Very Soon It Began To Appear That The Studies Were Not
Progressing Smoothly; The Priest Would Come Forth As Usual
With a
smiling, placid countenance, my brother with a black scowl on his
face, and gaining his room, he would
Hurl his books down and protest
in violent language that the O'Keefe was a perfect fraud, that he knew
as much of the infinitesimal calculus as a gaucho on horseback or a
wild Indian. Then, beginning to see it in a humorous light, he would
shout with laughter at the priest's pretentions to know anything, and
would say he was only fit to teach babies just out of the cradle to
say their ABC. He only wished the priest had also pretended to some
acquaintance with the manly art, so that they could have a few bouts
with the gloves on, as it would have been a great pleasure to bruise
that big humbugging face black and blue.
The mathematical lessons soon ceased altogether, but whenever an
afternoon outing was arranged my brother would throw aside his books
to join us and take the lead. The ride to the river, he would say,
would give us the opportunity for a little cavalry training and lance-
throwing exercise. In the cane-brake he would cut long, straight canes
for lances, which at the fishing-ground would be cut down to a proper
length for rods. Then, mounting, we would set off, O'Keefe ahead,
absorbed as usual in his own thoughts, while we at a distance of a
hundred yards or so would form in line and go through our evolutions,
chasing the flying enemy, O'Keefe; and at intervals our commander
would give the order to charge, whereupon we would dash forward with a
shout, and when about forty yards from him we would all hurl our
lances so as to make them fall just at the feet of his horse. In this
way we would charge him a dozen or twenty times before getting to our
destination, but never once would he turn his head or have any inkling
of our carryings-on in the rear, even when his horse lashed out
viciously with his hind legs at the lances when they fell too near his
feet.
We enjoyed the advantage of the O'Keefe regime for about a year, then
one day, in his usual casual manner, without a hint as to how his
private affairs were going, he said that he had to go somewhere to see
some one about something, and we saw him no more. However, news of his
movements and a good deal of information about him reached us
incidentally, from all which it appeared that during his time with us,
and for some months previously, Father O'Keefe had been working out
his own salvation in a quiet way in accordance with a rather elaborate
plan which he had devised. Before he became our teacher he had lived
in some priestly establishment in the capital, and had been a hanger-
on at the Bishop's palace, waiting for a benefice or for some office,
and at length, tired of waiting in vain, he had quietly withdrawn
himself from this society and had got into communication with one of
the Protestant clergymen of the town.
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