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Full download Global Business Today 10th Edition Hill Test Bank all chapter 2024 pdf
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Hill GBT 10e
1. When a firm exports its products to a foreign country, foreign direct investment occurs.
FALSE
Foreign direct investment (FDI) occurs when a firm invests directly in facilities to produce or
market a product in a foreign country. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, FDI
occurs whenever a U.S. citizen, organization, or affiliated group takes an interest of 10 percent
or more in a foreign business entity.
2. The stock of foreign direct investment refers to the total accumulated value of foreign-owned
assets at a given time.
TRUE
The stock of foreign direct investment refers to the total accumulated value of foreign-owned
assets at a given time.
8-1
Copyright © 2018 McGraw-Hill Education. All rights reserved. No reproduction or distribution without the prior written consent of
McGraw-Hill Education.
Learning Objective: 08-01 Recognize current trends regarding foreign direct investment (FDI) in the world economy.
Topic: Foreign Direct Investment in the World Economy
3. The globalization of the world economy is having a negative effect on the volume of FDI.
FALSE
The globalization of the world economy is having a positive effect on the volume of FDI. Many
firms now see the whole world as their market, and they are undertaking FDI in an attempt to
make sure they have a significant presence in many regions of the world.
4. Historically, most FDI has been directed at the least developed nations of the world.
FALSE
Historically, most FDI has been directed at the developed nations of the world as firms based in
advanced countries invested in the others' markets. During the 1980s and 1990s, the United
States was often the favorite target for FDI inflows.
8-2
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McGraw-Hill Education.
5. When a firm allows another enterprise to produce its products under license, the licensee bears
the costs or risks.
TRUE
When a firm exports, it need not bear the costs associated with FDI, and it can reduce the risks
associated with selling abroad by using a native sales agent. Similarly, when a firm allows
another enterprise to produce its products under license, the licensee bears the costs or risks.
6. The attractiveness of exporting increases in comparison to FDI or licensing when products have
a low value-to-weight ratio.
FALSE
The viability of an exporting strategy is often constrained by transportation costs and trade
barriers. When transportation costs are added to production costs, it becomes unprofitable to
ship some products over a large distance. This is particularly true of products that have a low
value-to-weight ratio and that can be produced in almost any location. For such products, the
attractiveness of exporting decreases, relative to either FDI or licensing.
8-3
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7. By placing tariffs on imported goods, governments can increase the cost of exporting relative
to foreign direct investment and licensing.
TRUE
Transportation costs aside, some firms undertake foreign direct investment as a response to
actual or threatened trade barriers such as import tariffs or quotas. By placing tariffs on
imported goods, governments can increase the cost of exporting relative to foreign direct
investment and licensing. Similarly, by limiting imports through quotas, governments increase
the attractiveness of FDI and licensing.
FALSE
8-4
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9. Multipoint competition arises when two or more enterprises encounter each other in different
regional markets, national markets, or industries.
TRUE
10. According to the extreme version of radical view, no country should ever permit foreign
corporations to undertake FDI, because they can never be instruments of economic
development, only of economic domination.
TRUE
Radical writers argue that the multinational enterprise (MNE) is an instrument of imperialist
domination. According to the radical view, FDI by the MNEs of advanced capitalist nations
keeps the less developed countries of the world relatively backward and dependent on
advanced capitalist nations for investment, jobs, and technology. Thus, according to the
extreme version of this view, no country should ever permit foreign corporations to undertake
FDI, because they can never be instruments of economic development, only of economic
domination. Where MNEs already exist in a country, they should be immediately nationalized.
8-5
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McGraw-Hill Education.
Learning Objective: 08-03 Understand how political ideology shapes a government's attitudes toward FDI.
Topic: Political Ideology and Foreign Direct Investment
11. According to the free market view, countries should specialize in the production of those goods
and services that they can produce most efficiently.
TRUE
The free market view argues that international production should be distributed among
countries according to the theory of comparative advantage. Countries should specialize in the
production of those goods and services that they can produce most efficiently.
12. According to the pragmatic nationalist view, no country should ever permit foreign
corporations to undertake FDI.
FALSE
According to the radical view, no country should ever permit foreign corporations to undertake
FDI, since they can never be instruments of economic development, only of economic
domination. In practice, many countries have adopted neither a radical policy nor a free market
policy toward FDI, but instead a policy that can best be described as pragmatic nationalism. The
pragmatic nationalist view is that FDI has both benefits and costs.
8-6
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McGraw-Hill Education.
13. The indirect employment effects of FDI are often as large as, if not larger than, the direct
effects.
TRUE
The effects of FDI on employment are both direct and indirect. Direct effects arise when a
foreign MNE employs a number of host-country citizens. Indirect effects arise when jobs are
created in local suppliers as a result of the investment and when jobs are created because of
increased local spending by employees of the MNE. The indirect employment effects are often
as large as, if not larger than, the direct effects.
14. Services such as telecommunications, retailing, and many financial services, where the service
has to be produced where it is delivered, lend themselves well to exporting.
FALSE
FDI's impact on competition in domestic markets may be particularly important in the case of
services, such as telecommunications, retailing, and many financial services, where exporting is
often not an option because the service has to be produced where it is delivered.
8-7
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15. An acquisition does not result in a net increase in the number of players in a market.
TRUE
An acquisition does not result in a net increase in the number of players in a market; the effect
on competition may be neutral. When a foreign investor acquires two or more firms in a host
country, and subsequently merges them, the effect may be to reduce the level of competition
in that market, create monopoly power for the foreign firm, reduce consumer choice, and raise
prices.
16. Offshore production refers to FDI undertaken to serve the host market.
FALSE
International trade theory tells us that home-country concerns about the negative economic
effects of offshore production may be misplaced. The term offshore production refers to FDI
undertaken to serve the home market.
8-8
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McGraw-Hill Education.
17. Many investor nations now have government-backed insurance programs to cover major types
of foreign investment risk like the risks of expropriation (nationalization), war losses, and the
inability to transfer profits back home.
TRUE
Many investor nations now have government-backed insurance programs to cover major types
of foreign investment risk. The types of risks insurable through these programs include the risks
of expropriation (nationalization), war losses, and the inability to transfer profits back home.
Such programs are particularly useful in encouraging firms to undertake investments in
politically unstable countries.
18. Ownership restraints and performance requirements are the two most common ways in which
host governments restrict FDI.
TRUE
Host governments use a wide range of controls to restrict FDI in one way or another. The two
most common are ownership restraints and performance requirements.
8-9
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19. Performance requirements are controls over the behavior of the MNE's local subsidiary.
TRUE
Performance requirements can also take several forms. Performance requirements are controls
over the behavior of the MNE's local subsidiary. The most common performance requirements
are related to local content, exports, technology transfer, and local participation in top
management.
TRUE
The WTO embraces the promotion of international trade in services. Because many services
have to be produced where they are sold, exporting is not an option. Given this, the WTO has
become involved in regulations governing FDI.
8-10
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21. The location-specific advantages argument associated with John Dunning helps explain why
firms prefer FDI to licensing or to exporting.
FALSE
The implications of the theories of FDI for business practice are straightforward. First, the
location-specific advantages argument associated with John Dunning does help explain the
direction of FDI. However, the location-specific advantages argument does not explain why
firms prefer FDI to licensing or to exporting.
22. Licensing is not a good option if the competitive advantage of a firm is based upon managerial
or marketing knowledge that is embedded in the routines of the firm or the skills of its
managers, and that is difficult to codify in a "book of blueprints."
TRUE
Licensing is not a good option if the competitive advantage of a firm is based upon managerial
or marketing knowledge that is embedded in the routines of the firm or the skills of its
managers, and that is difficult to codify in a "book of blueprints." This would seem to be the
case for firms based in a fairly wide range of industries.
8-11
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23. Franchising is essentially the service-industry version of licensing, although it normally involves
much longer-term commitments than licensing.
TRUE
24. Despite the move toward a free market stance in recent years, many countries still have a rather
pragmatic stance toward FDI.
TRUE
Despite the move toward a free market stance in recent years, many countries still have a rather
pragmatic stance toward FDI. In such cases, a firm considering FDI must often negotiate the
specific terms of the investment with the country's government.
8-12
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25. A firm's bargaining power is low when the host government places a low value on what the firm
has to offer.
TRUE
From the perspective of a firm negotiating the terms of an investment with a host government,
the firm's bargaining power is high when the host government places a high value on what the
firm has to offer, the number of comparable alternatives open to the firm is greater, and the
firm has a long time in which to complete the negotiations. The converse also holds. The firm's
bargaining power is low when the host government places a low value on what the firm has to
offer, the number of comparable alternatives open to the firm is fewer, and the firm has a short
time in which to complete the negotiations.
8-13
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McGraw-Hill Education.
26. A computer manufacturing firm from the United States invests in a microprocessor
manufacturing plant in Taiwan. This is an example of
A. insourcing.
B. stock consolidation.
C. foreign direct investment.
D. product differentiation.
E. market segmentation.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) occurs when a firm invests directly in facilities to produce or
market a product in a foreign country.
27. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, which of the following, occurs whenever a U.S.
citizen, organization, or affiliated group takes an interest of 10 percent or more in a foreign
business entity?
A. multilateral investment
B. foreign direct investment
C. reciprocal foreign investment
D. international divestment
E. asset divestment
Foreign direct investment (FDI) occurs when a firm invests directly in facilities to produce or
market a product in a foreign country. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, FDI
occurs whenever a U.S. citizen, organization, or affiliated group takes an interest of 10 percent
or more in a foreign business entity.
8-14
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McGraw-Hill Education.
Blooms: Remember
Difficulty: 1 Easy
Learning Objective: 08-01 Recognize current trends regarding foreign direct investment (FDI) in the world economy.
Topic: Introduction
28. Omega, Inc., a U.S. business entity took a 27 percent equity interest in Almodovar Holdings, a
Spanish family business. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, this would be an
example of
A. multilateral investment
B. foreign direct investment
C. reciprocal foreign investment
D. international divestment
E. asset divestment
Foreign direct investment (FDI) occurs when a firm invests directly in facilities to produce or
market a product in a foreign country. According to the U.S. Department of Commerce, FDI
occurs whenever a U.S. citizen, organization, or affiliated group takes an interest of 10 percent
or more in a foreign business entity.
8-15
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McGraw-Hill Education.
29. Once it undertakes FDI, a firm becomes a(n)
A. outsourcer.
B. retail chain.
C. offshore company.
D. multinational enterprise.
E. national corporation.
Foreign direct investment (FDI) occurs when a firm invests directly in facilities to produce or
market a product in a foreign country. Once a firm undertakes FDI, it becomes a multinational
enterprise.
30. Which of the following is most likely to involve establishment of a new operation in a foreign
country?
A. consolidation
B. greenfield investment
C. acquisition
D. licensing agreement
E. mass customization
FDI takes on two main forms. The first is a greenfield investment, which involves the
establishment of a new operation in a foreign country. The second involves acquiring or
merging with an existing firm in the foreign country.
8-16
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McGraw-Hill Education.
Learning Objective: 08-01 Recognize current trends regarding foreign direct investment (FDI) in the world economy.
Topic: Introduction
31. Rather than acquiring Almodovar Holdings in Spain, Omega, Inc. chose to establish new
operations in that country. This form of FDI is called
A. consolidation
B. greenfield investment
C. acquisition
D. licensing agreement
E. mass customization
FDI takes on two main forms. The first is a greenfield investment, which involves the
establishment of a new operation in a foreign country. The second involves acquiring or
merging with an existing firm in the foreign country.
8-17
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McGraw-Hill Education.
32. Which of the following indicates that a firm has a full outright stake in an acquisition?
Acquisitions can be a minority (where the foreign firm takes a 10 percent to 49 percent interest
in the firm's voting stock), majority (foreign interest of 50 percent to 99 percent), or full outright
stake (foreign interest of 100 percent).
33. Which of the following refers to the amount of FDI undertaken over a given period (normally a
year)?
A. portfolio
B. flow
C. status
D. stock
E. fragment
The flow of FDI refers to the amount of FDI undertaken over a given time period (normally a
year). We also talk of outflows of FDI, meaning the flow of FDI out of a country, and inflows of
FDI, the flow of FDI into a country.
8-18
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McGraw-Hill Education.
Learning Objective: 08-01 Recognize current trends regarding foreign direct investment (FDI) in the world economy.
Topic: Foreign Direct Investment in the World Economy
34. At the end of 2015, companies from the country of Erithrea collectively owned $37 billion in
assets in its neighboring country of Outflowia. The $37 billion is Erithrea’s _______ of FDI.:
A. stock
B. flow
C. outflow
D. trend.
E. exchange.
The stock of FDI refers to the total accumulated value of foreign-owned assets at a given time.
35. Which of the following statements is true regarding foreign direct investment?
A. The flow of FDI refers to the total accumulated value of foreign-owned assets at a given
time.
B. FDI has grown more rapidly than world trade and world output.
C. The general shift toward democratic political institutions has discouraged FDI.
D. Generally, free market economies oppose FDI.
E. The globalization of the world economy is having a negative effect on the volume of FDI.
In general, however, over the past 30 years the flow of FDI has accelerated faster than the
growth in world trade and world output. For example, between 1992 and 2014, the total flow of
FDI from all countries increased around ninefold while world trade by value grew fourfold and
world output by around 60 percent.
8-19
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McGraw-Hill Education.
Accessibility: Keyboard Navigation
Blooms: Understand
Difficulty: 2 Medium
Learning Objective: 08-01 Recognize current trends regarding foreign direct investment (FDI) in the world economy.
Topic: Foreign Direct Investment in the World Economy
36. Why has FDI grown more rapidly than world trade?
A. The decline in trade barriers has erased the fear of protectionist pressures.
B. Executives of business firms see FDI as a way of circumventing future trade barriers.
C. There has been a general shift toward radical and totalitarian political institutions.
D. Privatization has made developing nations less attractive for multinational enterprises.
E. There has been a general shift toward centrally planned command economies.
FDI has grown more rapidly than world trade and world output for several reasons. First,
despite the general decline in trade barriers over the past 30 years, firms still fear protectionist
pressures. Executives see FDI as a way of circumventing future trade barriers. Second, much of
the increase in FDI has been driven by the political and economic changes that have been
occurring in many of the world's developing nations. The general shift toward democratic
political institutions and free market economies has encouraged FDI. Across much of Asia,
eastern Europe, and Latin America, economic growth, economic deregulation, privatization
programs that are open to foreign investors, and removal of many restrictions on FDI have
made these countries more attractive to foreign multinationals.
8-20
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accompanied by a dark-haired girl, short in stature and rather pale-
complexioned. She seemed quite unconcerned as she caught up the
tail end of the procession into the dining-room and remarked
casually: "How are you, Doctor Ervine?—So sorry I'm a trifle late.
Friday, you know,—rather a busy day for the shop."
The Head looked momentarily nonplussed, then smiled and said:
"Oh, not at all ... not at all... I must introduce you to our new recruit—
Mr. Speed.... This is Miss Harrington, a friend of my daughter's. She
—um, yes, she manage—most successfully, I may say—the—er—
the bookshop down in the town. Bookshop, you know."
He said that with the air of implying: Bookshops are not ordinary
shops.
Speed bowed; the Head went on boomingly: "And she is, I think I
may venture to say, my daughter's greatest friend. Eh?"
He addressed the monosyllable to the girl with a touch of
shrewdness: she replied quietly: "I don't know." The three words
were spoken in that rare tone in which they simply mean nothing but
literally what they say.
In the dining-room they sat in the following formation: Dr. and Mrs.
Ervine at the head and foot respectively; Helen and Clare together at
one side, and Speed opposite them at the other. The dining-room
was a cold forlorn-looking apartment in which the dim incandescent
light seemed to accomplish little more than to cast a dull glitter of
obscurity on the oil-paintings that hung, ever so slightly askew, on
the walls. A peculiar incongruity in it struck Speed at once, though
the same might never have occurred to anybody else: the minute
salt and pepper-boxes on the table possessed a pretty feminine
daintiness which harmonised ill with the huge mahogany sideboard.
The latter reminded Speed of the board-room of a City banking-
house. It was as if, he thought, the Doctor and his wife had
impressed their personalities crudely and without compromise; and
as if those personalities were so diametrically different that no fusing
of the two into one was ever possible. Throughout the meal he kept
looking first to his left, at Mrs. Ervine, and then to his right at the
Doctor, and wondering at what he felt instinctively to be a
fundamental strangeness in their life together.
Potter, assisted by a speckle-faced maid, hovered assiduously
around, and the Doctor assisted occasionally by his wife, hovered no
less assiduously around the conversation, preventing it from lapsing
into such awkward silences as would throw into prominence the
continual hissing of the gas and his own sibilant ingurgitation of
soup. The Doctor talked rather loudly and ponderously, and with
such careful and scrupulous qualifications of everything he said that
one had the impressive sensation that incalculable and mysterious
issues hung upon his words; Mrs. Ervine's remarks were short and
pithy, sometimes a little cynical.
The Doctor seemed to fear that he had given Speed a wrong
impression of Miss Harrington. "I'm sure Mr. Speed will be surprised
when I tell him that he can have the honour of purchasing his Times
from you each morning, Clare," he said, lapping up the final spoonful
of soup and bestowing a satisfied wipe with his napkin on his broad
wet lips.
Clare said: "I should think Mr. Speed would prefer to have it
delivered."
Mrs. Ervine said: "Perhaps Mr. Speed doesn't take the Times,
either."
Speed looked across to Clare with a humorous twist of the
corners of the mouth and said: "You can book me an order for the
Telegraph if you like, Miss Harrington."
"With pleasure, Mr. Speed. Any Sunday paper?"
"The Observer, if you will be so kind."
"Right."
Again the Doctor seemed to fear that he had given Speed a
wrong impression of Miss Harrington. "I'm sure Mr. Speed will be
interested to know that your father is a great littérateur, Clare."
Clare gave the Doctor a curious look, with one corner of her upper
lip tilted at an audacious upward angle.
The Doctor went on, leaning his elbows on the table as soon as
Potter had removed his soup-plate: "Mr. Harrington is the author of
books on ethics."
All this time Helen had not spoken a word. Speed had been
watching her, for she was already to him by far the most interesting
member of the party. He noticed that her eyes were constantly
shifting between Clare and anyone whom Clare was addressing;
Clare seemed almost the centre of her world. When Clare smiled
she smiled also, and when Clare was pensive there came into her
eyes a look which held, besides pensiveness, a touch of sadness.
She was an extremely beautiful girl and in the yellow light the coils of
her hair shone like sheaves of golden corn on a summer's day. It
was obvious that, conversationally at any rate, she was extremely
shy.
Mrs. Ervine was saying: "You're going to take the music, Mr.
Speed, are you not?"
Speed smiled and nodded.
She went on: "Then I suppose you're fond of music."
"Doesn't it follow?" Speed answered, with a laugh.
She replied pertly: "Not neccessarily at all, Mr. Speed. Do you
play an instrument?"
"The piano a little."
The Head interposed with: "Um, yes—a wonderful instrument. We
must have some music after dinner, eh, Lydia?—Do you like
Mendelssohn?" (He gave the word an exaggeratedly German
pronunciation). "My daughter plays some of the—um—the Lieder
ohne Wörte—um, yes—the Songs Without Words, you know."
"I like some of Mendelssohn," said Speed.
He looked across at the girl. She was blushing furiously, with her
eyes still furtively on Clare.
VII
VIII
CHAPTER TWO
II
He knew, at the end of the first school day, that he had been a
success, and that if he took reasonable care he would be able to go
on being a success. It had been a day of subtle trials and ordeals,
yet he had, helped rather than hindered by his peculiar type of
nervousness, got safely through them all.
Numerous were the pitfalls which he had carefully avoided. At
school meals he had courteously declined to share jam and
delicacies which the nearest to him offered. If he had he would have
been inundated immediately with pots of jam and boxes of fancy
cakes from all quarters of the table. Many a new Master at Millstead
had finished his first meal with his part of the table looking like the
counter of an untidy grocer's shop. Instinct rather than prevision had
saved Speed from such a fate. Instinct, in fact, had been his
guardian angel throughout the day; instinct which, although to some
extent born of his recent public-school experience, was perhaps
equally due to that curious barometric sensitiveness that made his
feelings so much more acute and clairvoyant than those of other
people.
At dinner in the Masters' Common-Room he had met the majority
of the staff. There was Garforth, the bursar, a pleasant little man with
a loving-kindness overclouded somewhat by pedantry; Hayes-Smith,
housemaster of Milner's, a brisk, bustling, unimaginative fellow
whose laugh was more eloquent than his words; Ransome, a
wizened Voltairish classical master, morbidly ashamed of being
caught in possession of any emotion of any kind; Lavery,
housemaster of North House (commonly called Lavery's), whose
extraordinary talent for delegating authority enabled him to combine
laziness and efficiency in a way both marvellous and enviable; and
Poulet, the French and German Master, who spoke far better English
than anybody in the Common-Room, except, perhaps, Garforth or
Ransome. Then, of course, there was Clanwell, whom Speed had
already met; Clanwell, better known "Fish-cake," a sporting man of
great vigour who would, from time to time, astonish the world by
donning a black suit and preaching from the Millstead pulpit a
sermon of babbling meekness. Speed liked him; liked all of them, in
fact, better than he did Pritchard.
At dinner, Pritchard sat next to him on one side and Clanwell on
the other. Pritchard showed no malice for the incident of that
morning's breakfast-time, and Speed, a little contrite, was affable
enough. But for all that he did not like Pritchard.
Pritchard asked him if he had got on all right that day, and Speed
replied that he had. Then Pritchard said: "Oh, well of course, the first
day's always easy. It's after a week or so that you'll find things a bit
trying. The first night you take prep, for instance. It's a sort of school
tradition that they always try and rag you that night."
Clanwell, overhearing, remarked fiercely: "Anyway, Speed, take
my tip and don't imagine it's a school tradition that any Master lets
himself be ragged."
Speed laughed. "I'll remember that," he said.
He remembered it on the following Wednesday night when he
was down to take evening preparation from seven until half-past
eight. Preparation for the whole school, except prefects, was held in
Millstead Big Hall, a huge vault-like chamber in which desks were
ranged in long rows and where the Master in charge sat on high at a
desk on a raised dais. No more subtle and searching test of
disciplinary powers could have been contrived than this supervision
of evening preparation, for the room was so big that it was
impossible to see clearly from the Master's desk to the far end, and
besides that, the acoustics were so peculiar that conversations in
some parts of the room were practically inaudible except from very
close quarters. A new master suffered additional handicap in being
ignorant of the names of the vast majority of the boys.
At dinner, before the ordeal, the Masters in the Common-Room
had given Speed jocular advice. "Whatever you do, watch that they
don't get near the electric-light switches," said Clanwell. Pritchard
said: "When old Blenkinsop took his first prep they switched off the
lights and then took his trousers off and poured ink over his legs."
Garforth said: "Whatever you do, don't lose your temper and hit
anybody. It doesn't pay." "Best to walk up and down the rows if you
want them to stop talking," said Ransome. Pritchard said: "If you do
that they'll beat time to your steps with their feet." Poulet remarked
reminiscently: "When I took my first prep they started a gramophone
somewhere, and I guessed they'd hidden it well, so I said:
'Gentlemen, anyone who interrupts the music will have a hundred
lines!' They laughed and were quite peaceable afterwards."
Speed said, at the conclusion of the meal: "I'm much obliged to
everybody for the advice. I'll try to remember all of it, but I guess
when I'm in there I shall just do whatever occurs to me at the
moment." To which Clanwell replied, putting a hand on Speed's
shoulder: "You couldn't do better, my lad."
Speed was very nervous as he took his seat on the dais at five to
seven and watched the school straggling to their places. They came
in quietly enough, but there was an atmosphere of subdued
expectancy of which Speed was keenly conscious; the boys stared
about them, grinned at each other, seemed as if they were waiting
for something to happen. Nevertheless, at five past seven all was
perfectly quiet and orderly, although it was obvious that little work
was being done. Speed felt rather as if he were sitting on a powder-
magazine, and there was a sense in which he was eager for the
storm to break.
At about a quarter-past seven a banging of desk-lids began at the
far end of the hall.
He stood up and said, quietly, but in a voice that carried well: "I
don't want to be hard on anybody, so I'd better warn you that I shall
punish any disorderliness very severely."
There was some tittering, and for a moment or so he wondered if
he had made a fool of himself.
Then he saw a bright, rather pleasant-faced boy in one of the
back rows deliberately raise a desk-lid and drop it with a bang.
Speed consulted the map of the desks that was in front of him and
by counting down the rows discovered the boy's name to be
Worsley. He wondered how the name should be pronounced—
whether the first syllable should rhyme with "purse" or with "horse."
Instinct in him, that uncanny feeling for atmosphere, embarked him
on an outrageously bold adventure, nothing less than a piece of
facetiousness, the most dangerous weapon in a new Master's
armoury, and the one most of all likely to recoil on himself. He stood
up again and said: "Wawsley or Wurssley—however you call yourself
—you have a hundred lines!"
The whole assembly roared with laughter. That frightened him a
little. Supposing they did not stop laughing! He remembered an
occasion at his own school when a class had ragged a certain
Master very neatly and subtly by pretending to go off into hysterics of
laughter at some trifling witticism of his.
When the laughter subsided, a lean, rather clever-looking boy
rose up in the front row but one and said, impudently: "Please sir, I'm
Worsley. I didn't do anything."
Speed replied promptly: "Oh, didn't you? Well, you've got a
hundred lines, anyway."
"What for, sir"—in hot indignation.
"For sitting in your wrong desk."
Again the assembly laughed, but there was no mistaking the
respectfulness that underlay the merriment. And, as a matter of fact,
the rest of the evening passed entirely without incident. After the
others had gone, and when the school-bell had rung for evening
chapel, Worsley came up to the dais accompanied by the pleasant-
faced boy who dropped the desk-lid. Worsley pleaded for the
remission of his hundred lines, and the other boy supported him,
urging that it was he and not Worsley who had dropped the lid.
"And what is your name?" asked Speed.
"Naylor, sir."
"Very well, Naylor, you and Worsley can share the hundred lines
between you." He added smiling: "I've no doubt you're neither of you
worse than anybody else but you must pay the penalty of being
pioneers."
They went away laughing.
That night Speed went into Clanwell's room for a chat before
bedtime, and Clanwell congratulated him fulsomely on his successful
passage of the ordeal. "As a matter of fact," Clanwell said, "I happen
to know that they'd prepared a star benefit performance for you but
that you put them off, somehow, from the beginning. The prefects get
to hear of these things and they tell me. Of course, I don't take any
official notice of them. It doesn't matter to me what plans people
make—it's when any are put into execution that I wake up. Anyhow,
you may be interested to know that the member's of School House
subscribed over fifteen shillings to purchase fireworks which they
were going to let off after the switches had been turned off! Alas for
fond hopes ruined!"
Clanwell and Speed leaned back in their armchairs and roared
with laughter.
III
IV