Then he seemed to forget us, and stood quite still looking into the pond. Evidently he had other things on his mind besides Trelawny; but Trelawny didn’t think so, and believed that Jenkins was standing like that in a frightful funk to think of the dangerous thing he’d done.
"However, it’s too late now; I shall write to my father next Sunday," said Trelawny; and he did, and he got a letter back.
We were rather keen to hear what his father was going to do about it, and expected he would read it out to us. But he tore the letter up small, and chucked it away, and merely said he was surprised to find his father didn’t agree with him.
"But I’ll make it clear that the man ought to be sacked when I go home," said Trelawny.
Funnily enough, though he’d torn this letter up so small and flung it scornfully away, we found out afterwards what was in it; because Peters, who hoped to be a detective of crime when he grew up, always collected anything with writing on it to decipher mysteries; and it was him who found out what Johnson’s pet name at home was, and how many sisters West had, and other things not generally known. He said if a letter was once torn up and flung away, that it was public property for a detective; and so when Trelawny had gone, Peters collected the bits of his letter, and pieced it together after taking frightful trouble. It was a detective-like thing but not a sportsmanlike thing to do, and Trelawny, when he came to hear of it, challenged Peters. In fact, they fought, and Peters was badly licked. Still, the letter certainly was rather curious, considering it came from Trelawny’s own father.
"I’ve got your letter, and I’ve dropped a line to Jenkins, directing him to give you and any of your friends a real good hiding every time he catches you on his ground.
"Your affectionate father, "TRELOAR TRELAWNY."
Of course, the thing couldn’t be allowed to stop there. We were all on Trelawny’s side, though his father wasn’t. In fact, Pedlar and Methuen and me were rather vexed with Trelawny’s father; and we told Trelawny so; and he said he was too. He said—
"We’ll be revenged next term, as it is too late this. We must all think of a heavy score against Jenkins"—he never called Cherry Ripe anything but Jenkins for some reason—"and the best idea is the one we’ll carry out."