"
Another dead silence fell on the pool. Then arose that strange,
mysterious, indefinable Thing, known as "The Scent." The animals
sniffed.
"It heralds the approach of the Stalkies--the most famous of
British Skool Boaz," said the Moo Kow. "They have just placed a
decaying guinea-pig, two white mice in an advanced state of
decomposition, and a single slice of Limburger cheese in the bed of
their tutor. They had previously skillfully diverted the drains so
that they emptied into the drawing-room of the head-master. They
have just burned down his house in an access of noble zeal, and are
fighting among themselves for the spoil. Hark! do ye hear them?"
A wild medley of shrieks and howls had arisen, and an irregular mob
of strange creatures swept out of the distance toward the pool.
Some were like pygmies, some had bloody noses. Their talk
consisted of feverish, breathless ejaculations,--a gibberish in
which the words "rot," "oach," and "giddy" were preeminent. Some
were exciting themselves by chewing a kind of "bhang" made from the
plant called pappahmint; others had their faces streaked with djam.
"But who is this they are ducking in the pool?" asked Pi Bol.
"It is one who has foolishly and wantonly conceived that his
parents have sent him here to study," said the Moo Kow; "but that
is against the rules of the Stalkies, who accept study only as a
punishment.
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