in French.'
'I see. Well, I think you must take the fish out of your pockets. After that Jennings, you can hang your coats in the school yard and then wash you hair.'
'Yes, sir.'
When Mr Carter left the boys Jennings looked at his friend's sad face and said, 'why are you so sad, Darbi? We'll develop the photos and then - well, Mr Carter didn't say we mustn't eat them, did he?'
'The photos?'
'No, you silly. Why don't you listen when I talk to you?'
'Mr Carter said...'
'He didn't say that we mustn't eat the fish. He said that we must take them out of our pockets. We can take them out of our pockets and put them in my tuck-box. Then we can fry them with pepper and salt.'
Before tea Jennings and Darbishire began to prepare for the next day. They had to ask permission to use the dark room. They decided not to ask Mr Carter. So they asked Mr Hid, a History an Music teacher. Mr Hid was a good photographer and was only to happy to give his permission. Then the boys had to get some butter. They did not eat any butter at tea-time, but took it out of the dining hall in an envelope.
Chapter Five
'Wonderful' Breakfast.
It was seven o'clock when Jennings got out of bed the next morning and began to wake Darbishire up. But Darbishire did not want to get up so early. The weather was bad: it was raining, and his bed was so warm.
'Can't we do it some other time? One day next week, for example,' Darbishire said.
'No, we can't. The fish won't keep.'
Darbishire got up and began to dress.
The boys dressed and went out of the dormitory. They went to the tuck-box room for the fish and then to the dark room. When they went into the dark room Darbishire quickly bolted the door.
'It's good we didn't meet any teacher in the corridor,' he said. 'What shall we do first -fry the fish or develop the film?'
'I've developed the film already,' Jennings answered to his friend's surprise. 'I came here yesterday after supper. So now we have a lot of time for our wonderful breakfast.'
'Are the photos good?' asked Darbishire.
'Y-y-yes,' answered Jennings.
That was not the time to talk about the photos. Jennings took a developing dish and washed it. Then he took the butter from his pocket and some fish from the parcel, and put them on the developing dish.
'Shut the window, Darbi. If there is somebody in the school yard he will know that we are not developing a film if he sees that the window is open.'
The window-panes were black, and when Darbishire shut the window it was dark in the room. Jennings took a candle out of the red lamp, and lit it. Then he lit the gas and held the developing dish over the gas. And then!..
Tongues of flame were licking the sides of the developing dish and leaping towards the ceiling.
Jennings dropped the developing dish on the floor.
'What's the matter?' asked Darbishire.
Jennings did not answer. The developing dish was burning on the floor. Jennings took the parcel of fish from the table and dropped it on the burning developing dish. The boys saw a cloud of smoke but the fire was out.
'What's the matter?' Darbishire repeated his question.
'The developing dish was celluloid,' answered Jennings.
'But why did you use a celluloid developing dish, Jen? Every little boy knows that it burns.'
'Let's not talk about it. It's all over now.'
But it was not all over. The room was full of smoke. The boys began to cough.
'Open the window, quick,' said Jennings.
Darbishire ran up to the widow and put his head out into the cool morning.
'You don't know, Jen, what a nice and cool morning it is!' he said and took off his spectacles.
Then he put his spectacles on again, looked through them and quickly shut the window.
'What's the matter?' asked Jennings.
'Mr Wilkins! He is out in the school yard! He saw my head.'
'What shall we do?'
The boys stood and listened. The room was still full of smoke. Soon they heard a knock on the glass.
'Open the window! It was Mr Wilkins. He couldn't see through the black window - panes.
'Open the window, at once!' repeated Mr Wilkins.
No answer. What are these silly little boys doing there, he wondered? Had they hurried out of the room when they saw him? He went away from the window, turned the corner of the building and went in the door.
'He's coming,' said Darbishire. 'What shall we do? He knows we weren't developing: we couldn't do it with the window open.'
'Let's open the window,' said Jennings. 'The room is still full of smoke. He's be near the dark room in a minute, and we'll have to open the door.'
Darbishire opened the window and the boys began to clean the room.
'Open this door!' It was Mr Wilkins again. Now he was at the door.
'Where shall we put the parcel?' asked Jennings.
There was no place for it, and Jennings decided to hold the parcel behind his back under his coat.
'Will you open the door?' Mr Wilkins was very angry.
Darbishire opened the door and Mr Wilkins came in.
'What are you doing here?'
The boys did not answer. But Mr Wilkins' nose answered the question. 'Something is burning.'
'Yes, sir. A developing dish caught fire by chance. But now it's all over, sir.'
'We'll soon see,' said Mr Wilkins and began to walk round the room.
Jennings walked behind him: he couldn't turn his back on Mr Wilkins.
'I don't know much about photography,' said Mr Wilkins. 'But if you can burn the building when you develop a film it is not a hobby that I like. Do you have permission to be in here, boys?'
'Yes, sir, yesterday Mr Hind gave us permission to develop the film, but I don't think that he knows that we are here now.'
'So you don't have permission to be here now. And you've got up before the bell! Go to my room and wait for me at the door.'
'Yes, sir.'
Jennings went out of the room with his back to the door. Darbishire went after him.
Chapter Six.
Jennings Hides the Parcel.
When the boys went along the corridor Darbishire said, 'What are we going to do? We can't take this parcel to Old Wilkie's room, can we?'
'We must hide it somewhere.'
'But where?'
They went to Mr Wilkins' door.
'What shall we do? He'll be here in a minute,' said Darbishire. Jennings decided to do something.
