be first in your book. And then if you sign...' He looked up at Mr Wilkins' expression and stopped.
'What game are you silly little boys playing?' the teacher asked angrily. He was sure that all those visitors were going to make fun of him. 'You come to the staff room, find me here and then tell me that you haven't expected to see me here.'
'No, sir, it isn't so, really, sir.'
'And these autograph books! Somebody must think I'm a film star!'
Atkinson looked down at his shoes and said nothing.
'I've had enough nonsense about autograph books for one evening,' Mr Wilkins continued. 'And if anyone else comes and knocks at the door, I'll - I'll... Well, they'd better not.'
'Yes, sir... No, sir,' said Atkinson and ran out of the room.
In the library he met Darbishire and Temple.
'I shall not go there any more,' said Atkinson. 'He is ready to go off like an H-bomb.'
'He wasn't too bad when I was there,' Temple said. 'I just asked for his autograph and...'
'You did what?' asked Atkinson.
'I asked for his autograph. It was the only thing I could think of,' answered Temple.
'Why did you do it? You knew that I was going to ask him for his autograph,' said Atkinson.
'No, I didn't. You never told me,' said Temple. 'Do you mean that you asked for his autograph, too?'
'Yes, of course, I did,' said Atkinson. 'Now I can see why he is so angry - because both of us made the same excuse.'
Darbishire looked at his friends sadly and said, 'Not only both of you - all three of us. I only hope that Jennings has got some other excuses for him when he goes to see him.'
'I think we must warn him,' said Temple. 'Let's go and see if we can find him before it's too late.'
It was already too late. When the three boys came to the common room they did not find Jennings there.
'Well, he has already gone,' Atkinson looked at his watch. 'There is nothing more we can do. I only hope that he will be all right.'
The clock on the wall of the staff room stood at ten minutes to eight when, for the fourth time in twenty minutes, there was a knock on the door.
'Come in!' Mr Wilkins shouted in an angry voice.
But nobody came in. Because when Jennings heard Mr Wilkins' voice he understood that the room was not empty and decided to run away.
Mr Wilkins shouted again. Then he stood up from his arm-chair, quickly crossed the room and opened the door. He looked out into the corridor and saw a boy disappearing round the corner.
'Stop! Come back, that boy!' he shouted.
After a short time Jennings appeared.
'Did you call me, sir?' he asked.
'Yes, I did. Did you knock at the staff room door?'
'Do you mean just now, sir?'
'Of course I mean just now. You don't think I meant last term, do you?'
'No, sir. Well, you see I just tapped on it, sir, if you see what I mean.'
'I see. Then why did you run away and not come in when I told you?'
'I ... I ... changed my mind at the last moment, sir. I decided not to come in. You see, I was going to ask you to write something in my autograph book. Something like. By hook or by crook...'
'What!' shouted Mr Wilkins. 'This is too much for me! I've had enough of this nonsense! And if you are not out of my sight in a moment, Jennings, then by hook or by crook you'll be first in the detention book!'
'Yes, sir,' said Jennings and ran along the corridor.
When Mr Wilkins turned to the door he met Mr Hind who was coming back to the staff room.
'Have you finished correcting your tests?' asked Mr Hind.
'No,' answered Mr Wilkins. 'I think I'll wait till morning. There is too much noise at this time of the day.'
'But the Headmaster asked us to give him the results of all the tests at once. So I really think you have to give him the results of the test tomorrow morning, by hook or by crook,' said Mr Hind.
Mr Wilkins looked at him angrily.
'Will you please not use that idiotic expression, Hind,' he said angrily. 'I've had enough of that expression on the last twenty minutes to last me quite a long time.'
He went into the staff room and shut the door loudly.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Jennings' new plan
It was a sad evening for Jennings. Temple and Atkinson did not want to go to the staff room again and meet Mr Wilkins. Even Darbishire, Jennings' best friend, had no wish to meet Mr Wilkins again.
'I will watch if you decide to try again,' Darbishire said to his friend.
'But there is no time to try again,' said Jennings. 'Maybe he is correcting our tests now.'
'No, he isn't,' said Darbishire. 'He told me he wouldn't do it till tomorrow morning.'
When Jennings was in bed he began to think of a new plan for the morning.
'Yes,' he thought, 'there is still a chance for me to rub out the drawing before breakfast, It is a good time to do it, because there will certainly be no teachers in the staff room before breakfast. But it is also the time of my piano practice. In the next room Mr Wilkins will certainly notice it if I stop playing for more than one minute.'
Suddenly a wonderful idea came in to his head. Of course! With a little help from Darbishire he could do it!
'Hey, Darbi, wake up!' he called to his friend in a whisper. 'I have a wonderful plan.'
'Yes?' came a sleepy voice from the next bed.
'I know how to rub out that drawing. I couldn't think how to do it and then suddenly a wonderful idea came into my head.'
'Well, what happened after a wonderful idea came into your head?'
'Well, Old Wilkie usually knocks on the wall if I stop practising for more than half a minute. So I think I will ask somebody to go on playing Beethoven's Minuet in G, and I'll go to the staff room.
'If you think I can play it you can think again,' said Darbishire. 'I can play only An Easy Piece for Little Fingers.'
'But I don't want you to play. There is a record of that piece in the music room.'
'What record, An Easy Piece for Little . Fingers?'
'No, Beethoven's Minuet in G. Mr Hind played it to me during my music lesson some weeks ago. So all you have to do is...'
'Hey! Stop whispering and go to sleep.'
That was the voice of Bromwich, the dormitory monitor.
Jennings had to stop talking. 'Never mind,' thought Jennings. 'When the time comes Darbi will understand what he has to do.'
At half past seven the next morning Jennings went into the music room and began to play Beethoven's Minuet in G. Soon he stopped playing and listened. In half a minute he heard a knock on the wall. Yes, Mr Wilkins was listening, Jennings began to play again.
Jennings smiled to himself as he turned back to the keyboard. Everything was all right!
Five minutes later Darbishire ran into the music room.
'Here I am,' he whispered. 'What do I have to do?'
Jennings stopped playing and answered, 'Do you see that cupboard in the corner? There is a pile of records on the top shelf, and among them you'll find Beethoven's Minuet in G.'
'I don't understand why you can't do it yourself,' said Darbishire and opened the cupboard.
The answer to this question was a loud knock on the other side of the wall.
'That's why I can't do it myself,' Jennings pointed to the wall and began the Minuet again.
