By James Hilton

(Fragments)

James Hilton (1900—1954) was born in England and educated at Cambridge where he wrote his first novel, "Catherine Herself". His first big success came with the publication of "Good-bye, Mr. Chips". It was dramatized and filmed. "Lost Horizon " published in 1933 was awarded the Hawthornden Prize. Some of his other books are: "We Are Not Alone" (1937), "Random случайная Harvest жатва" (1941), "Nothing So Strange" (1947), "Time and Time Again" (1953). A resident of the United States since 1935, he died in Long Beach, California.

(Kenneth Speed, B.A., a young Master at Millstead Boarding School for boys, was warned that the first night he takes prep¹ подготовку he might be ragged² над ним могли подшутить as it was a sort of school tradition that they always tried to rag подшучивать над teachers that night.

Preparation for the whole school was held in Millstead Big Hall, a huge vault склеп, подвал-like chamber комната in which desks were ranged in long rows ряды and where Master in charge дежурный sat on high at a desk on a raised dais помосте, кафедре.)

Speed was very nervous as he took his seat on the dais помосте, кафедре at five to seven and watched the school straggling двигающуюся вразброд to their places. They came in quietly enough, but there was an atmosphere of subdued подавляемого expect­ancy of which Speed was keenly conscious ; the boys stared about them, grinned at each other, seemed as if they were waiting for some­thing to happen. Nevertheless, at five past seven all was perfectly quiet and orderly, although it was obvious that little work was being done. Speed felt rather as if he were sitting on a powder-magazine пороховом погребе, and there was a sense in which he was eager for the storm to break.

At about a quarter past seven a banging громкие удары of desk-lids крышек began at the far end of the hall.

He stood up and said, quietly, but in a voice that carried well: "I don't want to be hard on anybody, so I'd better warn you that I shall punish any disorderliness very severely ."

There was some tittering хихикание, and for a moment or so he wondered if he had made a fool of himself.

Then he saw a bright весёлый, rather pleasant-faced boy in one of the back rows deliberately raise a desk-lid and drop it with a bang громким стуком. Speed con­sulted the map of the desks that was in front of him and by counting down the rows discovered the boy's name to be Worsley. He wondered

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how the name should be pronounced — whether the first syllable should rhyme with "purse" or with "horse". Instinct in him, that un­canny сверхъестественное feeling for atmosphere , embarked подвигло him on an outrageously неистово bold смелое adventure, nothing less than a piece of facetiousness шутки, the most dan­gerous weapon средство in a new Master's armoury арсенале, and the one most of all like­ly to recoil поплатиться on himself. He stood up again and said: "Wawsley or Wurssley — however you call yourself — you have a hundred lines копирование текста в качестве наказания!"³

The whole assembly сбор roared with laughter. That frightened him a little. Supposing they did not stop laughing! He remembered an occasion at his own school when a class had ragged подшутили a certain Master very neatly искусно and subtly by pretending to go off взорваться into hysterics of laugh­ter at some trifling лёгкую witticism остроту of his.

When the laughter subsided утих, a lean тощий, rather clever-looking boy rose up in the front row but one and said, impudently нахально: "Please sir, I'm Worsley. I didn't do anything."

Speed replied promptly: "Oh, didn't you? Well, you've got a hun­dred lines, anyway."

"What for, sir" — in hot indignation возмущении.

"For sitting in your wrong desk."

Again the assembly сбор laughed, but there was no mistaking the re­spectfulness that underlay the merriment оживление. And, as a matter of fact, the rest of the evening passed entirely without incident. After the others had gone, Worsley came up to the dais помост, кафедру accompanied by the pleasant-faced boy who dropped the desk-lid. Worsley pleaded попросил for the remission освобождение of his hundred lines, and the other boy supported him urging настаивая that it was he and not Worsley who had dropped the lid.

"And what's your name?" asked Speed.

"Naylor, sir."

"Very well, Naylor, you and Worsley can share the hundred lines between you." He added smiling: "I've no doubt you're neither of you worse than anybody else but you must pay the penalty наказание of being pio­neers."

They went away laughing.

That night Speed went into Clanwell's room for a chat before bedtime, and Clanwell congratulated him fulsomely льстиво on his success­ful passage of the ordeal суровое испытание.⁴ "As a matter of fact," Clanwell said, "I happen to know that they'd prepared a star benefit performance for you but that you put them off отделался от них, somehow, from the beginning. The

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Prefects старосты класса⁵ get to hear узнают of these things and they tell me. Of course, I don't take any official notice of them. It doesn't matter to me what plans people make — it's when any are put into execution исполнение that I wake up. Anyhow, you may be interested to know that the members of School House⁶ subscribed over fifteen shillings to purchase купить fireworks фейерверки which they were going to let off выпалить after the switches had been turned off! Alas for fond hopes ruined!"

Clanwell and Speed leaned back in their armchairs and roared with laughter.