Presently more boys and bigger came out, and boys from other houses
on their way to calling-over, and more balls were sent for. The crowd
thickened as three o'clock approached; and when the hour struck, one
hundred and fifty boys were hard at work. Then the balls were held, the
master of the week came down in cap and gown to calling-over, and the
whole school of three hundred boys swept into the big school to answer
to their names.
"I may come in, mayn't I?" said Tom, catching East by the arm, and
longing to feel one of them.
"Yes, come along; nobody'll say anything. You won't be so eager to get
into calling-over after a month," replied his friend; and they marched
into the big school together, and up to the farther end, where that
illustrious form, the lower fourth, which had the honour of East's
patronage for the time being, stood.
The master mounted into the high desk by the door, and one of the
prepostors of the week stood by him on the steps, the other three
marching up and down the middle of the school with their canes, calling
out, "Silence, silence!" The sixth form stood close by the door on the
left, some thirty in number, mostly great big grown men, as Tom thought,
surveying them from a distance with awe; the fifth form behind them,
twice their number, and not quite so big. These on the left; and on the
right the lower fifth, shell, and all the junior forms in order; while
up the middle marched the three prepostors.
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