the cold of the moon."

"He's just come in from dinner," said Dick Four, looking through the
window. "Manders minor is with him."

"'Safest place for Manders minor just now," said Beetle.

"Then you chaps had better clear out," said Stalky politely to the
visitors. "'Tisn't fair to mix you up in a study row. Besides, we