Read Sons of Fortune for Free Online

smile. “We’ll begin the day with orientation, which you
will have completed by first break at ten thirty. At eleven you will attend
your assigned classes. Your first lesson will be American history.” Nat
frowned, as history had never been his favorite subject.
    “ Which will be followed by lunch. Don’t look forward to
that,” Mr. Haskins said with the same wry smile. A few of the boys laughed.
“But then that’s just another Tail tradition,” Mr. Haskins assured them, “which
any of you who are following in your father’s footsteps will have already been
warned about.” One or two of the boys, including Tom, smiled.
    Once
they had begun what Mr. Haskins described as the nickel and dime tour, Nat
never left Tom’s side. He seemed to have prior knowledge of everything Haskins
was about to say. Nat quickly discovered that not only was Tom’s father a former alumni, but so was his grandfather.
    By
the time the tour had ended and they had seen everything from the lake to the
sanatorium, he and Tom were best friends. When they filed into the classroom
twenty minutes later, they automatically sat next to each other.
    As
the clock chimed eleven, Mr. Haskins marched into the room. A boy followed in
his wake.
    He
had a self -assurance about him, almost a swagger, that
made every other boy look up. The master’s eyes also followed the new pupil as
he slipped into the one remaining desk.
    “Name?”
    “Ralph
Elliot.”
    “That
will be the last time you will be late for my class while you’re at Tail,” said
Haskins.
    He
paused. “Do I make myself clear, Elliot?”
    “You
most certainly do.” The boy paused, before adding, “Sir.”
    Mr.
Haskins turned his gaze to the rest of the class. “Our first lesson, as I
warned you, will be on American history, which is appropriate remembering that
this school was founded by the brother of a former president.” With a portrait
of William .
    Tail
in the main hall and a statue of his brother in the quadrangle, it would have
been hard for even the least inquisitive pupil not to have worked that out.
    “Who
was the first president of the United States?” Mr. Haskins asked. Every hand
shot up. Mr. Haskins nodded to a boy in the front row.
    “George
Washington, sir.”
    “And
the second?” asked Haskins. Fewer hands rose, and this time Tom was selected.
    “John
Adams, sir.”
    “Correct,
and the third?”
    Only
two hands remained up, Nat’s and the boy who had arrived late. Haskins pointed
to Nat.
    “Thomas
Jefferson, 1800 to 1808.”
    Mr.
Haskins nodded, acknowledging that the boy also knew the correct dates, “And
the fourth?”
    “James
Madison, 1809 to 1817,” said Elliot.
    “And the fifth, Cartwright?”
    “James
Monroe, 1817 to 1825.”
    “And the sixth, Elliot?”
    “John
Quincy Adams, 1825 to 1829.”
    “And the seventh, Cartwright?”
    Nat
racked his brains. “I don’t remember, sir.”
    “You
don’t remember, Cartwright. or do you simply not
know?”
    Haskins
paused. “There is a considerable difference,” he added. He turned his attention
back to Elliot.
    “William
Henry Harrison, I think, sir.”
    “No,
he was the ninth president, Elliot, 1841, but as he died of pneumonia only a
month after his inauguration, we won’t be spending a lot of time on him,” added
Haskins. “Make sure everyone can tell me the name of the ninth president by
tomorrow morning. Now let’s go back to the founding fathers. You may all take
notes as I require you to produce a three-page essay on the subject by the time
we next meet.”
    Nat
had filled three long sheets even before the lesson had ended, while Tom barely
managed a page. As they left the classroom at the end of the lesson, Elliot
brushed quickly past them.
    “He
already looks like a real rival,” remarked Tom.
    Nat
didn’t comment.
    What
he couldn’t know was that he and Ralph Elliot would be rivals for the rest of
their lives. the annual football game between
Hotchkiss and Tail was the sporting