to avoid the proctors.



IV


Friday the fifteenth of March was the last day of term. The
Scorpions, busy in their various ways with the hundred details
that have to be attended to before "going down," were all
pleasantly excited by the anticipation of their quest, which was
to begin on the morrow. Carter, shaking hands with the warden of
New College in the college hall (a pleasant little formality
performed at the end of each term) absent-mindedly replied
"Wolverhampton" when the warden asked him where he was going to
spend the vacation. He was then hard put to it to avoid a letter
of introduction to the vicar of St. Philip's in that city, an old
pupil of the warden. King, bicycling rapidly down the greasy Turl
with an armful of books, collided vigorously with another cyclist
at the corner of the High. They both sprawled on the curb, bikes
interlocked. "My god, sir!" cried the Goblin; "Why not watch
where you're going?" Then he saw it was Johnny Blair. "Sorry,
Goblin," said the latter; "I--I was thinking about Kathleen." "So
was I," said King, picking up his books. And in defiance of the
University statute of 1636 (still unrepealed) which warns
students against "frequenting dicing houses, taverns, or booths
where the nicotian herb is sold," they went into Hedderly's
together to buy tobacco.

After breakfast the next morning they were all in cabs on their