Billy Bunter of Greyfriars School and Billy Bunter's ... Read Free Page A

to junior nets, expecting Bunter to follow. They were
prepared to take quite a lot of trouble with Bunter, since he was, for once in
his fat life, showing keenness for the summer game.
But, as it happened, they did not have to take any trouble with Bunter. The fat
junior did not follow them down to the nets.
During the hour that they spent there, with other Remove fellows, no fat figure
appeared in the offing.
Billy Bunter’s sudden enthusiasm for the summer game seemed to have petered out
as sudden as it had arisen! It had, in fact, lasted exactly as long as was
required to get his lines done! While the Famous Five were at the nets, Billy
Bunter was reposing his ample person in a comfortable armchair in the Rag, in a
state of fat and lazy satisfaction. Which really was what they might have
expected of William George Bunter.
    CHAPTER III
    JAM FOR BUNTER!
    “STAND and deliver!”
“Oh, really, Cherry—!”
“What have you got there?”
“Nothing, old chap! Nothing at all! I say, you fellows, let a fellow pass. I’m
in rather a hurry.”
But the Famous Five, of the Remove, did not let Billy Bunter pass.
They were coming upstairs, as Billy Bunter came down. They met on the middle
landing. Five fellows, in a grinning row, blocked Billy Bunter’s way to the
lower staircase. Bunter halted unwillingly—but he had to halt.
That Billy Bunter had something hidden under his jacket was a fact that leaped
to the eye. Bunter’s garments were tight. There was really hardly enough room
in them for Bunter, His ample proportions filled them almost to bursting point.
Any other fellow might have concealed something under his jacket without
catching the casual eye. Not Bunter. On Bunter’s fat person there was a bulge—a
very distinct bulge—a bulge that few could have failed to notice. Harry Wharton
and Co. had noticed it at once. That was why Bob Cherry playfully called on the
fat junior to stand and deliver.
Bunter was clearly in a hurry. Bunter’s movements generally resembled those of
a snail—a tired snail. But he had come pattering rapidly down the upper stairs,
and he came across the middle landing at a run. Only for very urgent reasons
could the fat Owl of the Remove have put on such speed. But hurried as he was,
Bunter had to stop.
“I say, you fellows, no larks!” gasped Bunter. “I— I’ve got to see Quelch. He’s
waiting to see me. Let a chap pass.”
“You’ve got to see Quelch?” repeated Harry Wharton.
“Yes, old chap—he’s waiting—.”
“How odd, we’ve just seen Quelch go out. You’ve missed him,” said the captain
of the Remove, shaking his head.
“Oh! Has Quelch gone out? I—I don’t mean Quelch! I—I mean Wingate,” stammered
Bunter. “I’ve got to see Wingate! Let a chap pass—can’t keep a Sixth-form
prefect waiting—captain of the school, too! I’ve got to get to Wingate’s
study—.”
“No good going to his study,” chuckled Frank Nugent. “Wingate’s on Big Side,
playing cricket.”
“Oh! Is he? I mean—I—I—I mean—I mean the Head! That’s what I—I meant to say.
I’ve been specially sent for to Dr. Locke’s study. I say, you fellows, I shall
get into a row if I keep the head-master waiting! You know old Locke doesn’t
like to be kept waiting—lemme pass, will you?”
And Billy Bunter made an effort to push through the row of juniors. Then he
gave a startled yelp, as the bulge under his jacket slipped. He clutched wildly
at the hidden article to save it, and crammed it back under his jacket— but not
before the other fellows had seen that it was a jam-jar.
“Ha, ha, ha!” roared Bob Cherry. “Are you taking the Head a pot of jam for his
tea?”
“Oh! Yes! No! I—I————.”
“Whose is it?” asked Johnny Bull.
“Mine!” roared Bunter indignantly. “Think I’ve got somebody else’s pot of jam?
Not that this is a pot of jam I’ve got here, you know. It’s a—a bottle of ink.”
“Smithy had jam in one of his gorgeous parcels today!”