Billy Bunter's Benefit By Frank Richards - Friardale

Billy Bunter’s Benefit
By Frank Richards
could have done the paper, he would certainly have put off the labour till
it was too late. So when the Lower Fourth learned that Bunter had
entered, they laughed and expected to hear nothing more of that.
Nobody had expected to hear that Bunter had handed in his paper.
But he had!
Ogilvy, Russell, Peter Todd, Mark Linley, and Tom Brown had handed in
papers. That was expected. But so had Bunter, That was unexpected.
Judgment was to be delivered the following day. The general expectation
was that Mark Linley would be the lucky man, now that Wharton had
withdrawn. Toddy and Tom Brown were possibles. But Bunter—!
Bunter, of course, would be nowhere. It was fairly certain that the Latin,
if perpetrated by Bunter, would be of a kind that “would have made
Quintilian stare and gasp.” But that he had compiled a Latin paper at all
was amazing. Howsoever badly he had done it, it meant swotting. And was
Bunter the fellow to swot? Distinctly he was not.
Indeed, when Tom Brown came into the Rag, with the news that he had
seen Bunter taking his paper into Quelch’s study, the fellows there
doubted their ears. But it was true. The New Zealand junior had been
coming out as Bunter went in. He had seen Bunter add his paper to the
little pile collecting on Quelch’s table. So that was that!
Billy Bunter’s proceedings, as a rule, did not excite much interest in his
form. His unimportance was, indeed, unlimited. But Billy Bunter setting up
as a competitor for a Latin paper was interesting, because it was so
surprising.
“Beats me hollow,” said Bob Cherry. “Quelch will have a fit when he sees
the paper, you can bank on that.”
“Bet you he was surprised when Bunter put his name down,” remarked
Squiff. “I’d like to see Bunter’s paper! It would be worth seeing.”
“Has Bunter been swotting over that paper, Toddy?” asked Bob.
Peter Todd shook his head. He was even more puzzled than the other
fellows by this astonishing proceeding on the part of his fat study-mate.
“Not that I’ve noticed,” he answered. “He’s jolly well done no swotting
when I’ve been in the study.”
“Must be off his chump,” said Vernon-Smith. “Bunter couldn’t do a decent
Latin paper if he swotted for a whole term with a wet towel round his fat
head. And if he hasn’t worked at it at all—!”
“He jolly well hasn’t,” said Peter. “I should have noticed if Bunter had
been doing any work. Not the sort of thing you see every day!”
“Ha, ha, ha!”
“Hallo, hallo, hallo! Here he comes.”
Billy Bunter roiled into the Rag. All eyes were turned on him at once. His
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