



Produced by Suzanne L. Shell, Jim Tinsley, Charles Franks
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
With thanks to Amherst College Library.






MIKE

A PUBLIC SCHOOL STORY



BY
P. G. WODEHOUSE



CONTAINING TWELVE FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS
BY T. M. R. WHITWELL



LONDON
1909.



[Illustration (Frontispiece): "ARE YOU THE M. JACKSON THEN WHO HAD AN
AVERAGE OF FIFTY ONE POINT NOUGHT THREE LAST YEAR?"]




[Dedication]
TO
ALAN DURAND




CONTENTS


CHAPTER
I.       MIKE

II.      THE JOURNEY DOWN

III.     MIKE FINDS A FRIENDLY NATIVE

IV.      AT THE NETS

V.       REVELRY BY NIGHT

VI.      IN WHICH A TIGHT CORNER IS EVADED

VII.     IN WHICH MIKE IS DISCUSSED

VIII.    A ROW WITH THE TOWN

IX.      BEFORE THE STORM

X.       THE GREAT PICNIC

XI.      THE CONCLUSION OF THE PICNIC

XII.     MIKE GETS HIS CHANCE

XIII.    THE M.C.C. MATCH

XIV.     A SLIGHT IMBROGLIO

XV.      MIKE CREATES A VACANCY

XVI.     AN EXPERT EXAMINATION

XVII.    ANOTHER VACANCY

XVIII.   BOB HAS NEWS TO IMPART

XIX.     MIKE GOES TO SLEEP AGAIN

XX.      THE TEAM IS FILLED UP

XXI.     MARJORY THE FRANK

XXII.    WYATT IS REMINDED OF AN ENGAGEMENT

XXIII.   A SURPRISE FOR MR. APPLEBY

XXIV.    CAUGHT

XXV.     MARCHING ORDERS

XXVI.    THE AFTERMATH

XXVII.   THE RIPTON MATCH

XXVIII.  MIKE WINS HOME

XXIX.    WYATT AGAIN

XXX.     MR. JACKSON MAKES UP HIS MIND

XXXI.    SEDLEIGH

XXXII.   PSMITH

XXXIII.  STAKING OUT A CLAIM

XXXIV.   GUERILLA WARFARE

XXXV.    UNPLEASANTNESS IN THE SMALL HOURS

XXXVI.   ADAIR

XXXVII.  MIKE FINDS OCCUPATION

XXXVIII. THE FIRE BRIGADE MEETING

XXXIX.   ACHILLES LEAVES HIS TENT

XL.      THE MATCH WITH DOWNING'S

XLI.     THE SINGULAR BEHAVIOUR OF JELLICOE

XLII.    JELLICOE GOES ON THE SICK-LIST

XLIII.   MIKE RECEIVES A COMMISSION

XLIV.    AND FULFILS IT

XLV.     PURSUIT

XLVI.    THE DECORATION OF SAMMY

XLVII.   MR. DOWNING ON THE SCENT

XLVIII.  THE SLEUTH-HOUND

XLIX.    A CHECK

L.       THE DESTROYER OF EVIDENCE

LI.      MAINLY ABOUT BOOTS

LII.     ON THE TRAIL AGAIN

LIII.    THE KETTLE METHOD

LIV.     ADAIR HAS A WORD WITH MIKE

LV.      CLEARING THE AIR

LVI.     IN WHICH PEACE IS DECLARED

LVII.    MR. DOWNING MOVES

LVIII.   THE ARTIST CLAIMS HIS WORK

LIX.     SEDLEIGH _v._ WRYKYN




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

BY T. M. R. WHITWELL


"ARE YOU THE M. JACKSON, THEN, WHO HAD AN AVERAGE OF FIFTY-ONE POINT
NOUGHT THREE LAST YEAR?"

THE DARK WATERS WERE LASHED INTO A MAELSTROM

"DON'T _LAUGH_, YOU GRINNING APE"

"DO--YOU--SEE, YOU FRIGHTFUL KID?"

"WHAT'S ALL THIS ABOUT JIMMY WYATT?"

MIKE AND THE BALL ARRIVED ALMOST SIMULTANEOUSLY

"WHAT THE DICKENS ARE YOU DOING HERE?"

PSMITH SEIZED AND EMPTIED JELLICOE'S JUG OVER SPILLER

"WHY DID YOU SAY YOU DIDN'T PLAY CRICKET?" HE ASKED

"WHO--" HE SHOUTED, "WHO HAS DONE THIS?"

"DID--YOU--PUT--THAT--BOOT--THERE, SMITH?"

MIKE DROPPED THE SOOT-COVERED OBJECT IN THE FENDER




CHAPTER I

MIKE


It was a morning in the middle of April, and the Jackson family were
consequently breakfasting in comparative silence. The cricket season
had not begun, and except during the cricket season they were in the
habit of devoting their powerful minds at breakfast almost exclusively
to the task of