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Limited"> +<meta name="Date" content="1900?"> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=ISO-8859-1"> +<style type="text/css"> +body {margin-left:10%; + margin-right:10%; background-color:#FFFFFF;} + + + + +p.normal {text-indent:.25in; text-align: justify;} +.center {text-align:center; margin-top:24pt; margin-bottom:24pt} + + + +p.right {text-align:right; margin-right:20%;} + +p.continue {text-indent: 0in; margin-top:9pt;} +.text10 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:10%; margin-right:0px; font-size:90%;} +.text20 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:20%; margin-right:0px; font-size:90%;} + + +.poem0 { + margin-top: 24pt; margin-left: 0%; + margin-right: 0%; text-align: left; + margin-bottom: 24pt; font-size:90%} + +.poem1 { + margin-top: 24pt; margin-left: 2em; + margin-right: 10%; text-align: left; + margin-bottom: 24pt; font-size:90%} + +.poem2 { + margin-top: 24pt; margin-left: 20%; + margin-right: 20%; text-align: left; + margin-bottom: 24pt; font-size:90%} + +.poem3 { + margin-top: 24pt; margin-left: 30%; + margin-right: 30%; text-align: left; + margin-bottom: 24pt; font-size:90%} + + + + + +figcenter {margin:auto; text-align:center; margin-top:9pt;} + +.t0 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0em; margin-right:0px;} +.t1 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:1em; margin-right:0px;} +.t2 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:2em; margin-right:0px;} +.t3 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:3em; margin-right:0px;} +.t4 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:4em; margin-right:0px;} +.t5 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:5em; margin-right:0px;} +.t6 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:6em; margin-right:0px;} +.t7 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:7em; margin-right:0px;} +.t8 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:8em; margin-right:0px;} +.t9 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:9em; margin-right:0px;} +.t10 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:10em; margin-right:0px;} +.t11 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:11em; margin-right:0px;} +.t12 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:12em; margin-right:0px;} +.t13 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:13em; margin-right:0px;} +.t14 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:14em; margin-right:0px;} +.t15 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:15em; margin-right:0px;} +.t16 {margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:16em; margin-right:0px;} + + +.quote {text-indent:.25in; text-align: justify; font-size:90%; margin-top:36pt; margin-bottom:36pt} +.ctrquote {text-align: center; font-size:90%; margin-top:36pt; margin-bottom:36pt} + +.dateline {text-align:right; font-size:90%; margin-right:10%; margin-top:24pt; margin-bottom:24pt} + +h1,h2,h3,h4,h5 {text-align: center;} + +span.sc {font-variant: small-caps; font-size:100%;} +span.sc2 {font-variant: small-caps; font-size:90%;} + +hr.W10 {width:10%; color:black; margin-top:24pt; margin-bottom:24pt} + +hr.W20 {width:20%; color:black; margin-top:12pt; margin-bottom:12pt} + +hr.W50 {width:50%; color:black;} +hr.W90 {width:90%; color:black;} + +p.hang1 {margin-left:1em; text-indent:-1em;} +p.hang2 {margin-left:2em; text-indent:0em;} + + +</style> + +</head> + +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of A Hero of Romance, by Richard Marsh + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Hero of Romance + +Author: Richard Marsh + +Illustrator: Harold Copping + +Release Date: November 28, 2011 [EBook #38160] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HERO OF ROMANCE *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books + + + + + +</pre> + + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p class="hang1">Transcriber's Note:<br> + + +1. Page scan source:<br> +http://books.google.com/books?id=6DAPAAAAQAAJ</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>A HERO OF ROMANCE</h2> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<p class="center"><img src="images/frontispiece.png" alt="Perhaps you don't know who I am?"><br> +"Perhaps you don't know who I am?"</p> + +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h1>A HERO OF ROMANCE</h1> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h5>BY</h5> + +<h3>RICHARD MARSH</h3> + +<h5><i>Author of "The Datchel Diamonds," "The Crime and the +Criminal</i>" <i>etc., etc</i>.</h5> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h4>ILLUSTRATED BY HAROLD COPPING</h4> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h4>LONDON</h4> + +<h3>WARD, LOCK & CO. LIMITED</h3> + +<h4>NEW YORK AND MELBOURNE</h4> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>Contents</h2> +<table cellpadding="10" style="width:90%; margin-left:5%; font-weight:bold"> +<colgroup><col style="width:10%; text-align:right"><col style="width:90%"></colgroup> +<tr> +<td>CHAP.</td> +<td> </td> +</tr><tr> +<td>I</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_01" href="#div1_01">Punishment at Mecklemburg House.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>II</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_02" href="#div1_02"> Tutor Baiting.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>III</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_03" href="#div1_03">At Mother Huffham's.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>IV</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_04" href="#div1_04">A Little Drive.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>V</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_05" href="#div1_05">An Evening at Washington Villa.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>VI</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_06" href="#div1_06">Afterwards.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>VII</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_07" href="#div1_07">The Return of the Wanderer.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>VIII</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_08" href="#div1_08">Preparing for Flight.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>IX</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_09" href="#div1_09">The Start.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>X</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_10" href="#div1_10">Another Little Drive.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XI</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_11" href="#div1_11">The Original Badger.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XII</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_12" href="#div1_12">A "Doss" House.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XIII</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_13" href="#div1_13">In Petersham Park.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XIV</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_14" href="#div1_14">In Trouble.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XV</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_15" href="#div1_15">Out of the Frying-pan into the Fire.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XVI</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_16" href="#div1_16">The Captain's Room.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XVII</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_17" href="#div1_17">Two Men and a Boy.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XVIII</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_18" href="#div1_18">The Boat-train.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XIX</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_19" href="#div1_19">To Jersey with a Thief.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XX</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_20" href="#div1_20">Exit Captain Tom.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XXI</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_21" href="#div1_21">The Disadvantages of not Being Able to Speak French.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XXII</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_22" href="#div1_22">The End of the Journey.</a></td> +</tr><tr> +<td>XXIII</td> +<td><a name="div1Ref_23" href="#div1_23">The Land of Golden Dreams.</a></td> +</tr></table> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>Chapter I</h2> + +<h2><a name="div1_01" href="#div1Ref_01">PUNISHMENT AT MECKLEMBURG HOUSE</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">It was about as miserable an afternoon as one could wish to +see. May is the poet's month, but there was nothing of poetry +about it then. True, it was early in the month, but February +never boasted weather of more unmitigated misery. At half-past +two it was so dark in the schoolroom of Mecklemburg House that +one could with difficulty see to read. Outside a cold drizzling +rain was falling, a shrieking east wind was rattling the +windows in their frames, and a sullen haze was hiding the +leaden sky. As unsatisfactory a specimen of the English spring +as one could very well desire.</p> + +<p class="normal">To make things better, it was half-holiday. Not that it much +mattered to the young gentleman who was seated in the +schoolroom; it was no half-holiday to him. A rather tall lad, +some fourteen years of age, broad and strongly built. This was +Bertie Bailey.</p> + +<p class="normal">Master Bertie Bailey was kept in; and the outrage this was to +his feelings was altogether too deep for words. To keep him +in!--no wonder the heavens frowned at such a crime!</p> + +<p class="normal">Master Bertie Bailey was seated at a desk very much the worse +for wear; a long desk, divided into separate compartments, +which were intended to accommodate about a dozen boys. He had +his arms upon the desk, his face rested on his hands, and he +was staring into vacancy with an air of tragic gloom.</p> + +<p class="normal">At the raised desk which stood in front of him before the +window was seated Mr. Till. Mr. Till's general bearing and +demeanour was not much more jovial than Master Bertie Bailey's; +he was the tyrant usher who had kept the youthful victim in. It +was with a certain grim pleasure that Bertie realized that Mr. +Till's enjoyment of the keeping-in was perhaps not much more +than his own.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Till had a newspaper in his hand, and had apparently read +it through, advertisements and all. He looked over the top of +it at Bertie.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't you think you'd better get on with those lines?" he +asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie had a hundred lines of <i>Paradise Lost</i> to copy out. He +paid no attention to the inquiry; he did not even give a sign +that he was aware he had been spoken to, but continued to sit +with his eyes fixed on nothing, with the same air of mysterious +gloom.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How many have you done?" Mr. Till came down to see. There was +a torn copy of Milton's poems lying unopened beside Bertie on +the desk; in front of him a slate which was quite clean, and no +visible signs of a slate pencil. Mr. Till took up the slate and +carefully examined it for anything in the shape of lines.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So you haven't begun?--why haven't you begun?" No answer. "Do +you hear me? why haven't you begun?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Without troubling himself to alter in any way his picturesque +posture, Bertie made reply,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"I haven't got a slate pencil."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You haven't got a slate pencil? Do you mean to tell me you've +sat there for a whole hour without asking for a slate pencil? +I'll soon get you one."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Till went to his desk and produced a piece about as long as +his little finger, placing it in front of Bertie. Bertie eyed +it from a corner of his eye.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It isn't long enough."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't tell me; take your arms off the desk and begin those +lines at once."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie very leisurely took his arms off the desk, and +delicately lifted the piece of slate pencil.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It wants sharpening," he said. He began to look for his knife, +standing up to facilitate the search. He hunted in all his +pockets, turning out the contents of each upon the desk; +finally, from the labyrinthine depths of some mysterious +depository in the lining of his waistcoat, he produced the +ghost of an ancient pocket-knife. As though they were fragile +treasures of the most priceless kind, he carefully replaced the +contents of his pockets. Then, at his ease, he commenced to +give an artistic point to his two-inch piece of slate pencil. +Mr. Till, who had taken up a position in front of the window +with his hands under his coat tails, watched the proceedings +with anything but a gratified countenance.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That will do," he grimly remarked, when Bertie had +considerably reduced the original size of his piece of pencil +by attempting to produce a point of needlelike fineness. Bertie +wiped his knife upon his coat-sleeve, removed the pencil dust +with his pocket-handkerchief, and commenced to write. Before he +had got half-way through the first line a catastrophe occurred.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I've broken the point," he observed, looking up at Mr. Till +with innocence in his eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I tell you what it is," said Mr. Till, "if you don't let me +have those lines in less than no time I'll double them. Do you +think I'm going to stop here all the afternoon?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You needn't stop," suggested Bertie, looking at his broken +pencil.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I daresay!" snorted Mr. Till. The last time Bertie had been +left alone in the schoolroom on the occasion of his being kept +in, he had perpetrated atrocities which had made Mr. Fletcher's +hair stand up on end. Mr. Fletcher was the head-master. Orders +had been given that whenever Bertie was punished, somebody was +to stay in with him. "Now, none of your nonsense; you go on +with those lines."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie bent his head with a studious air. A hideous scratching +noise arose from the slate. Mr. Till clapped his hands to his +ears.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stop that noise!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you please, sir, I think this pencil scratches," Bertie +said. Considering that he was holding the pencil +perpendicularly, the circumstance was not surprising.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Take my advice, Bailey, and do those lines." Advancing with an +inflamed countenance, Mr. Till stood over the offending pupil. +Resuming his studious posture Bertie recommenced to write. He +wrote two lines, not too quickly, nor by any means too well, +but still he wrote them. In the middle of the third line +another catastrophe happened.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Please, sir, I've broken the pencil right in two." It was +quite unnecessary for him to say so, the fact was self-evident, +though with so small a piece it had required no slight exertion +of strength and some dexterous manipulation to accomplish the +feat. The answer was a box on the ears.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What did you do that for?" asked Bertie, rising from his seat, +and rubbing the injured portion with his hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">Now it was distinctly understood that Mecklemburg House +Collegiate School was conducted on the principle of no corporal +punishment. It was a prominent line in the prospectus. "<i>Under +no circumstances is corporal punishment administered</i>." As a +rule the principle was consistently carried out to its +legitimate conclusion, not with the completest satisfaction to +every one concerned. Yet Mr. Fletcher, one of the most +longsuffering of men, and by no means the strictest +disciplinarian conceivable, had been more than once roused into +administering short and sharp justice upon refractory youth. +But what was excusable in Mr. Fletcher was not to be dreamed of +in the philosophy of anybody else. For an assistant-master to +strike a pupil was a crime; and Mr. Till knew it, and Master +Bertie Bailey knew it too.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What did you do that for?" repeated Bertie.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Till was crimson. He was not a hasty tempered man, but +to-day Master Bertie Bailey had been a burden greater than he +could bear. Yet he had very literally made a false stroke, and +Bertie was just the young gentleman to make the most of it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If I were to tell Mr. Fletcher, he'd turn you off," said +Bertie. "He turned Mr. Knox off for hitting Harry Goddard."</p> + +<p class="normal">Harry Goddard's only relation was a maiden aunt, and this +maiden aunt had peculiar opinions. In her opinion for anybody +to lay a punitory hand upon her nephew was to commit an act +tantamount to sacrilege. Harry had had a little difference with +Emmett minor, and had borne away the blushing honours of a +bloody nose and a black eye with considerable <i>sang-froid</i>; but +when Mr. Knox resented his filling his best hat with half-melted +snow by presenting him with two or three smart taps upon a +particular portion of his frame, Harry wrote home to his aunt +to complain of the indignity he had endured. The result was +that the ancient spinster at once removed the outraged youth +from the sanguinary precincts of Mecklemburg House, and that +Mr. Fletcher dismissed the offending usher.</p> + +<p class="normal">As Mr. Till stood eyeing his refractory pupil, all this came +forcibly to his mind. He knew something more than Bertie did; +he knew that when Mr. Fletcher, smarting at the loss of a +remunerative pupil, had made short work of his unfortunate +assistant, he had also taken advantage of the occasion to call +Mr. Till into his magisterial presence, and to then and there +inform him, that should he at any time lay his hand upon a +pupil, under any provocation of any kind whatever, the result +would be that Mr. Knox's case would be taken as a precedent, +and he would be instantaneously dismissed.</p> + +<p class="normal">And now he had struck Bertie, and here was Bertie threatening +to inform his employer of what he had done.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you don't let me off these lines," said Bertie, pursuing +his advantage, "I'll tell Mr. Fletcher as soon as he comes +home, you see if I don't."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mecklemburg House Collegiate School was not a scholastic +establishment of any particular eminence; indeed, whatever +eminence it possessed was of an unsavoury kind. Nor was the +position of its assistant-master at all an enviable one. There +was the senior assistant, Mr. Till, and there was the junior, +Mr. Shane. Mr. Till received £30 a year, and Mr. Shane, a meek, +melancholy youth of about seventeen, received sixteen. Nor +could the duties of either of these gentlemen be considered +light. But if the pay was small and the work large, the +intellectual qualifications required were by no means of an +unreasonable kind. Establishments of the Mecklemburg House type +are fading fast away. English private schools are improving +every day. Mr. Till, conscious of his deficiencies, was only +too well aware that if he lost his present situation, another +would be hard to find. So, in the face of Bertie's threat, he +temporized.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I didn't mean to hit you! You shouldn't exasperate me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie looked him up and down. If ever there was a young +gentleman who needed the guidance of a strong hand, Bertie was +he. He was not a naturally bad boy,--few boys are,--but he +hated work, and he scorned authority. All means were +justifiable which enabled him to shirk the one and defy the +other. He was just one of those boys who might become bad if he +was not brought to realize the difference between good and +evil, right and wrong. And it would need sharp discipline to +bring him to such knowledge.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had a supreme contempt for Mr. Till. All the boys had. The +only person they despised more was Mr. Shane. It was the +natural result of the system pursued at Mecklemburg House that +the masters were looked upon by their pupils as quite unworthy +their serious attention.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie had had about a dozen impositions inflicted on him even +within the last days. He had not done one of them. He never did +do them. None of the boys ever did do impositions set them by +anybody but Mr. Fletcher. They did not by any means make a +point of doing his.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You will do me fifty lines," Mr. Till would say to half a +dozen boys half a dozen times over in the course of a single +morning. He spoke to the wind; no one ever did them, no one +would have been so much surprised as Mr. Till if they had been +done.</p> + +<p class="normal">On the present occasion Mr. Fletcher had gone to town on +business, and Mr. Till had been left in supreme authority. +Bailey had signalised the occasion by behaving in a manner so +outrageous that, if any semblance of authority was to be kept +at all, it was altogether impossible to let him go scot free. +As it was a half-holiday, Mr. Till had announced his +unalterable resolve that Bertie should copy out a hundred lines +of <i>Paradise Lost</i>, and that he should not leave the schoolroom +till he had written them.</p> + +<p class="normal">The result so far had not been satisfactory. He had been in the +schoolroom considerably over an hour; he had written not quite +three lines, and here he was telling Mr. Till that if he did +not let him off entirely he would turn the tables on his +master, and make matters unpleasant for him. It looked as +though Bertie would win the game.</p> + +<p class="normal">Having taken the tutor's mental measure, he thrust his hands +into his trousers pockets, and coolly seated himself upon the +desk. Then he made the following observation,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"I tell you what it is, old Till, I don't care a snap for you."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Till simply glared. He realized, not for the first time, +that the pupil was too much for the master. Bertie continued,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"My father always pays regularly in advance. If I wrote home +and told him that you'd hit me, for nothing"--Bertie paused and +fixed his stony gaze on Mr. Till--"he'd take me home at once, +and then what would Fletcher say?" Bertie paused again, and +pointed his thumb over his left shoulder. "He'd say, 'Walk +it'!"</p> + +<p class="normal">This was one way of putting it. Though Mr. Bailey was by no +means such a foolish person as his son suggested. He was very +much unlike Harry Goddard's maiden aunt. Had Bertie written +home any such letter of complaint--which, by the way, he was +far too wise to have dreamed of doing--the consequences would +in all probability have been the worse for him. The father knew +his son too well to be caught with chaff. Unfortunately, Mr. +Till did not know this; he had Mr. Knox's fate before his eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You'd better let me off these lines," pursued the inexorable +Bertie; "you'd better, you know."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're an impudent young----" But Bertie interrupted him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now don't call me names, or I'll tell Fletcher. He only said +the other day that all his pupils were to be treated like young +gentlemen."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Young gentlemen!" snorted Mr. Till with scorn.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, young gentlemen. And don't you say we're not young +gentlemen, because Mecklemburg House Collegiate School is an +establishment for young gentlemen." And Bertie grinned. "You'd +better let me off these lines, you know."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You know I never hurt you; you shouldn't exasperate me; you're +the most exasperating boy I ever knew; there's absolutely no +bearing with your insolence! You'd try the patience of a +saint."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shouldn't be surprised if I was deaf for a week." He rubbed +the injured part reflectively. "I've heard Fletcher say it's +dangerous to hit a fellow on the ear. You'd better let me off +those lines, you know."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Till, fidgeting about the room, suddenly burst into +eloquence. "I wonder if it's any use appealing to your better +nature? They say boys have a better nature, though I never +remember to have seen much of it. What pleasure do you find in +making my life unbearable? What have I ever done to you that +you should try to drive me mad? Are you naturally cruel? My +sole aim is for your future welfare! Your sole aim is for my +ruin!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie continued to rub his ear.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bailey, if I let you off these lines will you promise to try +to give me less cause to punish you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You can't help letting me off them anyhow," said Bertie.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Can't I? I suppose, young gentleman, you think you're getting +the best of me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know I am," said Bertie.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, you know you are! Then let me do my best to relieve you of +that delusion. Shall I tell you what you are doing? You're +doing your best to sow the seeds of a shameful manhood and a +wasted life; if you don't take care you'll reap the harvest +by-and-by! It isn't only that you're refusing to avail yourself +of opportunities of education, you're doing yourself much greater +harm than that. You think you're getting the best of me; but +shall I tell you what's getting the best of you?--a mean, +cruel, cowardly spirit, which will be to you a sterner master +than ever I have been. You think yourself brave because you +jeer and mock at me, and flout all my commands! Why, my boy, +were I better circumstanced, and free to act upon my own +discretion, you would tremble in your shoes! The very fact of +your permitting yourself to threaten me, on account of +punishment which you know was perfectly well deserved, shows +what sort of boy you are!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie's only comment was, "You had better let me off those +lines."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I will let you off the lines!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie sprang to his feet, and began to put slate and book away +with abundance of clatter.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stay one moment--leave those things alone! It is not the +punishment which degrades a man, Bailey; it is the thing of +which he has been guilty. I cannot degrade you; it is yourself +you are degrading. Take my advice, turn over a new leaf, learn +not to take advantage of a man whose only offence is that he +does his best to do you good; don't think yourself brave +because you venture to attack where defence is impossible; and, +above all, don't pride yourself on taking your pigs to a bad +market. You are so foolish as to think yourself clever because +you throw away all your best chances, and get absolutely worse +than nothing in return. Bailey, get your Bible, and look for a +verse which runs something like this, 'Cast your bread upon the +waters, and you shall find it after many days.' Now you can +go."</p> + +<p class="normal">And Bertie went; and, being in the safe neighbourhood of the +door, he put his fingers to his nose; by which Mr. Till knew, +not for the first time, that he had spoken in vain.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>Chapter II</h2> + +<h2><a name="div1_02" href="#div1Ref_02">TUTOR BAITING</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">There were twenty-seven boys at Mecklemburg House; and even +this small number bade fair to decrease. Last term there had +been thirty-three; the term before there had been forty. Within +quite recent years considerably over a hundred boys had +occupied the draughty dormitories of the great old red-brick +house.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the glory was departing. It is odd how little our fathers +and our grandfathers in general knew or cared about the science +of education. Boys were pitchforked into schools which had +absolutely nothing to recommend them except a flourishing +prospectus; schools in which nothing was taught, in which the +physique of the lads was neglected, and in which their moral +nature was treated as a thing which had no existence. A large +number of "schoolmasters" had no more idea of true education +than they had of flying. They were speculators pure and simple, +and they treated their boys as goods out of which they were to +screw as much money as they possibly could, and in the shortest +possible space of time.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mecklemburg House Collegiate School was a case in point. It had +been a school ever since the first of the Georges; and it is, +perhaps, not too much to say, that out of the large number of +boys who had been educated beneath its roof, not one of them +had received a wholesome education. Yet it had always been a +paying property. More than one of its principals had retired +with a comfortable competency. Certainly the number of its +pupils had never stood at such a low ebb as at the time of +which we tell. Why the number should be so uncomfortably low +was a mystery to its present principal, Beauclerk Fletcher. The +place had belonged to his father, and his father had always +found it bring something more than daily bread. But even +daily bread was beginning to fail with Beauclerk Fletcher. +Twenty-seven pupils at such a place as Mecklemburg House! and +the majority of them upon "reduced terms"! Mr. Fletcher, never +the most enterprising of men, was beginning to be overwhelmed +beneath an avalanche of debt, and to feel that the fight was +beyond his strength.</p> + +<p class="normal">A great, old, rambling red-brick house, about equi-distant from +Cobham, Byfleet, Weybridge--all towns in Surrey--lying in about +the middle of the irregular square which those four towns form, +the house carried the story of its decaying glories upon its +countenance. Those Georgian houses were solid structures, and +the mere fabric was in about as good a condition as it had ever +been! but in the exterior of the building the change was sadly +for the worse. Many of the rooms were unoccupied, panes were +broken in the windows, curtains were wanting, the windows +looked as though they were seldom or never cleaned. The whole +place looked as though it were neglected, which indeed it was. +Slates were off the roof, waste water pipes hung loose and +rattled in every passing breeze. As to the paved courtyard in +front, grass and weeds and moss almost hid the original stones. +Mr. Fletcher was only too conscious of the story all this told; +but to put things shipshape and neat, and to keep them so, +required far more money than he had to spend; so he only +groaned at each new evidence of ruin and decay.</p> + +<p class="normal">The internal arrangements, the domestic economy, the whole +system of education, everything in connection with Mecklemburg +House was in the same state of decrepitude and age--worn-out +traditions rather than living things. And Mr. Fletcher was very +far from being the man to breathe life into the dead bones and +bid them live. The struggle was beyond his strength.</p> + +<p class="normal">There is no creature in God's world sharper than the average +boy, no one quicker to understand the strength of the hand +which holds him. The youngest pupil at Mecklemburg House was +perfectly aware that the school was a "duffing" school, that +Mr. Fletcher was a "duffing" principal, and that everything +about the place was "duffing" altogether. Only let a boy have +this opinion about his school, and, so far as any benefit is +concerned which he is likely to derive from his sojourn there, +he might almost as profitably be transported to the Cannibal +Islands.</p> + +<p class="normal">On the half-holiday on which our story opens, the pupils of +Mecklemburg House were disporting themselves in what was called +the playroom. Formerly, in its prosperous days, the room had +been used as a second schoolroom, the one at present used for +that purpose being not nearly large enough to contain the +pupils. But those days were gone; at present, so far from being +overcrowded, the room looked empty, and could have with ease +accommodated twice the whole number of pupils which the school +contained. So what was once the schoolroom was called the +playroom instead.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stupid nonsense! keeping a fellow in because it rains!" said +Charles Griffin, looking through the dirty window at the grimy +world without.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It doesn't rain," declared Dick Ellis. "Call this rain! I say, +Mr. Shane, can't we go down to the village? I want to get +something for this cough of mine; it's frightful." And with +some difficulty Dick managed to produce a sepulchral cough from +somewhere about the region of his boots.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mrs. Fletcher says you are not to go out while it rains," +answered Mr. Shane in his mildest possible manner.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mrs. Fletcher!" grunted Dick. At Mecklemburg House the grey +mare was the better horse. If Mr. Fletcher was not an ideal +head-master, Mrs. Fletcher was emphatically head-mistress.</p> + +<p class="normal">That half-holiday was a pleasant one for Mr. Shane. It was a +rule that the boys were never to be left alone. If they were +out a master was to go with them, if they were in a master was +to supervise. So, as Mr. Till was engaged with the refractory +Bertie, Mr. Shane was in charge of the play-room.</p> + +<p class="normal">In charge, literally, and in terror, too. For it may be +maintained without the slightest exaggeration, that he was +much more afraid of the boys than the boys of him. On what +principle of selection Mr. Fletcher chose his assistant-masters +it is difficult to say; but whatever else Mr. Shane was, a +disciplinarian he certainly was not. He was the mildest-mannered +young man conceivable, awkward, shy, slight, thin, not +bad-looking, with a faint, watery smile, which at times gave +quite a ghastly appearance to his countenance, and a +deprecatory manner which seemed to say that you had only to let +him alone to earn his eternal gratitude. But the boys never did +let him alone, never. By day and night, awake and sleeping, +they did their best to make his life a continual misery.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If we can't go out," suggests Griffin, "I vote we have a lark +with Shane."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Shane smiled, by no means jovially.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You mustn't make a noise," he murmured, in that soft, almost +effeminate voice of his. "Mrs. Fletcher particularly said you +were not to make a noise."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Right you are. I say, Shane, you stand against the wall, and +let's shy things at you." This from Griffin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're not to throw things about," said Mr. Shane.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then what are we to do, that's what I want to know? It seems +to me we're not to do anything. I never saw such a beastly +hole! I say, Shane, let half of us get hold of one of your +arms, and the other half of the other, and have a pull at +you--tug-of-war, you know. We won't make a noise."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Shane did not seem to consider the proposal tempting. He +was seated in the window, and had a book on his knees which he +wanted to read. Not a work of light literature, but a German +grammar. It was the dream of his life to prepare himself for +matriculation at the London University. This undersized youth +was a student born; he had company which never failed him, a +company of dreams. He dreamed of a future in which he was a +scholar of renown; and in every moment he could steal he strove +to bring himself a step nearer to the realization of his +dreams.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Get up, Shane!--what's that old book you've got?" Griffin made +a snatch at the grammar. Mr. Shane jealously put it behind his +back. Books were in his eyes things too precious to be roughly +handled. "Come and have a lark; what an old mope you are!" +Griffin caught him by the arm and swung him round into the +room; the boy was as tall, and probably as strong as the usher.</p> + +<p class="normal">The boys were chiefly engaged in doing nothing; nobody ever did +do much in that establishment. If a boy had a hobby it was +laughed out of him. Literature was at a discount: <i>Spring-Heeled +Jack</i> and <i>The Knights of the Road</i> were the sort of works +chiefly in request. There was no school library, none of the boys +seemed to have any books of their own. There was neither cricket +nor football, no healthy games of any sort. Even in the playground +the principal occupation was loafing, with a little occasional +bullying thrown in. Mr. Fletcher was too immersed in the troubles +of pounds, shillings, and pence to have any time to spare for the +amusements of the boys. Mr. Till was not athletic. Mr. Shane still +less so. On fine afternoons the boys were packed off with the +ushers for a walk, but no more spiritless expeditions could be +imagined than the walks at Mecklemburg House. The result was that +the youngsters' life was a wearisome monotony, and they were in +perpetual mischief for sheer want of anything else to do. And +mischief so often took the shape of cruelty.</p> + +<p class="normal">Charlie Griffin swung Mr. Shane out into the middle of the room, +and immediately one boy after another came stealing up to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I say, Shane, let's play roley-poley with you," said Brown +major. Some one in the rear threw a hard pellet of brown paper, +which struck Mr. Shane smartly on the head. He winced.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who threw that?" asked Griffin. "I say, Shane, why don't you +whack him? If I were a man I wouldn't let little boys throw +things at me; you are a man, aren't you, Shane?" He gave +another jerk to the arm which he still held.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're not to pull my arm, Griffin; you hurt me. I wonder why +you boys can't leave me alone."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Go along! not really! We're only having a game, Shane; we're +not in school, you know. What shall we do with him, you +fellows? I vote we tie him in a chair, and stick needles and +pins into him; he's sure to like that--he's such a jolly old +fellow, Shane is."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why don't you let us go out?" asked Ellis.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You know Mrs. Fletcher said you were not to go."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, bother Mrs. Fletcher! what's that got to do with it? We +won't tell her if you let us go."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Shane sighed. Had it rested with him he would have been +only too glad to let them go. Two or three hours of his own +company would have been like a glimpse of paradise. But there +was Mrs. Fletcher; she was a lady whose indignation was not to +be lightly faced.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you won't let us go," said Ellis, "we'll make it hot for +you. Do you think we're a lot of babies, to be melted by a drop +of rain?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You know it's no use asking me. Mrs. Fletcher said you were +not to go out if it rained, and it is raining."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's not raining," boldly declared Griffin. "Call this rain! +why, it's not enough to wet a cat! I never saw such a +molly-coddle set-out. I go out when I'm at home if it pours +cats and dogs; nobody minds; why should they? Come on, Shane, +let's go, there's a trump; we won't sneak, and we'll be back in +half a jiff.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I wish you would let me alone," said Mr. Shane. Somebody +snatched his book out of his hand. He turned swiftly to recover +it, but the captor was out of reach. "Give me my book!" he +cried. "How dare you take my book!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here's a lark! catch hold, Griffin." Mr. Shane, hurrying to +recover his treasure, saw it dexterously thrown above his reach +into the hands of Charlie Griffin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Give me my book, Griffin!" And he made a rush at Griffin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Catch, boys!" Griffin threw the book to some one else before +Mr. Shane could reach him. It was thrown from one to the other, +from end to end of the room, probably not being improved by the +way in which it was handled.</p> + +<p class="normal">The usher stood in the midst of the laughing boys, a picture of +helplessness. The grammar had cost him half a crown at a +second-hand bookstall. Half a crown represented to him a +handsome sum. There were many claims upon his sixteen pounds a +year; he had to think once, and twice, and thrice before he +spent half a crown upon a book. His books were to him his +children. In those dreams of future glory his books were his +constant companions, his open sesame, his royal road to fame; +with their aid he could do so much, without their aid so +little. So now and then he ventured to spend half a crown upon +a volume which he wanted.</p> + +<p class="normal">The grammar, being badly aimed, fell just in front of him. He +made a dash at it. Some one gave him a push and he fell +sprawling on the floor; but he seized the book with his left +hand. Griffin, falling on it tooth and nail, caught hold of it +before he could secure it from danger. There was a rush of half +a dozen. Every one wanted a finger in the pie. The grammar was +clutched by half a dozen hands at once. The back was rent off, +leaves pulled out, the book was torn to shreds. Mr. Shane lay +on the floor, with the ruins of his grammar in his hands.</p> + +<p class="normal">Just then Bertie Bailey entered the room, victorious from his +contest with Mr. Till. A shout of welcome greeted him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hullo, Bailey! have you done the lines?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie, a deliberate youth as a rule, took his time to answer. +He surveyed the scene, then he put his fingers to his nose, +repeating the gesture with which he had retreated from Mr. +Till.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Catch me at it!--think I'm a silly?" Then he put his hands +into his pockets, and slouched into the centre of the room. The +boys crowded round him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did he let you off?" asked Griffin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course he let me off; I made him: he knew better than to +try to make me do his lines."</p> + +<p class="normal">Then he told the story; the boys laughed. The way in which the +ushers were compelled to stultify themselves was a standing +joke at Mecklemburg House. That Mr. Till should have been +forced to eat his own words, and to let insubordination go +unpunished, was a humorous idea to them.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Shane still remained upon the floor. He was engaged in +gathering together the remnants of his grammar. Perhaps a pot +of paste, with patient manipulation, might restore it yet. He +would give himself a great deal of labour to avoid the +expenditure of another half-crown; perhaps he had not another +half-crown to spend.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What's the row?" asked Bertie, seeing Mr. Shane engaged in +gathering up the fragmentary leaves. They told him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm going out," said Bailey, "and I should like to see anybody +stop me. I say, Mr. Shane, I want to go down to the village."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Shane repeated his stock phrase.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mrs. Fletcher said no one was to go out while it rained." He +had collected all the remnants of his grammar, and was rising +with them in his hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Give me hold!" exclaimed Bertie; and he snatched what was left +of the book out of the usher's hands.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bailey!" cried Mr. Shane.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Look here, I want to go down to the village. I suppose I may, +mayn't I?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mrs. Fletcher said no one was to go out if it rained," +stammered Mr. Shane.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you don't let me go, I'll burn this rubbish!" Bertie +flourished the ruined grammar in the tutor's face. Mr. Shane +made a dart to recover his property; but Bertie was too quick +for him, and sprang aside beyond his reach. It is not +improbable that if it had come to a tussle Mr. Shane would have +got the worst of it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who's got a match?" asked Bertie. Some one produced half a +dozen. "Will you let me go?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't burn it," said Mr. Shane. "It cost me half a crown; I +only bought it last week."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then let me go."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What'll Mrs. Fletcher say?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"How's she to know unless you tell her? I'll be back before +tea. I don't care if it cost you a hundred half-crowns, I'll +burn it. Make up your mind. Is it going to cost you half a +crown to keep me in?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie struck a match. Mr. Shane attempted to rush forward to +put it out, but some of the boys held him back. His heart went +out to his book as though it were a child.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If I let you go, you promise me to be back within half an +hour? I don't know what Mrs. Fletcher will say if she should +hear of it;--and don't get wet."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'll promise you fast enough. Mrs. Fletcher won't hear of it; +and what if she does? She can't eat you. You needn't be afraid +of my getting wet."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shan't let anybody else go."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh yes, you will! You'll let Griffin and Ellis go; you don't +think I'm going all that way alone?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And me!" cried Edgar Wheeler. Pretty nearly all the other boys +joined him in the cry.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am not going to have all you fellows coming with me," +announced Bertie. "Wheeler can come; but as for the rest of +you, you can stay at home and go to bed--that's the best place +for little chaps like you. Now then, Shane, look alive; is it +going to cost you half a crown, or isn't it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Shane sighed. If ever there was a case of a round peg in a +square hole, Mr. Shane's position at Mecklemburg House was a +case in point. The youth, for he was but a youth, was a good +youth; he had an earnest, honest, practical belief in God; but +surely God never intended him for an assistant-master. Perhaps +in the years to come he might drift into the place which had +been prepared for him in the world, but it was difficult to +believe that he was in it now. A studious dreamer, who did +nothing but dream and study, he would have been no more out of +his element in a bear garden than in the extremely difficult +and eminently unsatisfactory position which he was supposed--it +was veritable supposition--to fill at Mecklemburg House.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How many of you want to go?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"There's me,"--Bertie was not the boy to take the bottom +seat--"and Griffin, and Ellis, and Wheeler, that's all. Now what +is the good of keeping messing about like this?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're sure you won't be more than half an hour?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, sure as sticks."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And what shall I say to Mrs. Fletcher if she finds out? You're +sure to lay all the blame on me." Mr. Shane had a prophetic +eye.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Say you thought it didn't rain."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't think it does rain much." Mr. Shane looked out of the +window, and salved his conscience with the thought. "Well, if +you're quite sure you won't get wet, and you won't be more than +half an hour--you--can--go." The latter three words came out, +as it were, edgeways and with difficulty from the speaker's +mouth, as if even he found the humiliation of his attitude +difficult to swallow.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come along, boys!--here's your old book!" Bertie flung the +grammar into the air, the leaves went flying in all directions, +the four boys went clattering out of the room with noise enough +for twenty, and Mr. Shane was left to recover his dignity and +collect the scattered volume at his leisure.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Nemesis awaited him. No sooner had the conquering heroes +disappeared than an urchin, not more than eight or nine years +of age, catching up one of the precious leaves, exclaimed,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let's tear the thing to pieces!" The speaker was little Willie +Seymour, Bertie Bailey's cousin. It was his first term at +school, but he already bade fair to do credit to the system of +education pursued at Mecklemburg House.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Right you are, youngster," said Fred Philpotts, an elder boy. +"It's a burning shame to let them go and keep us in. Let's tear +it all to pieces."</p> + +<p class="normal">And they did. There was a sudden raid upon the scattered +leaves; at the mercy of twenty pairs of mischievous hands, they +were soon reduced to atoms so minute as to be altogether beyond +the hope of any possible recovery. Nothing short of a miracle +could make those tiny scraps of printed paper into a book +again. And seeing it was so Mr. Shane leaned his head against +the +window-pane and cried.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>Chapter III</h2> + +<h2><a name="div1_03" href="#div1Ref_03">AT MOTHER HUFFHAM'S</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">It was only when Bailey and his friends were away from the house +that it occurred to them to consider what it was they had come out +for. They slunk across the grass-grown courtyard, keeping as close +to the wall as possible, to avoid the lynx-eyes of Mrs. Fletcher. +That lady was the only person in Mecklemburg House whose authority +was not entirely contemned. Let who would be master, she would be +mistress; and she had a way of impressing that fact upon those +around her which made it quite impossible for those who came within +reach of her influence to avoid respecting.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was truly miserable weather. Any one but a schoolboy would +have been only too happy to have had a roof of any kind to +shelter him, but schoolboys are peculiar. It was one of those +damp mists which not only penetrate through the thickest clothing, +and soak one to the skin, but which render it difficult to see +twenty yards in front of one, even in the middle of the day. The +day was drawing in; ere long the lamps would be lighted; the world +was already enshrouded in funeral gloom. Not a pleasant afternoon +to choose for an expedition to nowhere in particular, in quest of +nothing at all.</p> + +<p class="normal">The boys slunk through the sodden mist, hands in their pockets, +coat collars turned up about their ears, hats rammed down over +their eyes, looking anything but a cheerful company. Griffin +asked a question.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I say, Bailey, where are you going?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"To the village."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What are you going to the village for?" This from Ellis.</p> + +<p class="normal">"For what I am."</p> + +<p class="normal">After this short specimen of convivial conversation the four +trudged on. Alas for their promise to Mr. Shane! The wet was +already dripping off their hats, and splashings of mud were +ascending up the legs of their trousers to about the middle of +their back. In a minute or two Wheeler began again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you got any money?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie pulled up short. "Have you?" he asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I've got sevenpence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then lend me half?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Lend me a penny? I'll pay you next week; honour bright, I +will," said Ellis.</p> + +<p class="normal">Griffin was more concise. "Lend me twopence?" he asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wheeler looked unhappy. It appeared that he was the only +capitalist among the four, and under the circumstances he did +not feel exactly proud of the position. Although sevenpence +might do very well for one, it would not be improved by +quartering.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, I know, I daresay," he grumbled. "You're very fond of +borrowing, but you're not so fond of paying back again." He +trudged on stolidly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bailey caught him by the arm. "You don't mean that you're not +going to lend me anything, after my asking for you to come out +with me, and all?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'll lend you twopence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Twopence! What's twopence?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's all you'll get; you can have it or lump it, I don't care; +I'm not dead nuts on lending you anything." Wheeler was a +little wiry-built boy, and when he meant a thing very much +indeed he had an almost terrier-like habit of snapping his +jaws--he snapped them now. Bailey trudged by his side with an +air of dudgeon; he probably reflected that, after all, twopence +was better than nothing. But Ellis and Griffin had their claims +to urge. They apparently did not contemplate with pleasure the +prospect of tramping to and from the village for the sake of +the exercise alone. Ellis began,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"I say, old fellow, you'll lend me a penny, won't you? I'm +always game for lending you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Look here, I tell you what it is, I won't lend you a blessed +farthing! It's like your cheek to ask me; you owe me ninepence +from last term."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But I expect a letter from home in the morning with some +money in it. I'll pay you the ninepence with threepence +interest--I'll pay you eighteenpence--you see if I don't. And +if you'll lend me a penny now I'll give you twopence for it in +the morning. Do now, there's a good fellow, Wheeler; honour +bright, I will."</p> + +<p class="normal">For answer Wheeler put his finger to his eye and raised the +eyelid. "See any green in my eye?" he said.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're a selfish beast!" replied his friend. And so the four +trudged on. Then Griffin made his attempt.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'll let you have that knife, Wheeler, if you like."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't want the knife."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You can have it for threepence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't want it for threepence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You offered me fourpence for it yesterday."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I've changed my mind."</p> + +<p class="normal">Charlie pondered the matter in his mind. They were about +half-way to their destination, and already bore a closer +resemblance to drowned rats than living schoolboys. By the time +they had gone there and back again, it would be possible to +wring the water out of their clothes; what Mrs. Fletcher would +have to say remained to be seen. After they had gone a few +yards further, and paddled through about half a dozen more +puddles, Charlie began again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'll let you have it for twopence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't want it for twopence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's a good knife." No answer. "It cost a shilling." Still no +answer. "There's only one blade broken." Still no reply. "And +that's only got a bit off near the point." Still silence. "It's +a jolly good knife." Then, with a groan, "I'll let you have it +for a penny."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I wouldn't give you a smack in the eye for it."</p> + +<p class="normal">After receiving this truly elegant and generous reply, Griffin +subsided into speechless misery. It is not improbable that, so +far as he was himself concerned, he began to think that the +expedition was a failure.</p> + +<p class="normal">In silence they reached the village. It was not a village of +portentous magnitude, since it only contained thirteen cottages +and one shop, the shop being the smallest cottage in the place. +The only point in its favour was that it was the nearest +commercial establishment to Mecklemburg House. The proprietor +was a Mrs. Huffham, an ancient lady, with a very bad temper, +and a still worse reputation--among the boys--for honesty in +the direction of weights and measures. It must be conceded that +they could have had no worse opinion of her than she had of +them.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Them young warmints, if they wants to buy a thing they wants +ninety ounces to the pound, and if they wants to pay for it, +they wants you to take eightpence for a shilling--oh, I knows +'em!" So Mrs. Huffham declared.</p> + +<p class="normal">At the door of this emporium parley was held. Ellis suddenly +remembered something.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I say, I owe old Mother Huffham two-and-three." So far as the +gathering mist and the soaking rain enabled one to see, Dick's +countenance wore a lugubrious expression.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, what of that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well"--Dick Ellis hesitated--"so long as that brute Stephen +isn't about the place I don't mind. He called out after me the +other day, that if I didn't pay he'd take the change out of me +some other way."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Stephen referred to was Mrs. Huffham's grandson, a stalwart +young fellow of twenty-one or two, who drove the carrier's cart +to Kingston and back. His ideas on pecuniary obligations were +primitive. Having learned from experience that it was vain to +expect Mr. Fletcher to pay his pupils' debts at the village +shop, he had an uncomfortable way of taking it out of +refractory debtors in the shape of personal chastisement. +Endless disputes had arisen in consequence. Mr. Fletcher had on +more than one occasion threatened the summary Stephen with the +terrors of the law; but Stephen had snapped his fingers at Mr. +Fletcher, advising him to pay his own debts, lest worse things +happened to him. Then Mr. Fletcher had forbidden Mrs. Huffham +to give credit to the boys; but Mrs. Huffham was an obstinate +old lady, and treated the headmaster with no more deference +than her grandson. Finally, Mr. Fletcher had forbidden the boys +to deal with Mrs. Huffham; but in spite of his prohibition an +active commerce was carried on, and on more than one occasion +the irate Stephen had been moved to violence.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You should have stopped at home," was Wheeler's not +unreasonable reply to Dick's confession. "I don't owe her +anything. I don't see what you wanted to come for, anyhow, if +you haven't got any money and you owe her two-and-three."</p> + +<p class="normal">And turning the handle of the rickety door he entered Mrs. +Huffham's famed establishment. Bailey, rich in the possession +of a prospective loan of twopence, and Charlie Griffin followed +close upon his heels. After hesitating for a moment Ellis went +in too. To remain shivering outside would have been such a lame +conclusion to a not otherwise too satisfactory expedition, that +it seemed to him like the last straw on the camel's back. +Besides, it was quite on the cards that the impetuous Stephen +would be engaged in his carrier's work, and be pleasantly +conspicuous by his absence from home.</p> + +<p class="normal">The interior of the shop was pitchy dark. The little light +which remained without declined to penetrate through the small +lozenge-shaped windowpanes. Mrs. Huffham's lamp was not yet +lit, and the obscurity was increased by the quantity of goods, +of almost every description, which crowded to overflowing the +tiny shop. No one came.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let's nick something," suggested the virtuously minded +Griffin. Ellis acted on the hint.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm not going there and back for nothing, I can tell you."</p> + +<p class="normal">On a little shelf at the side of the shop stood certain bottles +of sweets. Dick reached up to get one down. At that moment +Wheeler gave him a jerk with his arm. Ellis, catching at the +shelf to steady himself, brought down shelf, bottles and all, +with a crash upon a counter.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thieves!" cried a voice within. "Thieves!" and Mrs. Huffham +came clattering into the shop, out of some inner sanctum, with +considerable haste for one of her mature years. "Thieves!"</p> + +<p class="normal">For some moments the old lady's eyes could see nothing in the +darkness of the shop. She stood, half in, half out, peering +forward, where the boys could just see her dimly in the shadow. +They, deeming discretion to be the better part of valour, and +not knowing what damage they might not have done, stood still +as mice. Their first impulse was to turn and flee, and Griffin +was just feeling for the handle of the door, preparatory to +making a bolt for it, when heavy footsteps were heard +approaching outside, and the door was flung open with a force +which all but threw Griffin back upon his friends.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hullo!" said a voice; "is anybody in there?"</p> + +<p class="normal">It was Stephen Huffham. With all their hearts the boys wished +they had respected authority and listened to Mr. Shane! There +was a coolness and promptness about Stephen Huffham's method of +taking the law into his own hands upon emergency which formed +the basis of many a tale of terror to which they had listened +when tucked between the sheets at night in bed.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Huffham waited for no reply to his question, but he laid an +iron hand upon Griffin's shoulder and dragged him out into the +light.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come out of that! Oh, it's you, is it?" Charlie was gifted +with considerable powers of denial, but he found it quite +beyond his power to deny Mr. Huffham's assertion then. "Oh, +there's some more of you, are there? How many of you boys are +there inside here?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"They've been a-thieving the things!" came in Mrs. Huffham's +shrill treble from the back of the shop.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, they have, have they? We'll soon see about that. Unless +I'm blinder than I used to be, there's young Ellis over there, +with whom I've promised to have a word of a sort before to-day. +You bring a light, granny, and look alive; don't keep these +young gentlemen waiting, not by no manner of means."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Huffham retreated to her parlour, and presently re-appeared +with a lighted lamp in her hand. This, with great deliberation, +for her old bones were stiff, and rheumatism forbade anything +like undue haste, she hung upon a nail, in such a position that +its not too powerful light shed as great an illumination as +possible upon the contents of her shop. Far too powerful an +illumination to suit the boys, for it brought into undue prominence +the damage wrought by Ellis and his friend. They eyed the ruins, +and Mrs. Huffham eyed them, and Mr. Stephen Huffham eyed them too. +The old lady's feelings at the sight were for a moment too deep +for words, but Mr. Stephen Huffham soon found speech.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who did this?" he asked; and there was something in the tone +of the inquiry which grated on his hearers' ears.</p> + +<p class="normal">Had Dick Ellis and his friend deliberately planned to do as much +mischief as possible in the shortest possible space of time, they +could scarcely have succeeded better. Three or four of the bottles +were broken to pieces, and in their fall they had fallen on a little +glass case, the chief pride and ornament of Mrs. Huffham's shop, +which was divided into compartments, in one of which were cigars, +in another reels of cotton and hanks of thread, and in a third such +trifles as packets of hair-pins, pots of pomade, note-paper and +envelopes, and a variety of articles which might be classified under +the generic name of "fancy goods." The glass in this case was damaged +beyond repair; the sweets from the broken bottles had got inside, and +had become mixed with the cigars, and the paper, and the hair-pins, +and the pomade, and the rest of the varied contents.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Stephen Huffman not finding himself favoured with an +immediate reply to his inquiry, repeated it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who did this? Did you do this?" And he gave Charlie Griffin a +shake which made him feel as though he were being shaken not +only upside down, but inside out.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No-o-o!" said Charlie, as loudly as he was able with Mr. +Stephen Huffman shaking him as a terrier shakes a rat. "I-I-I +didn't! Le-e-eave me alone!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'll leave you alone fast enough! I'll leave the lot of you +alone when I've taken all the skin off your bodies! Did you do +this?" And Mr. Stephen Huffham transferred his attention to +Bailey.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No!" roared Bertie, before Huffman had time to get him fairly +in his grasp. Mr. Huffman held him at arm's length, and looked +him full in the face with an intensity of scrutiny which Bertie +by no means relished.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I suppose none of you did do it; nobody ever does do these +sort of things, so far as I can make out. It was accidental; it +always is."</p> + +<p class="normal">His voice had been so far, if not conciliatory, at least not +unduly elevated. But suddenly he turned upon Ellis with a roar +which was not unlike the bellow of a bull. "Did you do it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Ellis started as though he had received an electric shock.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No-o!" he gasped. "It was Wheeler!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, it was Wheeler, was it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It wasn't me," said Wheeler.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, it wasn't you? Who was it, then? That's what I want to +know; who was it, then?" Mr. Huffham put this question in a +tone of voice which would have been eminently useful had he +been addressing some person a couple of miles away, but which +in his present situation almost made the panes of glass rattle +in the windows. "Who was it, then?" And he caught hold of Ellis +and shook him with such velocity to and fro that it was +difficult for a moment to distinguish what it was that he was +shaking.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It--was--Whe-e-eler!" gasped Ellis, struggling with his +breath.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now, just you listen to me, you boys!" began Mr. Huffham. +(They could scarcely avoid listening to him, considering that +he spoke in what was many degrees above a whisper.) "I'll put +it this way, so that we can have things fair and square, and +know what we're a-doing of. There's a pound's damage been done +here, so perhaps one of you gentlemen will let me have a +sovereign. I'm not going to ask who did it; I'm not going to +ask no questions at all: all I says is, perhaps one of you +young gentlemen will let me have a sovereign." He stretched out +his hand as though he expected to receive a sovereign then and +there; as it happened he stretched it out in the direction of +Bertie Bailey.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie looked at the horny, dirt-grimed palm, then up in Mr. +Huffham's face. A dog-fancier would have said that there was +some scarcely definable resemblance to the bull-dog in the +expression of his eyes. "You won't get a sovereign out of me," +he said.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, won't I? we'll see!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"We will see. I'd nothing to do with it; I don't know who did +do it. You shouldn't leave the place without a light; who's to +see in the dark?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You let me finish what I've got to say, then you say your say +out afterwards. What I say is this--there's a pound's worth of +damage done----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"There isn't a pound's worth of damage done," said Bertie.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Huffham caught him by the shoulder. "You let me finish out +my say! I say there is a pound's worth of damage done; you can +settle who it was among you afterwards; and what I say is this, +either you pays me that pound before you leave this shop or +I'll give the whole four of you such a flogging as you never +had in all your days--I'll skin you alive!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It won't give me my money your flogging them," wailed Mrs. +Huffham from behind the counter. "It's my money I wants! Here +is all them bottles broken, and the case smashed--and it cost +me two pound ten, and everything inside of it's a-ruined. It's +my money I wants!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's what I wants too; so which of you young gents is going to +hand over that there sovereign?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wheeler's got sevenpence," suggested Griffin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sevenpence! what's sevenpence? It's a pound I want! Which of +you is going to fork up that there pound?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"There isn't a pound's worth of damage done," said Bertie; +"nothing like. If you let us go, we'll get five shillings +somehow, and bring it you in a week."</p> + +<p class="normal">"In a week--five shillings! you catch me at it! Why, if I was +once to let you outside that door, you'd put your fingers to +your noses, and you'd call out, 'There goes old Huffham! +yah--h--h!'" And he gave a very fair imitation of the greeting +which the sight of him was apt to call forth from the very +youths in front of him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If they was the young gentlemen they calls themselves they'd +pay up, and not try to rob an old woman what's over seventy +year."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now then, what's it going to be, your money or your life? +That's the way to put it, because I'll only just let you off +with your life, I'll tell you. Look sharp; I want my tea! +What's it going to be, your money, or rather, my old +grandmother's money over there, an old woman who finds it a +pretty tight fit to keep herself out of the workhouse----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, that she do," interpolated the grandmother in question.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Or your life?" He looked in turn from one boy to the other, +and finally his gaze rested on Bailey.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie met his eyes with a sullen stare. "I tell you I'd +nothing to do with it," he said.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And I tell you I don't care that who had to do with it," and +Mr. Huffham snapped his fingers. "You're that there pack of +liars I wouldn't believe you on your oath before a judge and +jury, not that I wouldn't!" and his fingers were snapped again. +He and Bailey stood for a moment looking into each other's +face.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you hit me for what I didn't do, I'll do something worth +hitting for."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Will you?" Mr. Huffham caught him by the shoulder, and held +him as in a vice.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't you hit me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Apparently Mrs. Huffham was impressed by something in his +manner. "Don't you hit 'un hard! now don't you!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Won't I? I'll hit him so hard, I'll about do for him, that's +about as hard as I'll hit him." A look came into Mr. Huffham's +face which was not nice to see. Bailey never flinched; his +hard-set jaw and sullen eyes made the resemblance to the +bulldog more vivid still. "You pay me that pound!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I wouldn't if I had it!"</p> + +<p class="normal">In an instant Mr. Huffham had swung him round, and was raining +blows with his clenched fist upon the boy's back and shoulders. +But he had reckoned without his host, if he had supposed the +punishment would be taken quietly. The boy fought like a cat, +and struggled and kicked with such unlooked-for vigour that Mr. +Huffham, driven against the counter and not seeing what he was +doing, struck out wildly, knocked the lamp off its nail with +his fist, and in an instant the boy and the man were struggling +in the darkness on the floor.</p> + +<p class="normal">Just then a stentorian voice shouted through the glass window +of the rickety door,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bravo! that's the best plucked boy I've seen!"</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>Chapter IV</h2> + +<h2><a name="div1_04" href="#div1Ref_04">A LITTLE DRIVE</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Those within the shop had been too much interested in their own +proceedings to be conscious of a dog-cart, which came tearing +through the darkening shadows at such a pace that startled +pedestrians might be excused for thinking that it was a case of +a horse running away with its driver. But such would have been +convinced of their error when, in passing Mrs. Huffham's, on +hearing Mr. Stephen bellowing with what seemed to be the full +force of a pair of powerful lungs, the vehicle was brought to a +standstill as suddenly as a regiment of soldiers halt at the +word of command. The driver spoke to the horse,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Steady! stand still, old girl!" The speaker alighted. +Approaching Mrs. Huffham's, he stood at the glass-windowed +door, observing the proceedings within; and when Mr. Stephen, +in his blind rage, struck the lamp from its place and plunged +the scene in darkness, the unnoticed looker-on turned the +handle of the door and entered the shop, shouting, in tones +which made themselves audible above the din,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bravo! that's the best plucked boy I've seen!" And standing on +the threshold, he repeated his assertion, "Bravo! that's the +best plucked boy I've seen." He drew a box of matches from his +pocket, and striking one, he held the flickering flame above +his head, so that some little light was shed upon what was +going on within. "What's this little argument?" he asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">Seeing that Mr. Huffman was still holding Bailey firmly in his +grasp, "Hold hard, big one," he said; "let the little chap get +up. You ought to have your little arguments outside; this place +isn't above half large enough to swing a cat in. Granny, bring +a light!"</p> + +<p class="normal">As the match was just on the point of going out he struck +another, and entered the shop with it flaming in his hand. Mrs. +Huffham's nerves were too shaken to allow her to pay that +instant attention to the new-comer's orders which he seemed to +demand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Look alive, old lady; bring a light! This old band-box is as +dark as pitch."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus urged, the old lady disappeared, presently reappearing +with a little table-lamp in her trembling hands.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Put it somewhere out of reach--if anything is out of reach in +this dog-hole of a place. I shouldn't be surprised if you had a +little bonfire with the next lamp that's upset."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Huffman placed it on a shelf in the extreme corner of the +shop, from which post of vantage it did not light the scene +quite so brilliantly as it might have done. Mr. Stephen and the +boy, relaxing a moment from the extreme vigour of discussion, +availed themselves of the opportunity to see what sort of +person the stranger might chance to be.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was a man of gigantic stature, probably considerably over +six feet high, but so broad in proportion that he seemed +shorter than he actually was. A long waterproof, from which the +rain was trickling in little streams, reached to his feet; the +hood was drawn over his head, and under its shadow was seen a +face which was excellently adapted to the enormous frame. A +huge black beard streamed over the stranger's breast, and a +pair of large black eyes looked out from overhanging brows. He +was the first to break the silence.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, what is this little argument?" Then, without waiting for +an answer, he continued, addressing Mr. Huffham, "You're rather +a large size, don't you think, for that sized boy?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who are you? and what do you want? If there's anything you +want to buy, perhaps you'll buy it, and take yourself outside."</p> + +<p class="normal">The stranger put his hand up to his beard, and began pulling +it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There's nothing I want to buy, not just now." He looked at +Bailey. "What's he laying it on for?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nothing."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That's not bad, considering. What were you laying it on for?" +This to Huffham.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I've not finished yet, not by no manner of means; I mean to +take it out of all the lot of 'em. Call themselves gents! Why, +if a working-man's son was to behave as they does, he'd get +five years at a reformatory. I've known it done before today."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I daresay you have; you look like a man who knew a thing or +two. What were you laying it on for?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What for? why, look here!" And Mr. Huffham pointed to the +broken bottles and the damaged case.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And I'm a hard-working woman, I am, sir, and I'm seventy-three +this next July; and it's hard work I find it to pay my rent: +and wherever I'm to get the money for them there things, +goodness knows, I don't. It'll be the workhouse, after all!" +Thus Mrs. Huffham lifted up her voice and wept.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And they calls themselves gents, and they comes in here, and +takes advantage of an old woman, and robs her right and left, +and thinks they're going to get off scot free; not if I know it +this time they won't." Mr. Stephen Huffham looked as though he +meant it, every word.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did you do that?" asked the stranger of Bailey.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, I didn't."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't care who did it; they're that there liars I wouldn't +believe a word of theirs on oath; they did it between them, and +that's quite enough for me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I suppose one of you did do it?" asked the stranger.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bailey thrust his hands in his pockets, looking up at the +stranger with the dogged look in his eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The place was pitch dark; why didn't they have a light in the +place?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Because there didn't happen to be a light in the place, is +that any reason why you should go smashing everything you could +lay your hands on? Why couldn't you wait for a light? Go on +with you! I'll take the skin off your back!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"How much?" asked the stranger, paying no attention to Mr. +Stephen's eloquence.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There's a heap of mischief done, heap of mischief!" wailed the +old lady in the rear.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How am I to tell all the mischief that's been done? Just look +at the place; a sovereign wouldn't cover it, no, that it +wouldn't."</p> + +<p class="normal">"There isn't five shillings' worth of harm," said Bertie. "If +you were to get five shillings, you'd make a profit of half a +crown."</p> + +<p class="normal">The stranger laughed, and Mr. Huffham scowled; the look which +he cast at Bertie was not exactly a look of love, but the boy +met it without any sign of flinching.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'll be even with you yet, my lad!" Mr. Stephen said.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If I give you a sovereign you will be even," suggested the +stranger.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Stephen's eyes glistened; and his grandmother, clasping her +old withered palms together, cast a look of rapture towards the +ceiling.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, deary me! deary me!" she said.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's a swindle," muttered Bertie.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, it's a swindle, is it?" snarled Mr. Stephen. "I'd like to +swindle you, my fighting cock."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You couldn't do it," retorted Bertie.</p> + +<p class="normal">The stranger laughed again. Unbuttoning his waterproof, and in +doing so distributing a shower of water in his immediate +neighbourhood, out of his trousers pocket he took a heavy +purse, out of the purse he took a sovereign, and the sovereign +he handed to Mr. Stephen Huffham. Mr. Stephen's palm closed on +the glittering coin with a certain degree of hesitation.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now you're quits," said the stranger, "you and the boy."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Quits!" said Bertie, "it's seventeen-and-sixpence in his +pocket!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Stephen smiled, not quite pleasantly; he might have been +moved to speech had not the stranger interrupted him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're pretty large, and that's all you are; if this boy were +about your size, he'd lay it on to you. I should say you were a +considerable fine sample of a--coward."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Stephen held his peace. There was something in the +stranger's manner and appearance which induced him to think +that perhaps he had better be content with what he had +received. After having paused for a second or two, seemingly +for some sort of reply from Mr. Huffham, the stranger addressed +the boys.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Get out!" They went out, rather with the air of beaten curs. +The stranger followed them. "Get up into the cart; I'm going to +take you home to my house to tea." They looked at each other, +in doubt as to whether he was jesting. "Do you hear? Get up +into the cart! You, boy," touching Bailey on the shoulder, "you +ride alongside me."</p> + +<p class="normal">Still they hesitated. It occurred to them that they had already +broken their engagement with the credulous Mr. Shane, broken it +in the most satisfactory manner, in each separate particular. +They were not only wet and muddy, looking somewhat as though +they had recently been picked out of the gutter, but that +half-hour within which they had pledged themselves to return +had long since gone. But if they hesitated, there was no trace +of hesitation about the stranger.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now then, do you think I want to wait here all night? Tumble +up, you boy." And fairly lifting Wheeler off his legs, he bore +him bodily through the air, and planted him at the back of the +trap. And not Wheeler only, but Griffin and Ellis too. Before +those young gentlemen had quite realized their position, or the +proposal he had made to them, they found themselves clinging to +each other to prevent themselves tumbling out of the back of +what was not a very large dog-cart. "You're none of you big +ones! Catch hold of each other's hair or something, and don't +fall out; I can't stop to pick up boys. Now then, bantam, up +you go."</p> + +<p class="normal">And Bertie, handled in the same undignified fashion, found +himself on the front seat beside the driver. The stranger, big +though he was, apparently allowed his size to interfere in no +degree with his agility. In a twinkling he was seated in his +place by Bertie.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Steady!" he cried. "Look out, you boys!" He caught the reins +in his hands; the mare knew her master's touch, and in an +instant, even before the boys had altogether yet quite realized +their situation, they were dashing through the darkening night.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was about as cheerless an evening as one could very well +select for a drive in an open vehicle. The stranger, enveloped +in his waterproof, his hood in some degree sheltering his face, +a waterproof rug drawn high above his knees, was more +comfortable than the boys. Bailey, indeed, had a seat to sit +upon and a share of the rug, but his friends had neither seat +nor shelter.</p> + +<p class="normal">Perhaps, on the whole, they would have been better off had they +been walking. The imperfect light and the hasty start rendered +it difficult for them to have a clear view of their position. +The mare--which, had it been lighter and they versed in +horseflesh, they would have been able to recognise as a very +tolerable specimen of an American trotter--made the pace so hot +that they had to cling, if not to each other's hair, at least +to whatever portion of each other's person they could manage to +get hold of. Even then it was only by means of a series of +gymnastic feats that they were able to keep their footing and +save themselves from being pitched out on to the road.</p> + +<p class="normal">They had not gone far when Griffin had a disaster.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I've lost my hat!" he cried. Wind and pace and nervousness +combined had loosened his headgear, and without staying to bid +farewell to his head, it disappeared into the night.</p> + +<p class="normal">The stranger gave utterance to a loud yet musical laugh.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never mind your hat! Can't stop for hats! The fresh air will +do you good, cool your head, my boy!" But this was a point of +view which did not occur to Griffin; he was rather disposed to +wonder what Mr. Shane and Mrs. Fletcher would say.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I wish you wouldn't catch hold of my throat; you'll strangle +me," said Wheeler, as the vehicle dashed round a sharp turn in +the road, and the hatless Griffin made a frantic clutch at his +friend to save himself from following his hat.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I--can't--help--it," gasped his friend in reply. "I wish he +wouldn't go so fast. Oh--h!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The stranger laughed again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't tumble out! we can't stop to pick up boys! Hullo! what +are you up to there?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The trio in the rear were apparently engaged in a fight for +life. They were uttering choking ejaculations, and struggling +with each other in their desperate efforts to preserve their +perpendicular. In the course of their struggle they lurched +against the stranger with such unexpected violence that had he +not with marvellous rapidity twisted round in his seat and +caught them with his arm, they would in all probability have +continued their journey on the road. At the same instant, with +his disengaged hand he brought the horse, who seemed to obey +the directions of its master's hand with mechanical accuracy, +to a sudden halt.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now, then, are you all right?"</p> + +<p class="normal">They were very far from being all right, but were not at that +moment possessed of breath to tell him so. Had they not lost +the power of speech they would have joined in a unanimous +appeal to him to set them down, and let them go anywhere, and +do anything, rather than allow them to continue any longer at +the mercy of his too rapid steed. But the stranger seemed to +take their involuntary silence for acquiescence. Once more they +were dashing through the night, and again they were hanging on +for their bare lives.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Like driving, youngster?" The question was addressed to +Bailey. "Like horses? Like a beast that can go? Mary Anne can +give a lead to a flash of lightning and catch it in two T's."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mary Anne" was apparently the steed. At that moment the trio +in the rear would have believed anything of Mary Anne's powers +of speed, but Bailey held his peace. The stranger went on.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I like a drive on a night like this. I like dashing through +the wind and the darkness and the rain. I like a thing to fire +my blood, and that's the reason why I like you. That's the +reason why I've asked you home to tea. What's your name?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bailey, sir."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I knew a man named Bailey down in Kentucky who was hanged +because he was too fond of horses--other people's, not his own. +Any relation of yours?" Bertie disclaimed the soft impeachment.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't think so, sir."</p> + +<p class="normal">"There's no knowing. Lots of people are hanged without their own +mothers knowing anything about it, let alone their fathers, +especially out Kentucky way. A cousin of mine was hanged in Golden +City, and I shouldn't have known anything about it to this day if +I hadn't come along and seen his body swinging on a tree. As nice a +fellow as man need know, six-feet-one-and-three-quarters in his +stockings--three-quarters of an inch shorter than me. They explained +to me that they'd hanged him by mistake, which was some consolation +to me, anyway, though what he thought of it is more than I can say. +I cut him down, dug a hole seven foot deep, and laid him there to +sleep; and there he sleeps as sound as though he'd handed in his +checks upon a feather bed."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bailey looked up at the speaker. He was not quite sure if he +was in earnest, and was anything but sure that the little +narrative which he rolled so glibly off his tongue might not be +the instant coinage of his brain. But something in the +speaker's voice and manner attracted him even more than his +words; something he would have found it difficult to describe.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is that true?" he asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">The stranger looked down at him and laughed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Perhaps it is, and perhaps it isn't." He laughed again. "Wet, +youngster?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I should rather think I am," was Bertie's grim response. All +the stranger did was to laugh again. Bailey ventured on an +inquiry. "Do you live far from here?" He was conscious of a +certain degree of interest as to whether the stranger was +driving them to Kentucky; he, too, had Mr. Shane and Mrs. +Fletcher in his mind's eye. "Shane'll get sacked for this, as +sure as fate," was his mental observation. He was aware that at +Mecklemburg House the sins of the pupils not seldom fell upon +the heads of the assistant-masters.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pain's Hill," was the answer to his question. "Ever heard of +Washington Villa?" Bertie could not say he had.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am George Washington Bankes, the proprietor thereof. Yes, +and it isn't so long ago that if any one had said to me that I +should settle down as a country gentleman, I should have said, +'There have been liars since Ananias, but none quite as big as +you.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bailey eyed him from a corner of his eye. His father was a +medical man, with no inconsiderable country practice. He had +seen something of country gentlemen, but it occurred to him +that a country gentleman in any way resembling his new +acquaintance he had not yet chanced to see.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You at the school there?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Taking it for granted that he referred to Mecklemburg House, +Bertie confessed that he was.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why don't you run away? I would."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie started; he had read of boys running away from school in +stories of the penny dreadful type, but he had not yet heard of +country gentlemen suggesting that course of action as a +reasonable one for the rising generation to pursue.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Every boy worth his salt ought to run away. I did, and I've +never done a more sensible thing to this day." In that case one +could not but wonder for how many sensible things Mr. George +Washington Bankes had been remarkable in the course of his +career. "I've been from China to Peru, from the North Pole to +the South. I've been round the world all sorts of ways; and the +chances are that if I hadn't run away from school I should +never have travelled twenty miles from my old mother's door. +Why don't you run away?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie wriggled in his seat and gasped.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I--I don't know," he said.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, I'll talk to you about that when I get you home. You're about +the best plucked lad I've seen, or you wouldn't have stood up in +the way you did to that great hulking lubber there; and rather than +see a lad of parts wasting his time at school--but you wait a bit. +I'll open your eyes, my lad. I'll give you some idea of what a man's +life ought to be! Books never did me any good, and never will. I say, +throw books, like physic, to the dogs--a life of adventure's the +life for me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie listened open-eyed and open-mouthed; he began to think +he was in a waking dream. There was a wildness about his new +acquaintance, and about his mode of speech, which filled him +with a sort of dull, startled wonder. There was in the boy, +deep-rooted somewhere, that half-unconscious longing for things +adventurous which the British youngster always has. Mr. Bankes +struck a chord which filled the boy almost with a sense of +pain.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A life of adventure's the life for me!" Mr. Bankes repeated +his confession of faith, laughing as he did so; and the words, +and the voice, and the manner, and the laugh, all mixed +together, made the boy, wet as he was, glow with a sudden +warmth. "A life of adventure's the life for me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The drive was nearly ended, and during the rest of it Mr. +Bankes kept silence. Wheeler's hat had followed Griffin's, but +he had not mentioned it; partly because, as he thought, he +would receive no sympathy and not much attention, and partly +because, in his anxiety to keep his footing in the trap, and +get out of it with his bones whole, it would have been a matter +of comparative indifference to him if the rest of his clothing +had followed his hat. But he, too, mistily wondered what Mr. +Shane and Mrs. Fletcher would say.</p> + +<p class="normal">Fortunately for his peace of mind, and the peace of mind of his +two friends, the good steed, Mary Anne, brought them safely to +the doors of Washington Villa. Fond of driving as they were, as +a rule, they were conscious of a distinct sense of relief when +that drive was at an end.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>Chapter V</h2> + +<h2><a name="div1_05" href="#div1Ref_05">AN EVENING AT WASHINGTON VILLA</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Washington Villa appeared, from what one could see in the +darkness, to be a fairly sized house, standing in its own +grounds. Considerable stabling was built apart from, but +close to the house, and as the trap dashed along the little +carriage-drive numerous loud-voiced dogs announced the fact of +an arrival to whomever it might concern. The instant the +vehicle stopped, the hall door was opened, and a little +wizened, shrunken man came down the steps. Mr. Bankes threw him +the reins.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jump out, you boys, and tumble into the house. Welcome to +Washington Villa." Suiting the action to the word, and before +his young friends had clearly realized the fact of their having +arrived at their destination, he had risen from his seat, +sprung to the ground, and was standing on the threshold of the +door. The boys were not long in following suit.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come this way!" Striding on in front of them, through a hall +of no inconsiderable dimensions, he led them into a room in +which a bright fire was blazing, and which was warm with light. +A pretty servant girl made a simultaneous entrance through a +door on the other side of the room. "Catch hold." Tearing +rather than taking off his waterproof and hood, he flung them +to the maid. "Where are my slippers?" The maid produced a pair +from the fender, where they had been placed to warm; and Mr. +Bankes thrust his feet into them, flinging his boots off on to +the floor. "Tea for five, and a good tea, too, and in about +less time than it would take me to shoot a snake."</p> + +<p class="normal">The maid disappeared with a laugh on her face; she was +apparently used to Mr. Bankes, and to Mr. Bankes' mode of +speech. Then, after having attended to his own comfort, the +host turned his attention to his guests.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, you're a nice lot of half-drowned puppies. By right, I +ought to hang you up in front of the kitchen fire to dry."</p> + +<p class="normal">His guests shuffled about upon their feet with not quite a +graceful air. It was true that they looked in about as +miserable a condition as they very well could do; but +considering the circumstances under which they had travelled, +it was scarcely to be wondered at. Had Mr. Bankes travelled in +their place, he might have looked like a half-drowned puppy +too.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But a wetting will do you good, and as for mud, why, I don't +care for mud. I've swallowed too much of it in my time to stick +at a trifle. When I was a boy, I was the dirtiest little +blackguard ever seen. Now, then, is that tea ready? Come +along."</p> + +<p class="normal">And off he strode into the hall, the boys following sheepishly +in the rear. Wheeler poked Bailey in the side with his elbow, +and Bailey poked Griffin, and they each of them poked the +other, and they grinned. Their feelings were altogether too +much for speech. What Mr. Shane and Mrs. Fletcher would think +and say--but that was a matter on which they would not +improbably be able to speak more fully later on. A more +unguestlike-looking set of guests could hardly be conceived. +Not only were their boots concealed beneath thick layers of +mud, but they were spattered with mud from head to foot; their +hands and faces were filthy, and their hair was in a state of +untidiness better imagined than described. They had their +everyday clothes on; their trousers were in general too short +in the leg, and their coats too short in the sleeves; while +Griffin was radiant with a mighty patch in the seat of his +breeches of a totally different material to the original cloth. +It was fortunate that Mr. Bankes did not stick at trifles, or +he would never have allowed his newly-discovered guests to +enter his well-kept residence.</p> + +<p class="normal">They followed their host into a room on the other side of the +hall, and the sight they saw almost took their breath away. A +table laden with more delicacies than they remembered to have +seen crowded together for a considerable space of time was, +especially after the fare to which they were accustomed at +Mecklemburg House, a spectacle calculated at any time to fill +them with a satisfaction almost amounting to awe. But to come +out of such a night to such a prospect! To come to feast from +worse than famine! The revulsion of feeling was considerable, +and the aspect of the guests became even more sheepish than +before.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sit down, and pitch in. If you're as hungry as I am, you'll +eat the table, legs and all."</p> + +<p class="normal">The boys needed no second invitation. In a very short space of +time host and guests alike were doing prodigies of execution. +The nimble-handed servant-maid found it as much as she could do +to supply their wants. On the details of the feast we need not +dwell. It partook of the nature of a joke to call that +elaborate meal tea. By the time it was finished the four young +gentlemen had not only ceased to think of what Mrs. Fletcher +and Mr. Shane might say, but they had altogether forgotten the +existence of Mecklemburg House Collegiate School; and even +Charlie Griffin was prepared to declare that he had thoroughly +enjoyed that nightmare journey from Mrs. Huffham's to the +present abode of bliss. The meal had been no less to the +satisfaction of the host than of his guests.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Done?" They signified by their eloquent looks as much as by +their speech that they emphatically had. "Then let's go back to +the other room." And they went.</p> + +<p class="normal">A peculiarity of this other room was that all the chairs in it +were arm-chairs; and in four of not the least comfortable of +these arm-chairs the boys found themselves seated at their +ease. Over the fire-place, arranged in the fashion of a trophy, +were a large number of venerable-looking pipes. Taking one of +these down, Mr. Bankes proceeded to fill it from a tobacco jar +which stood in a corner of the mantelshelf. Then he lit it, +and, planting himself in the centre of the hearthrug, right in +front of the fire, he thrust his hands into his pockets and +looked down upon his guests, a huge, black-bearded giant, +puffing at his pipe.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Had a good feed?"</p> + +<p class="normal">They signified that they had.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you know what I brought you here for?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The food and the warmth combined had brought them into a state +of exceeding peace, and they were inclined to sleep. Why he had +brought them there they neither knew nor cared; they were +beyond such trifling. They had had a good meal, the first for +many days, and it behoved them to be thankful.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'll tell you. I brought you here because I want to get you, +the whole lot of you, to run away."</p> + +<p class="normal">His listeners opened their eyes and ears. Bailey had made some +acquaintance with his host's character before, but his three +friends stared.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Every boy worth his salt runs away from school. I did, and it +was the most sensible thing I ever did in my life."</p> + +<p class="normal">When Mr. Bankes thus repeated the assertion which he had made +to Bailey in the trap, his hearers banished sleep and began to +wonder.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What's the use of school? What do you do there? What do you do +at that tumble-down old red-brick house on the Cobham road? +Why, you waste your time."</p> + +<p class="normal">This assertion, if, to a certain extent, true, as it applied to +the establishment in question, was a random shot as applied to +schools in general.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Shall I tell you what I learnt at school? I learnt to hate it, +and I haven't forgotten that lesson to this day; no, and I +shan't till I'm packed away with a lot of dirt on top of me. My +father," Mr. Bankes took his pipe out of his mouth, and pointed +his remarks with it as he went on, "died of a broken heart, and +so should I have done if I hadn't cut it short and run away."</p> + +<p class="normal">No man ever looked less like dying of a broken heart than Mr. +Bankes did then.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A life of adventure's the life for me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">They were the words which had thrilled through Bertie when he +had heard them in the trap; they thrilled him again as he heard +them now, and they thrilled his companions too. They stared up +at Mr. Bankes as though he held them with a spell; nor would +that gentleman have made a bad study for a wizard.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A life of adventure's the life for me! Under foreign skies in +distant lands, away from the twopenny-halfpenny twaddle of +spelling-books and sums, seeking fortune and finding it, a man +in the midst of men, not a finicking idiot among a pack of +babies. Why don't you run away? You see me? I was at school at +Nottingham; I was just turned thirteen: I ran away with +ninepence-halfpenny in my pocket. I got to London somehow; and +from London I got abroad, somehow too; and abroad I've picked +up fortune after fortune, thrown them all away, and picked them +up again. Now I've had about enough of it, I've made another +little pile, and this little pile I think I'll keep, at least +just yet awhile. But what a life it's been! What larks I've +had, what days and nights, what months and years! Why, when I +think of all I've done, and of what I might have done, rotted +away my life, if it hadn't been for that little bolt from +school,--why, when I think of that, I never see a boy but I +long to take him by the scruff of the neck, and sing out, +'Youngster, why don't you do as I have done, cut away from +school, and run?'"</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Bankes flung back his head and laughed. But whether he was +laughing at them, or at his own words, or at his recollections +of the past, was more than they could say. They looked at each +other, conscious that their host was not the least part of the +afternoon's entertainment, and somewhat at a loss as to whether +he was drawing the long bow, taking them to be younger and more +verdant than they were, or whether he was seriously advancing +an educational system of his own.</p> + +<p class="normal">He startled them by putting a question point-blank to Bailey, +one which he had put before.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why don't you run away?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I--I don't know!" stammered Bertie. Then, frankly, as the idea +occurred to him, "Because I never thought of it."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Bankes laughed. His constant tendency to laughter, with or +without apparent reason, seemed to be his not least remarkable +characteristic.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now you have thought of it, why don't you run away?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bailey turned the matter over in his mind.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why should I?"</p> + +<p class="normal">His friends looked at each other, thinking the conversation +just a trifle queer.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why ever should he run away?" asked Griffin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And wherever would he run to?" added Wheeler.</p> + +<p class="normal">Dick Ellis said nothing, but possibly he thought the more. Mr. +Bankes directed his reply directly at Bailey.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'll tell you why you ought to run away; because that's the +shortest cut into a world into which you will never get by any +other road. I'll tell you where you ought to run to, out of +this little fleabite of an island, into the lands of golden +dreams and golden possibilities, my lad; where men at night lay +themselves down poor, and in the morning rise up rich."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Bankes, warming with his theme, began to gesticulate and +stamp about the room, the boys following him with all their +eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I hate your huggermuggering existence; why should a lad of +parts huggermugger all his life away? When I saw you stand up +to that great lout, I said to myself, 'That lad has grit; he's +just the very spit of what I was when I was just his age; he's +too good to be left to muddle in this old worn-out country, to +waste his time with books and sums and trash.' I said to +myself, 'I'll lend him a helping hand,' and so I will. I'll +show you the road, if I do nothing else; and if you don't +choose to take it, it's yourself's to blame, not me.</p> + +<p class="normal">"When I was out in Colorado, at Denver City, there was a boy +came along, just about your age; he came along from away down +East. He was English; he'd got himself stowed away, and he'd +made his way to the promised land. He took a spade one day, and +he marked out a claim, and that boy he worked it, he did, and +it turned up trumps; there wasn't any dirt to dig, because +pretty nearly all that his spade turned up was virgin silver. +He sold that claim for 10,000 dollars, money down, and he went +on and prospered. That boy is now a man; he owns, I daresay, +half a dozen silver mines, and he's so rich,--ah, he's so rich +he doesn't know how rich he is. Now why shouldn't you have been +that boy?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Bankes paused for a reply, but his listeners furnished +none. Griffin was on the point of suggesting that Bailey was +not that boy because he wasn't; but he refrained, thinking that +perhaps that was not quite the sort of answer that was wanted.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I knew another boy when I was going up from the coast to +Kimberley, Griqualand West. Do you boys know where that is?"</p> + +<p class="normal">This sudden plunge into geographical examination took his +guests aback; they did not know where Griqualand West was; +perhaps they had been equally misty as to the whereabouts of +Denver City, Colorado.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's in South Africa. Ah, that's the way to learn geography, +to travel about and see the places,--pitch your books into the +fire!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And is the other place in South Africa?" queried Griffin.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Bankes gave him a look the like of which he had never +received from Mr. Fletcher; a look of thunder, as though he +would have liked to pick him up, then and there, and pitch him +after the books into the fire.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Denver City, Colorado, in South Africa?" he roared. "Why, you +leather-headed noodle, where were you at school? If I were the +man who taught you, I'd flog you from here to Dublin with a +cat-o'-nine-tails, rather than I'd let you expose your +ignorance like that!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The sudden advent among them of an explosive bomb might have +created a little more astonishment than this speech, but not +much. Griffin felt that he had better abstain from questioning, +and let his host run on.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Denver City is in the United States of America, in the land of +the stars and bars, as every idiot knows! As I was saying, +before that young gentleman wrote himself down donkey--and he +looks it, every inch of him!--as I was saying, when I was going +up from the coast to Kimberley, there was a boy who used to do +odd jobs for me; he hadn't sixpenny-worth of clothes upon his +back! I lost sight of him; five years afterwards I met him +again. It was like a tale out of the <i>Arabian Nights</i>, I tell +you! That ragged boy that was, when I saw him again five years +afterwards, he reckoned to cover what any half-dozen men might +have put down, and double it afterwards. And look at the life +he'd led! It's no good my talking about it here, you'd hardly +believe me if I told you half the things he'd done. Don't you +believe any of your adventure books. There aren't half the +adventures crowded into any book which that lad had seen. Yes, +a life of adventure was the life for him, and he'd had it, +too!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Bankes returned to his post of vantage in front of the +fire. In his excitement he had smoked his pipe to premature +ashes; he refilled and lighted it. Then he addressed himself to +Bailey, marking time as he went on by beating the palm of his +right hand against his left.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I say, don't let a day be wasted--days lost are not recovered; +now's your time, and now's your opportunity; don't let the +week's end find you huggermuggering in that old school. Go out +into the world! learn to be a man! Try your courage! Put your +powers to the test! Search for the golden land! Let a life of +adventure be the life for you! As for you," Mr. Bankes turned +with ominous suddenness towards Charlie Griffin, "I don't say +that to you; what I say to you is this: write home to your +mother for a good supply of flannel petticoats, and wrap +yourself up warm, and let your hair grow long, and take care of +your complexion. You're a beauty boy, one of the sort who +didn't ought to be trusted out after dark alone, and who's sure +to have a fit if he sees the moon!"</p> + +<p class="normal">It is a question if this sudden change of subject made Griffin +or his friends the more uncomfortable. Thinking that Mr. Bankes +intended a joke, and that it would be ungrateful not to laugh, +Ellis attempted a snigger; but a sudden gleam from his host's +eyes in his direction brought his mirth to an untimely ending.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What are you laughing at?" asked Mr. Bankes. Ellis kept +silence, being most unwilling to confess that he did not know. +Mr. Bankes addressed himself again to Bailey.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is you I am advising to do as I did, to try a fall with the +world and to back yourself to win, not such things as those."</p> + +<p class="normal">Under this heading he included Bertie's three friends, with an +eloquent wave of his hand in their direction.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It wants a boy to make a man, not a farthing sugar stick! +You'll have cause to bless this evening all your life, and to +bless me, too, if you take the tip I've given you. Don't you +listen to those who talk to you about the hardships you will +meet. What's life without hardships, I should like to know; +it's hardships make the man! I'm not advising you to wrap +yourself up in cotton-wool; leave cotton-wool to mutton-headed +dummies;" this with a significant glance in the direction of +Bailey's friends. "Rather I tell you this, you back yourself to +fight, and fight it out, and fight to win, and win you will! +Run away to-night, to-morrow, I don't care when, so long as +it's within the week. There's nothing like striking the iron +while it's hot, and set the clock a-going which will never stop +until it strikes the hour of victory won and fortune made! A +life of adventure's the life for me, and it's the life for you, +and the sooner you begin it the longer it will last and the +sweeter it will be."</p> + +<p class="normal">There was something in Mr. Bankes' tone and manner, when he +chose to put it there, which, in the eyes of his present +audience, at any rate, had all the effect of natural eloquence. +His excitement excited them, and almost he persuaded them to +believe in the reality of his golden dreams. Bailey, indeed, +sat silent, spellbound. Mr. Bankes, by no means a bad judge of +character, had not mistaken the metal of which the boy was +made, and every stroke he struck, struck home. As was not +unnatural, Mr. Bankes' eloquence had a very much more mixed +effect on Bailey's friends. Their host gave a sudden turn to +their thoughts by taking out his watch.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Eleven o'clock! whew-w-w!" This was a whistle. "They'll think +you've run away already! Ha! ha! ha! I'm not going to have you +boys sleep here, so the sooner you go the better. Now then, out +you go!"</p> + +<p class="normal">His guests sprang to their feet as he made a movement as though +he would turn them out with as much precipitation as he had +lifted them into the trap. And, indeed, the manner of their +departure was not much more ceremonious. Before they quite knew +what was happening, he had hustled them into the hall; the +hall-door was open; they were the other side of it, and Mr. +Bankes, standing on the doorstep, was ordering them off his +premises.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now then, clear out of this! The dogs will be loose in half a +second; you'd better make tracks before they take it into their +heads to try their teeth upon your legs."</p> + +<p class="normal">The door was shut, and they were left standing in the night, +endeavouring to realize whether their adventure of the night +had been actual fact, or whether they had only dreamed it.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>Chapter VI</h2> + +<h2><a name="div1_06" href="#div1Ref_06">AFTERWARDS</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">But Wheeler's first observation brought them back to <i>terra +firma</i> with a plunge.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's my belief that fellow's a howling madman."</p> + +<p class="normal">They cast a look over their shoulder to see if the fellow thus +referred to was within hearing of this courteous speech, and +then, with one accord, they made for the entrance to Washington +Villa, not pausing till they stood clear of its precincts on +the road outside.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then Wheeler made another observation.</p> + +<p class="normal">"This is a jolly lark!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Ellis and Griffin laughed, but Bailey held his peace. A thought +struck Griffin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I say, I wonder what old Mother Fletcher'll say? She'll send +herself into fits! Fancy its being eleven o'clock! Did you ever +hear of such a set-out in all your lives? And I've no more idea +of where we are than the man in the moon."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I know," said Bailey. He began to trudge on a few feet in +front of them.</p> + +<p class="normal">It still rained--a steady, soaking drizzle--and a haze which +hung about the air made the night darker than it need have +done. Griffin and Wheeler, minus caps, were wholly at the mercy +of the weather.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shouldn't be surprised," muttered Griffin, "if I didn't +catch a death of cold after this."</p> + +<p class="normal">And, indeed, such was a quite possible consummation of the +evening's pleasure. The boys trudged on, following Bailey's +lead. But Wheeler's feelings could only find relief by venting +themselves in speech.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did you ever hear anything like that chap? I never did, never! +Fancy his going on with all that stuff about running away. I +should like to catch myself at it,--running away! He's about +the biggest liar ever I heard!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And didn't he snap me up!" said Griffin. "Did you ever see +anything like it? How was I to know where the beastly place +was? I don't believe there is such a place."</p> + +<p class="normal">"He's cracked!" decided Ellis. Then, despite the rain, the +young gentleman began snapping his fingers and cutting capers +in the middle of the muddy road. "He's cracked! cracked! Oh +lor', I never had such a spree in all my life!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Then the three young gentlemen put their hands to their sides +and roared with laughter, stamping about the road to save +themselves from choking. But Bailey trudged steadily on in +front.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And didn't he give us a blow-out!"</p> + +<p class="normal">A shout of laughter. "Ho, ho, ho! ha, ha, ha!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And didn't he tell some busters!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Another chorus, as before.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I wonder if he ever did run away himself, as he said he did?" +This remark came from Ellis, and his friends checked their +laughter to consider it. They then for the first time +discovered that Bailey was leaving them in the rear.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're a nice sort of fellow," shouted Ellis after him. "Let's +catch him up! What's his little game, I wonder? Let's catch him +up!"</p> + +<p class="normal">They scampered after him along the road, soon catching him, for +Bertie, who was not hurrying himself, was only a few yards in +advance. Ellis slipped his arm through his.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I say, Bailey, do you think he ever ran away from school +himself?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What's it got to do with me?" was Bertie's reply.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Whatever made him go on at you like that? He must have taken +you for a ninny to think you were going to swallow all he said! +Fancy you running away! I think I see you at it! Running away +to Huffham's and back is about your style. Why didn't you ask +him for a tip? He seemed to be so uncommon fond of you that if +I'd been you I'd have asked for one. You might have said if he +made it large enough you'd run away; and so you might have +done--to old Mother Huffham's and back." And Ellis nudged him +in the side and laughed. But Bailey held his peace.</p> + +<p class="normal">Wheeler gave the conversation a different turn.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How are you fellows going to get in?" He referred to their +effecting an entrance into Mecklemburg House.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Knock at the door, of course, and pull the bell, and dance a +break-down on the steps, and make a shindy generally, so as to +let 'em know we've come." These suggestions came from Griffin. +Wheeler took up the parable.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And tell old Mother Fletcher to let us have something hot for +supper, and to look alive and get it, and make it tripe and +onions, with a glass of stout to follow. I just fancy what +she'd say."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And tell her," continued Griffin, "that we've been paying a +visit to a nice, kind gentleman, who happens to be raving mad."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And she'd be pleased to hear that he advised us all to run +away, and waste no time about it. Where did he advise us to go +to? The land of golden dreams? Oh, my crikey, don't I see her +face!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bailey made a remark of a practical kind.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We can get in fast enough, there are always plenty of windows +open." It is not impossible that the young gentleman had made +an entrance into Mecklemburg House by some such way before.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's easy enough to get in," said Ellis, "but what are we to +say in the morning? It'll take about a week to dry my things, +and about a month to get the mud off."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shouldn't be surprised if old Shane got sacked," chuckled +Wheeler.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It will be jolly hard lines if he does," said Ellis.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, what's the odds? he shouldn't have let us go!" Which +remark of Wheeler's was pretty good, considering the +circumstances under which Mr. Shane's permission had been +obtained.</p> + +<p class="normal">Just then Bailey stopped, and began to peer about him in the +night.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you lost your way?" asked Ellis. "That'll be the best +joke of all if you have. Fancy camping out a night like this! +We shan't quite be drowned by the morning, but just about +almost."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm going to cut across this field," said Bailey. "It's ever +so far round by the road, but we shall get there in less than +no time if we go this way."</p> + +<p class="normal">The suggestion tickled Ellis.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fancy cutting across fields on a night like this! Oh, my +gracious! what will old Mother Fletcher say?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bailey climbed over a gate, and the others clambered after him. +It might be the shortest cut, but it was emphatically the +dirtiest.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, if they haven't been ploughing it!" cried Griffin, before +they had taken half a dozen steps.</p> + +<p class="normal">Apparently they had, and very recently too. The furrows were +wide and deep, the soil seemed to be a stiffish clay; walking +was exercise of the most hazardous kind. There was an +exclamation from some one; but as it appeared that Griffin had +only fallen forward on to his nose, his friends were too much +occupied with their own proceedings to pay much heed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have lost my shoe!" declared Wheeler, immediately after. +"Oh, I'm stuck in the mud; I believe I'm planted in this +beastly field."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never mind your shoe, since you've lost your hat already," +said Ellis, with ready sympathy. "You might as well leave all +the rest of your things behind you, for all the use they'll be +after this little spree is over."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't know what Bailey calls a short cut," grumbled Griffin. +"At the rate I'm going it'll take me about a couple of hours to +do a hundred yards."</p> + +<p class="normal">"We shall be home with the milk," said Ellis.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I've lost my other shoe!" cried Wheeler.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, have you really, though?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I believe I have, but I don't know whether I have or whether I +haven't; all I know is, I've got about a hundred pounds of mud +sticking to my feet. I wish Bailey was at Jericho with his +short cuts!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"This is nicer than that old lunatic," sang out Dick Ellis. +"Don't I wish old Mother Fletcher could see us now."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't know what you call nice," said Griffin. "You'd call it +nice if you had your eyes and nose and mouth bunged up. I'm +down again!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You needn't pull me with you," remonstrated Ellis.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Griffin did. Feeling that he was going, he made a frantic +clutch at Ellis, who was just in front of him, and the two +friends embraced each other on the treacherous ground. Ellis' +tone underwent a sudden change.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'll pay you out for this!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I couldn't help it," protested Griffin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Couldn't help it! What do you mean, you couldn't help it? Do +you mean to say you couldn't help catching hold of me, and +dragging me down into this beastly ditch?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It isn't a ditch; it's a furrow."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't know what you call a furrow. I know I'm sopping wet, +and where my hat's gone to I don't know."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What's it matter about your hat? I've lost mine ever so long +ago! I wish I'd stopped at home, and never bothered old Shane +to let me out. I know whoever else calls this a spree, I don't; +spree indeed!"</p> + +<p class="normal">When they had regained their feet, and were cool enough to look +about them, they found that the others were out of sight, and +apparently out of hearing too.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Blessed if this isn't a go! If they haven't been and gone +and left us. Hollo!" Ellis put his hand to his mouth, that his +voice might carry further; but no answer came. "Ba-a-ailey! +Ba-a-ailey!" But from Bailey came no sign. "This is a pretty +state of things! wherever have they gone? If this is a game +they think they're having, it's the meanest thing of which I +ever heard, and I'll be even with them, mark my words. Which +way did they go?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"How should I know? I don't even know which way we came. How's +a fellow to know anything when he can't see his hand before his +face in a place like this? It's my belief it's one of Bailey's +little games."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ba-a-ailey!" Ellis gave another view-halloo. In vain, only +silence answered. "Well, this is a go! If it hadn't been for +you I shouldn't have been in this hole."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I wish I'd never bothered old Shane to let me out!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bother old Shane, and bother you too! I don't know where I am +any more than Adam."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm sure I don't."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's no good standing here like a couple of moon-struck +donkeys. I sink in the mud every time I put my foot to the +ground; we shall be over head and heels by the time the morning +comes. I'm going straight ahead; it must bring us somewhere, +and it seems to me it don't much matter where."</p> + +<p class="normal">Minus his hat, not improved in person by his contact with the +ground, nor in temper by the desertion of his friends, Dick +Ellis renewed his journeying. Griffin found some difficulty in +keeping up with him. How many times they lost their footing +during the next few minutes it would be bootless to recount. +Over mud, through mire, uphill, downhill, they staggered +wildly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I wonder how large this field is," observed Ellis, after about +ten minutes of this sort of work. "It seems to me we've gone +about six miles."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It seems to me we've gone sixty," groaned his friend.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Talk about short cuts! Fancy bringing a fellow into the middle +of a ploughed field on a pitch-dark, rainy night, and leaving +him to find his way alone! I say, Ellis, supposing we lose our +way?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Supposing we lose our way!" shouted Dick. "I guess we've lost +it! What an ass you are! What do you think we're doing here, if +we haven't lost our way? Do you think I'd stop in a place like +this if I knew a way of getting out of it?" Just then he +emphasized his remarks by sitting down in the mud, and +remaining seated where he was. "I can't get up; I believe I'm +stuck, and here I'll stick; and in the morning they'll find me +dead: you mark my words, and see if they don't."</p> + +<p class="normal">The terror of the situation moved Griffin almost to tears.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let's shout," he said.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What's the good of shouting?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't know," said Griffin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then what an ass you are!" With difficulty Ellis staggered to +his feet. "It's my belief I've got about an acre of land +fastened to the seat of my breeches. I should like to know how +I'm to walk and carry that about."</p> + +<p class="normal">They staggered on. A few yards further on they heard the sound +of wheels upon a road.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There's the road!" cried Griffin, rapture in his voice. The +sound gave him courage. He quickened his pace, and hastened on. +Suddenly there was a splash, a cry of terror, then all was +silence.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What's the matter?" cried Ellis, startled he scarcely knew at +what. There was no reply. "Griffin, where are you? What's the +matter?"</p> + +<p class="normal">There was a sound as of a splashing of water, and a stifled +voice exclaimed,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Help! I am drowning! He-elp!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Ellis pulled up short, and only just in time, for the ground +seemed all at once to come to an end. He stood on the edge of a +declivity, and in front of him was he knew not what. It was so +dark, he could not see his hand in front of him. There was only +the sound as of some one struggling in water, and faint cries +for help. For an instant his legs seemed to refuse their +office, his knees gave way from under him, and his tongue clave +to the roof of his mouth. Then he became conscious of wheels +moving along a road which was close at hand. The sound gave him +courage, and he shouted with the full force of his lungs,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Help! help!"</p> + +<p class="normal">To his intense satisfaction, an immediate answer was returned.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hollo!" a gruff voice replied; "who's that a-calling?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I!--here!--in the field! There's some one drowning."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hold hard! I'll bring you a light."</p> + +<p class="normal">A moment's pause; then in front of him a light was seen dimly +approaching through the night. Never before had a light been so +heartily welcome to Master Richard Ellis.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where are you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here! Take care where you're coming; there's a pond, or +something, just in front of you."</p> + +<p class="normal">The new-comer approached, keeping a wary eye upon the ground as +he advanced. Ellis saw it was a carter, and that he carried an +old-fashioned round lantern in his hand, with a lighted candle +stuck in the socket. The carter held the lantern above his +head, standing still, and peering through the night. The man +was visible to the boy, but the boy, shrouded in the blackness +of the night, was invisible to the man.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where are you?" he asked, seeing nothing in the gloom.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never mind me; Griffin's drowning in a pond, or something."</p> + +<p class="normal">The splashing continued.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm drowning! He-elp!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The carter stooped forward, so that the light fell on the +ground. Then Ellis perceived that between the man and himself +was a little pond, into which the over-anxious Griffin had +managed to fall.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There ain't no water there," said the carter. "Where are you? +Come out of it. There ain't enough water to drown a cat."</p> + +<p class="normal">Griffin, perceiving that the fact was as the carter stated, +proceeded to betake himself to what was, in comparison, dry +land. But though not drowned, a more pitiable sight could +scarcely be presented. He had fallen head-foremost into the +filthy pool; the water was trickling down his head and face, +and his countenance was plastered with an unsavoury coating of +green slime.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What are you? a boy?" inquired the carter. "Well, you're a +pretty sight, anyhow!"</p> + +<p class="normal">For answer Griffin burst into tears. Ellis, who had by this +time found his way round the pond, joined in the criticism of +his friend.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, I am blessed!" In spite of his own plight, he was almost +moved to mirth. "Won't old Mother Fletcher take it out of you! +I wouldn't be in your shoes for a pound."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who's she? and who are you?" asked the carter.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you ever heard of Mecklemburg House?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What, the school? Be you from the school? Well, you're a +pretty couple, the pair of you. What little game are you up to +now--running away? Won't they lay it into you!" The carter +grinned; he was not aware that corporal punishment was +interdicted at Mecklemburg House, and already seemed to see the +"laying in" in his mind's eye.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We--weren't running--away!" wept Griffin. "We've lost our +way."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Lost your way! Well, I never! That's a good one!" The carter +seemed to doubt the statement.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We have lost our way," said Ellis.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Look here! for a couple of pins I'll take you by the scruff of +your necks and walk you back myself, if you come any of your +games on me."</p> + +<p class="normal">From his tone and manner the carter seemed to be indignant. +Griffin stared--as well as he could through his tears and the +slime--and Ellis stared, being both at a loss to understand his +indignation.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Coming with your tales to me, telling me you've lost your way, +with the school just across the road."</p> + +<p class="normal">His hearers stared still more.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You don't mean it?" Ellis said. "Why, if--I don't believe--why, +if this isn't old Palmer's field, which he was only ploughing +yesterday, and if you haven't tumbled into old Palmer's pond! Well, +if we aren't a couple of beauties!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Griffin stared at Ellis, and the carter stared at both of them. +The fact was beginning to dawn upon these young gentlemen, the +startling fact, that they had been all the time in a country +with every inch of which they were acquainted, and that it was +only the darkness which had confused them. As the carter had +said, Palmer's field--which was the name by which it was known +to the boys--was right in front of Mecklemburg House, and, in +consequence, the school, instead of being, as they supposed, a +mile or so away, was just across the road. When they had fully +realized this fact, the young gentlemen gave a simultaneous +yell of satisfaction, and without wasting any time in +compliments and thanks, dashed through the open gate, and out +of sight, leaving the carter to the enjoyment of his own +society.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well," was the comment of that worthy, when he perceived +the full measure of ingratitude which was entailed by this +unlooked-for flight, "if I ever helps another being out of a +ditch I'll let him know. Not even the price of half a pint!" +Then he shouted after them, "I hope the schoolmeaster'll tan +the hide from off you. I would if I were him."</p> + +<p class="normal">Possibly the expression of this pious wish in some degree +relieved his feelings, for he followed the boys, though at a +much more decorous pace, through the gate. When he reached the +road, he stopped for a moment and looked around him, but there +were no signs of any one in sight--the birds had flown. So, +muttering beneath his breath what were probably not blessings, +he returned to his charge, a huge vehicle, drawn by four +perspiring horses, and which was loaded with market produce. +Climbing up to his seat, he started his horses and continued +his journey through the night. But though he was not aware of +it, the young gentlemen who had treated him with such +ingratitude had not come to the end of their adventure.</p> + +<p class="normal">The front gate of Mecklemburg House stood wide open, and they +unhesitatingly dashed inside. But no sooner were they in the +grass-grown courtyard than a thought struck Griffin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I wonder if Bailey and Wheeler have come back?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't know, and I don't care," said Ellis.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the interchange of speech brought them back to the sense of +their situation.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How are you going to get in?" asked Griffin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Through the schoolroom window; it's always open," replied his +friend.</p> + +<p class="normal">But this always was a rule liable to exceptions, for on this +occasion the particular window referred to happened to be shut. +However, to understand all that was to follow, it is necessary +to bring this chapter to an end.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>Chapter VII</h2> + +<h2><a name="div1_07" href="#div1Ref_07">THE RETURN OF THE WANDERERS</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">While Bailey and his friends were spending the evening in the +company of Mr. George Washington Bankes, the principal of +Mecklemburg House was in a condition in which principals are +very seldom supposed to be, a condition very closely allied to +tears.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Fletcher was a tall, thin man, whose height was altogether +out of proportion to his width. He was afflicted with a chronic +stoop, and had a way, in walking, of shuffling, rather than +stepping from foot to foot, which was scarcely dignified. His +face was not unpleasing; there was a mildness in his eye and a +sweetness about his infrequent smile which spoke of a gentler +nature than the typical pedagogue is supposed to have.</p> + +<p class="normal">The Philistines were upon him now; the battle, which he had +long been feebly eluding, rather than boldly facing, had closed +its ranks, and in the mere preamble to the fray he had +immediately succumbed. It would have been better, perhaps, if +he had been made of sterner stuff, but, unless he could have +been entirely changed into another man, sooner or later the end +was bound to come. Mr. Fletcher was ruined, and with him +Mecklemburg House Collegiate School was ruined too.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had been on a forlorn hope to town. A certain creditor, in +return for money advanced, held a bill of sale on all the +contents of the academy. Necessary payments had not been made, +and he had threatened to swoop down upon the ancient red-brick +house, and make a clearance of every desk and stool, every pot +and kettle, every bed and bolster the premises contained. To +appease this personage, Mr. Fletcher had journeyed up to town, +and had journeyed up in vain. The fiat had gone forth that +to-morrow, the day after, any day or any hour--in the middle of +the night, for all he knew--hard-hearted strangers might and +would arrive, and, without asking with your leave or by your +leave, would strip Mecklemburg House of every movable it +contained.</p> + +<p class="normal">This was what it had come to after five-and-twenty years! When +his father died he had been left a comfortable sum of ready +money, untarnished credit, and a flourishing school; of all +which nothing was left him now.</p> + +<p class="normal">The principal and his wife were seated in their own +sitting-room, trying to look the matter boldly in the face. Mr. +Fletcher, sitting with his elbows on the table, covered his +face with his hands. Mrs. Fletcher, a hard-featured woman, had +her arm about his neck, and strove to comfort him. Her ideas of +comfort were of a material sort.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come, eat your supper, now do. You've had nothing to eat all +day, and when you've eaten a bit things will look brighter, +perhaps."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Fletcher turned his care-worn face up to his wife.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jane, things will never look bright to me again."</p> + +<p class="normal">The man's voice trembled, and the woman turned her face away, +perhaps unwilling to let him see that in her eyes were tears. +The principal got up and began to walk about the room. His +stoop was more pronounced than usual, and his shuffling style +of movement more ungainly.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm just a failure, that's what I am, a failure. The world's +moved on, and I've stood still. I'm exactly where my father +was, and in schools and schoolmasters there's a difference of a +hundred years between his time and this. I'm not fit for +keeping school in these new times. I don't know what I am fit +for. I'm fit for nothing but to die!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And if you die, what's to become of me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And if I live, what'll happen to you then?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It'll happen to me that I'll have you, and do you think that's +nothing?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jane, it's worse than nothing! You ought to have been the man +instead of me. I shall be a clog to you and a burden; you're +fit for fifty things, and I'm not fit for one! I could not make +a decent clerk. I'm very certain I could not pass the +examination required of a teacher in a board-school; I doubt if +I ever could have reached that standard. I'm very certain I +could not now. Times are changed in matters of education. +People used to be satisfied with a twentieth part of what they +now require. When I am turned out of the house in which I was +born, and in which I have lived my whole life long, as I shall +be in the course of a day or two, and you are turned out with +me, wife, there will be fifty openings you will be fitted to +fill, while I shall only be fit to carry circulars from house +to house, or a sandwich-board through the streets."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's no use talking in that way, Beauclerk; it only breaks my +heart to hear you, and it does no good. We must make up our +minds to do something at once, and the great thing is, what? +Now come and eat your supper, or you'll be ill; you know how +you suffer if you go hungry to bed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I may as well become accustomed to it, because I shall have to +go hungry very soon."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Beauclerk!--what is the use of going on like that?--do you +want to break my heart?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Wife, I believe mine's broken."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Fletcher leaned his face against the wall just where he was +standing, his long, lean frame shaken with his sobbing.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Beauclerk! Beauclerk! don't! don't!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Hard-faced Mrs. Fletcher went to her husband, and took him in +her arms, and soothed him as though he were a child of five. +Mr. Fletcher looked up. His face was ghastly with the effort he +made at self-control.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I think I will have some supper; perhaps it will do me good,"</p> + +<p class="normal">Husband and wife sat down to supper. There were the remains of +a leg of mutton, a little glass jar half-filled with pickled +cabbage, a small piece of cheese, and bread. Mrs. Fletcher put +some mutton on her husband's plate, and a smaller portion on +her own. Mr. Fletcher swallowed one or two mouthfuls, but +apparently it went against the grain.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I can't eat it," he said, pushing away his plate; "I'm not +hungry."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Won't you have some cheese? it's very nice cheese."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm not hungry," repeated her husband.</p> + +<p class="normal">His wife held her peace; she continued eating, not, perhaps, +because she was hungry, but possibly because she wished, in +doing something, to find a momentary relief from the necessity +of thinking. Mr. Fletcher sat drawing patterns with his fork +upon the tablecloth.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shall write to the parents in the morning. In fact, I ought +to write to them to-night, but I don't feel up to it. I shall +tell them that I am ruined, root and branch, stock and stone; +that Mecklemburg House Collegiate School is a thing of the +past, and that they had better remove their sons immediately, +and let them have the means to travel with, because I have +none."</p> + +<p class="normal">"When did Booker say he would distrain?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Booker was the creditor who held the bill of sale.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He didn't specify the exact hour and minute, but it'll only be +a question of an hour or two in any case. We can't pay and the +things must go."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But you have received money from some of the boys in advance."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Fletcher got up, and began to pace the room again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have received money from most of them. Jane, what am I to +do? As you know very well, I have received from more than half +the boys the term's fees in advance. I am not clear that they +could not prosecute me for obtaining money by means of false +pretences; but, in any case, I shall feel that I have played +the part of a dishonest man. Why didn't I say frankly at the +beginning of the term, I am ruined, ruined hopelessly! and gone +down at once without a pretence of struggling through another +term?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"We have struggled through so many, we could not tell we should +not be able to struggle again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"At any rate, we haven't. Before we're halfway through the term +we're beaten, and I have received money on what was very much +like false pretences. Then there are Mr. Till and Mr. Shane; +they're entitled to a term's salary, if they could not lay +claim to a term's notice too."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Fletcher's face grew cold and hard, and there was an +unpleasant glitter in her eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shouldn't trouble myself about them; a more helpless lout +than Mr. Shane, as you call him, I never saw, and to my mind +Mr. Till never has been worth his salt. This morning, when he +was left in charge, the school was like a bear-garden; I had to +go in half a dozen times to ask what the noise was about. It's +my belief that if you had had proper assistance you wouldn't be +in the state you are in now."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Fletcher sighed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That is not the question, my dear; I owe them the money, and +they ought to be paid. I know that they are both almost, if not +quite penniless, and if I do not pay them something I doubt +whether they will have the means to take them up to town. +Remember, too, that this is the middle of term, and that how +long they will be without even the chance of getting another +situation goodness only knows."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And are you better off? Have you better prospect of a +situation? Beauclerk, before you pay either of those men a +penny you will have to speak to me; I will not be robbed by +them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If I would I have nothing to pay them with, so there is an end +of it, my dear."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you know what Mr. Shane's latest performance has been?" +Struck by something in his wife's tone, Mr. Fletcher glanced at +her with inquiry in his eyes. "I have not told you yet, because +I have been too much upset by the news which you have brought +to tell you anything,--goodness knows we have enough of our own +to bear without having to bear the brunt of that clown's +blunders too."</p> + +<p class="normal">Seeing that his wife's eloquence bade fair to carry her away, +Mr. Fletcher interposed a question.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What has Mr. Shane been doing?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Doing! I'll tell you what he has been doing,--and you talk of +robbing yourself to give him money! He let four of those boys +go out in the rain this afternoon, when I expressly told him +not to; and it would seem as if he has let them go for good, +for they are still out now."</p> + +<p class="normal">Her husband looked at her, not quite catching the meaning of +her words.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Still out now?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, still out now. Bailey, Griffin, Wheeler and Ellis went +out this afternoon, in all the rain and fog, with Mr. Shane's +permission; and out they've stopped, for they're not back yet."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not back yet! Jane, you cannot mean it. Why, it's nearly +midnight." Mr. Fletcher looked at his venerable silver watch, +which had come to him, with the rest of his possessions, from +his father. "What's that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Husband and wife listened. The silence which reigned without +had been broken by a crash from the schoolroom, a crash which +bore a strong family resemblance to the sound made by the +upsetting of a form.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's those boys!" said Mrs. Fletcher. "They're getting through +the window."</p> + +<p class="normal">She hurried off to see, her husband following closely after. +All the lights were out; save the sitting-room which they had +left, all the house was dark. She called to him to bring the +lamp. Returning, he snatched it from the table and went after +her again.</p> + +<p class="normal">They entered the schoolroom, Mr. Fletcher acting as lamp-bearer. +Directly the door was opened they were conscious of a strong current +of air within the room. Mrs. Fletcher went swiftly forward, picking +her way among the desks and forms, and the cause of the noise they +had heard and the draught they felt was soon apparent. The furthest +window was wide open. In front of it a form was overturned upon the +floor, a form which some one effecting a burglarious entrance through +the window in the dark had unwittingly turned over. The lady's quick +eye caught sight of a figure crouching behind a neighbouring desk. +It did not take her long to drag a young gentleman out by the collar +of his coat.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well--upon--my--word!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Her astonishment was genuine, and excusable; few more +disreputable figures ever greeted a lady's eye.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is this Bailey?"</p> + +<p class="normal">It was Bailey. Perhaps at that moment Bailey rather wished it +wasn't; but the surprise of his sudden capture had bereft him +of the power of speech, and he was unable to deny his identity. +The lady did nothing else but stare. Suddenly somebody else +made his appearance at the window, a head rose above the +window-sill, and a meek, modest voice inquired,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Please, ma'am, may I come in?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The new-comer was Edward Wheeler. The lady's astonishment +redoubled.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well--I--never!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Taking this exclamation to convey permission, Wheeler gradually +raised himself the necessary height, and finally, after a few +convulsive plunges to prevent himself from slipping back again, +scrambled through the window and stood upon the floor. Wheeler +presented a companion picture to his friend. As he had lost his +hat at an early hour of the evening, he, perhaps, in some +slight details, bore away the palm from Bailey. Mrs. Fletcher +stared at them both in blank amazement; in all her experience +of boys she never had seen anything quite equal to these two. +Mr. Fletcher, lamp in hand, came up to join in the inspection.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where have you boys been?" he asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Out to tea," said Bailey.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Fletcher sniffed disdainfully.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Out to tea! Don't tell me that! I should think you've been out +to tea in a ditch!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Fletcher carried on the examination.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How dare you tell me you've been to tea! Where have you boys +been?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"We have been out to tea," said Bailey.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And where, sir, have you been having tea, that you come back +at this hour, and in such a plight as that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Washington Villa," answered Bailey.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Washington Villa! And where's Washington Villa? But never mind +that, I shall have something to say to you in the morning. +Where are those other boys? Where are Griffin and Ellis?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"They're coming," muttered Bailey.</p> + +<p class="normal">Just then they came. While Mr. Fletcher hesitated, in doubt +what to do or say, a voice, unmistakably Ellis', was heard +without.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is that you, Bailey? Won't I pay you out for this, you cad! We +might have got drowned for all you cared. Here's Griffin got +half-drowned as it is."</p> + +<p class="normal">Thrusting her head out of the window, Mrs. Fletcher replied to +the wanderer; a reply, doubtless, as unexpected as undesired.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If Mr. Fletcher did as I wished him, he'd give each of you +boys a good round flogging before you went to bed, a lot of +disobedient, ungrateful, untruthful, and untrustworthy scamps!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Possibly this was enough for Ellis, for he subsided and was +heard no more, but a sound of weeping arose. It was the grief +of Charlie Griffin. Placing the lamp upon a desk, Mr. Fletcher +put his head out of the window beside his wife's.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm not going to open the hall door for you at this time of +night. Your friends came through the window, and you can follow +your friends."</p> + +<p class="normal">They followed their friends, Ellis coming first; Griffin, with +not unnatural bashfulness, preferring to keep in the +background. Mrs. Fletcher's uplifted hands and cry of +astonishment greeted Ellis, who was indeed a notable example of +the possibilities of dirt as applied to the person, but +Griffin's entry was followed by the silence of petrified +amazement.</p> + +<p class="normal">His friends' attempts at disfigurement were altogether +unsuccessful as compared to the success which had attended his. +They were dandies compared to him. It was difficult at a first +glance to realize that he was a boy, or indeed a human being of +any kind. He was covered with a combination of weeds, green +slime, particoloured filth, and yellow clay; the water dripped +from the more prominent portions of his frame; his clothes were +glued to his limbs; he was hatless; his face and hair were +plastered with the aforesaid slime; and, to crown it all, he +was convulsed with a sorrow which lay too deep for words.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Griffin!" was all that the headmaster's wife could gasp. +"Charlie Griffin!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where have you been?" asked Mr. Fletcher.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I've been in the pond," gasped Griffin, half choked with mud +and tears.</p> + +<p class="normal">"In the pond? What pond?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pa-almer's po-ond!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Palmer's pond! What were you doing in there? What I'm to do +with you boys is more than I can say!" Mr. Fletcher sighed. +"There's one thing, I shan't have to do with you much longer." +This was muttered half beneath his breath. "What are we to do +with them, my dear?" This was a question to his wife.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't ask me; I don't know what we're to do with them. I +should think that boy"--here she pointed an accusatory finger +at Griffin--"had better go back to Palmer's pond. He appears to +be fond of it, and it's the only place he's fit for." Griffin +was moved to wilder tears. "He had better take his things off +where he stands, and throw them out into the yard; they'll +never be good for anything again, and he shan't go upstairs +with them on. And all four of them"--this with sudden vivacity +which turned attention away from Griffin--"must have a bath +before they think of going to bed between my sheets. A pretty +state of things to have to get baths ready at this time of +night!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Griffin, you had better take off your things," said Mr. +Fletcher mildly, when his wife had finished. "I don't know what +your father will say when he hears of the way in which you +treat your clothing."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mrs. Fletcher returned to her sitting-room, and Griffin unrobed +himself, flinging each separate article of clothing into the +yard as he took it off. Then a procession, headed by Mr. +Fletcher, started for the bath-room. After a few moments' +contact with clean, cold water, the young gentlemen, presenting +a more respectable appearance, were escorted to their bedroom, +Mr. Fletcher remaining while they put themselves to bed. Having +assured himself that they actually were between the sheets, "I +will speak to you in the morning," he said, and disappeared.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the boys had satisfied themselves that he was out of +hearing, their tongues began to wag. Griffin was still +whimpering.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's all through you, Bailey, I got into this row."</p> + +<p class="normal">Something suspiciously like a chuckle was the only answer which +came from Bailey's bed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I say, did you really tumble into Palmer's pond?" inquired +Wheeler.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course I did! How could I help it when you couldn't see +your hand before your face?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Wheeler buried himself in the bedclothes and roared with +laughter.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You wouldn't have laughed if it had been you," continued the +outraged Griffin. "I was as nearly drowned as anything. I +should have been if it hadn't been for a fellow with a +lantern."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Go away! drowned!" scoffed Bailey, unconsciously repeating the +carter's words; "why, there isn't enough water to drown a cat!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What did you go and leave us for like that?" asked Ellis.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you think I was going to mess about in the rain all night +while you two were squabbling on top of each other in the mud?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I call it a mean thing to do!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who cares what you call it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"And if it weren't so jolly late, I'd give you something for +yourself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, would you? You'd give me something for myself! I like +that! You wait till the morning, and then perhaps I'll give you +something for yourself instead!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Unconscious of the compliments which his affectionate pupils +were bandying from one to the other, Mr. Fletcher returned to +his wife, seated in the parlour. His whole air was one of +depression, as of one who had no longer spirit enough to fight +with fortune.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, it will be over to-morrow!" he said. "I don't think I'm +much good at school-keeping; I'm not strong enough; I'm not +sufficiently able to impress my influence on others." Going to +the mantelshelf he leaned his head upon his hand. "I suspect +I've failed as a schoolmaster because I deserved to fail."</p> + +<p class="normal">Then, forgetting the heroes of the night, his wife began to +comfort him.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>Chapter VIII</h2> + +<h2><a name="div1_08" href="#div1Ref_08">PREPARING FOR FLIGHT</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">That night Bertie Bailey dreamed a dream. In fact, he dreamed +several dreams; his slumber-time was passed in dreamland, +journeying from dream to dream.</p> + +<p class="normal">He dreamed of the Land of Golden Dreams; of Mr. Bankes and +Washington Villa; of a boy traversing a road which ran right +around the world; of tumbling into ponds and scrambling out of +them; of some mysterious country, peopled by a race of giants, +to which there came a boy, who, single-handed, brought them +low, and claimed the country for his own, and the soil of that +land consisted of gold and silver, with judicious variations of +precious stones. In his dreams he saw weapons flashing in the +air, and he heard the sound of strange instruments of music.</p> + +<p class="normal">Just before he woke he dreamed the most vivid dream of all. A +moment before all had been a chaos of bewilderment, but all at +once he found himself alone, in the centre of some wild place, +not quite sure what sort of place it was, nor where, nor of +anything about it, but he knew that it was wild. A voice was +heard in the air, and he knew that it was the voice of Mr. +George Washington Bankes. The voice kept repeating, "A life of +adventure's the life for me!" and every time the words were +uttered the boy's heart leapt up within him, and he went +bounding on. The one voice became several, the world was full +of voices, yet he knew that they all belonged to the original +Mr. George Washington Bankes; and over and over again they +repeated the same refrain, "A life of adventure's the life for +me!" till the whole world was alive with it, and birds and +beasts and sticks and stones caught up the same refrain, "A +life of adventure's the life for me!" and the boy's heart was +filled with a great and wondrous exultation. But all at once +the voices ceased; all was still; and the boy found that he was +standing in front of a mighty mountain, which filled the world +with darkness, and barred the way in front of him. And he was +beginning to be afraid, when out of the silence and the +darkness came, in a still small whisper--which he knew to be +the whisper of Mr. George Washington Bankes--the words, "A life +of adventure's the life for me!" and they put courage into his +heart, and he stretched out his arm and touched the mountain, +and, behold! at his touch it was cleft asunder, and in its +bosom were all the treasures of the earth.</p> + +<p class="normal">But it was unfortunately at this point that he awoke. It was +not unnatural that for some moments he should have refused to +have acknowledged the fact--to confess that he really was +awake, and that it had been nothing but a dream.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was broad daylight. The sun was peeping through the windows, +along the edges of the ill-fitting blinds. It was nothing but a +dream. As he began to realize the fact of the gleaming +sunshine, even he was obliged to admit that it had been nothing +but a dream. He turned in his bed with a dissatisfied grunt.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I never dreamed anything like that before, nothing half so +real! It seemed as if I had only to put out my hand to touch +that mountain now."</p> + +<p class="normal">But it only seemed, for there was no mountain there, only a +coverlet, and a sheet, and a blanket or two, and a bolster, and +a mattress, and a bed. Bertie lay on his back, with his eyes +closed, attempting, by an effort of his will, to bring back the +vanished dream. And to some extent he succeeded, for as he lay +quiescent he seemed to hear, ringing in his ears, the words he +had heard in his dream--</p> + +<p class="normal">"A life of adventure's the life for me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He seemed so certainly to hear them that, just as they had done +in his dream, they filled him with a sudden fire. Thoroughly +aroused, he sat up in bed, grasping the bedclothes with eager +hands. And to himself he said, half beneath his breath, "A life +of adventure's the life for me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The other boys were still asleep in the little iron bedsteads +on either side of him, but he made no attempt to recompose +himself to slumber. He remained sitting up in bed, his knees +huddled up to his chin, engaged in a very unwonted act for him, +the act of thinking.</p> + +<p class="normal">The events of the night before were vividly before him, but +principally among them, a giant in the foreground, was the +figure of Mr. George Washington Bankes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why don't you run away?" Mr. Bankes' question rang in his +ears.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A life of adventure's the life for me!" Those other words of +Mr. Bankes, which had been with him through the dream-haunted +night, still danced before his eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">Than Bertie Bailey a less romantic-looking youth one could +scarce conceive. But history tells us that some of the greatest +heroes of romance, real, live, flesh-and-blood heroes, who +actually at some time or other did exist, were anything but +romantic in their persons. Perhaps Bailey was one of these. +Anyhow, stowed away in some out-of-the-way corner of his +unromantic-looking person was a vein of romance of the most +pronounced and unequivocal kind.</p> + +<p class="normal">His range of reading was not wide, yet he had his heroes of +fiction none the less. They were rather a motley crew, and +if he had been asked the question, say in an examination paper, +"Who is your favourite hero? give a short sketch of his life," +he would have hesitated once or twice before he would have +written Dick Turpin, Robin Hood, Robinson Crusoe, or Jack the +Giant-Killer. Perhaps he would have hesitated still longer +before he had attempted to sketch the life of any one of them. +Yet, had he told the truth, the gentleman selected would have +been one of these.</p> + +<p class="normal">Possibly in the act of selection his greatest difficulty would +have lain. He never could quite make up his mind which of the +four gentlemen named above he liked the best. There were points +about Dick Turpin which struck his fancy. He would rather have +ridden that ride to York than have had ten thousand pounds. It +would have been worth his while to have been Dick Turpin if +only to possess that horse of horses, Black Bess, the coal-black +steed of his heart's desire, though it may be mentioned in passing +that up to the present moment Bertie Bailey had never figured upon +a horse's back. He had once ridden a donkey from Ramsgate to +Pegwell Bay, but a donkey was not Black Bess.</p> + +<p class="normal">On the other hand, there was no part of England with which he was +better acquainted--theoretically--than the glades of Sherwood Forest. +To have lived in those glades with Robin Hood, Bailey would heave +a great sigh at the prospect; ah, that he only could! Yet certainly +one had only to speak of the desert island, and of Robinson Crusoe +on its lonely shore, for Bertie to feel a wild longing to plough +the distant main, a longing which was scarcely consistent with his +desire for the glades of Sherwood Forest. It is the fashion to sneer +at fairy tales, and to speak of them as though they were beneath the +supposititious dignity of the common noun boy, and certainly the +marvellous history and adventures of Jack the Giant-Killer belong to +the domain of the fairies. Possibly Bertie would have been himself +ashamed to own his partiality for that hero of the nursery; and +yet, to have had Jack's courage and strength and skill, to have +slaughtered giants and taken castles and rescued maidens--Bertie +sometimes dreamt of himself as another Jack, and then always with +a rapture too deep for words.</p> + +<p class="normal">Perhaps his real, ideal, and favourite hero would have +consisted of a judicious combination of the four--something of +Dick Turpin, and something of Robin Hood, and something of +Robinson Crusoe, and something of Jack the Giant-Killer. Take +all these somethings and mix them well together, and you would +have had the man for Bailey. Emphatically, although almost +unconsciously, in all his waking dreams, a life of adventure +had been the life for him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. George Washington Bankes had applied the match to the +powder. As he thought of all that gentleman had said, even in +the cool of the morning, all his soul was on fire. Seeing him +in his nightshirt of doubtful cleanliness, and with his touzled +hair, you might not have supposed that there was fire in his +soul, but there was. Run away! He had heard of boys running +away from school before to-day.</p> + +<p class="normal">Boys had run away from Mecklemburg House, and there were +stories of one who, within quite recent times, had made a dash +for liberty. Some said he had got as far as Windsor, some said +Dorking, before he had changed his mind and decided to come +back again. But he had come back again. Bailey made up his mind +that when he ran away he would never come back again; never! +or, at any rate, not till he had traversed the world in several +different directions, as Mr. George Washington Bankes had done.</p> + +<p class="normal">It had already become a question of <i>when</i> he ran away. With +that quickness in arriving at a decision which, so some tell +us, is the sure sign of a commanding intellect, he had already +decided that he would; there only remained the question of time +and opportunity.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why don't you run away?" Mr. Bankes had asked. Yes, why, +indeed? especially if one had only to run away to step at once +into the Land of Golden Dreams!</p> + +<p class="normal">When the boys took their places in the schoolroom after breakfast, +prepared for morning school, a startling announcement was made to +them by Mr. Fletcher. Bailey and his friends had expected that +something would be said to them on the subject of their escapade +of the night before; but so far, so far as those in authority were +concerned, their expectations had been disappointed. They had been +sufficiently cross-examined by their fellow-pupils, and in spite of +a slight suggestive foreboding of something unpleasant to come, +when they perceived how their proceedings appeared in the eyes of +their colleagues, they were almost inclined to look upon themselves +somewhat in the light of heroes. Griffin, indeed, had not heard the +last of the pond, and it was not of the tragic side of his +misadventure that he heard the most. There were some disagreeable +remarks made by personal friends who would not see that he had run +imminent risk of being drowned. He almost began to wish that he had +been.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You wouldn't have laughed at it then," he said. But they laughed +at it now.</p> + +<p class="normal">But neither from Mr. Till, nor from Mr. Shane, nor from Mr. +Fletcher, nor from the far more terrible Mrs. Fletcher, had +either of the young gentlemen heard a word.</p> + +<p class="normal">And just when they were preparing for morning school Mr. +Fletcher made his startling announcement.</p> + +<p class="normal">At first the quartett thought, not unreasonably, that his +remarks were going to have particular reference to them and to +their misdoings, but they were wrong. The headmaster was seated +at his desk, in a seemingly more than usually preoccupied mood; +but he too often was preoccupied in school, so they paid no +heed, and got out their books and slates, and other implements +of study, with the ordinary din and clatter. Suddenly he spoke.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Boys, I want to speak to you."</p> + +<p class="normal">The boys looked at him, and the quartett looked at each other. +Mr. Fletcher did not raise his head, but with his eyes fixed on +the desk in front of him continued to speak as though he found +considerable difficulty in saying what he had to say.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have had heavy losses lately in carrying on the school. Some +of you know that the number of boys has grown smaller by +degrees and beautifully less."</p> + +<p class="normal">There was a faint smile about Mr. Fletcher's mouth which did +not quite betoken mirth.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But I do not complain. I should not have mentioned it, +only"--he paused, raised his head, and looked round the room, +his eyes resting for a moment on each of the boys as they +passed--"only when one has no boys one can keep no school. I +have found, very certainly, that without boys school cannot +keep me--my wife and I. Our wants are not large--they have +grown even smaller of recent years--but to satisfy the most +modest wants something is required, and we have nothing."</p> + +<p class="normal">Again he paused, and again something like the ghost of a smile +flitted across his face. By this time the boys were listening +with their eyes and ears, and Mr. Shane and Mr. Till listened +with the rest.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I am a ruined schoolmaster. I should not have told you this--it is +not a pleasant thing to have to tell--only my ruin is so complete, +and so near. It will necessitate your returning home at once. +Mecklemburg House will no longer be able to offer shelter to either +you or I, and I--I was born here; you will perhaps be able to go +with lighter hearts. I have communicated with your parents. You must +pack your things at once; some of you will, perhaps, be fetched in +an hour or two. I have advised your parents that you had better be +all of you removed by to-morrow morning at the latest. Under these +circumstances there will, of course, be no morning school; nor, +indeed, in Mecklemburg House any more school at any time."</p> + +<p class="normal">Perhaps, in that schoolroom, the silence had never been so +marked as it was when Mr. Fletcher ceased. The boys looked at +each other, and at their master, scarcely understanding what it +was that he had said, and by no means certain that they were +entitled to believe their ears. No morning school! Mecklemburg +House ceased to exist! Pack up! Going home at once! These +things were marvellous in their eyes. There were those among +them who had not failed to see the way in which things were +tending, who knew that Mecklemburg House was very far from +being what it was, that the glory was departed; but for such a +thunderclap as this they were wholly unprepared. Pack up! Going +home at once! The boys could do nothing else but stare.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You will disperse now, and go into the playground. Put your +books away quietly You will be called in as you are wanted to +assist in packing."</p> + +<p class="normal">They put their books away. It was unnecessary to bid them do it +quietly; their demeanour had never been so decorous. Then they +filed out silently, one after the other, and the headmaster and +his ushers were left alone.</p> + +<p class="normal">One boy there was who walked out of that schoolroom as though +he were walking in a dream. This was Bailey. It was all +wonderful to him. He was watching for an opportunity to fly--he +knew not why, he knew not where; but that is by the way. He had +only begun to watch an hour or two ago, and here was the +opportunity thrust into his hand. He never doubted for an +instant that here was the opportunity thrust into his hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was now or never. He had reasons of his own for knowing that +when he had left Mecklemburg House he had left boarding-school +for ever. He might have a term or two at a day-school, but what +was the use of running away from a school of that description? +It was heroic to run away from boarding-school, but from +day-school--where was the heroic quantity in that? No, it was +now or never, and Bertie Bailey resolved it should be now. So +in a secluded corner of the playground he matured his +adventurous scheme; for even he was not prepared to rush +through the playground gate and dash into the world upon the +spot.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I must get some money."</p> + +<p class="normal">So much he decided. It may be mentioned that he arrived at this +decision first of all. It may be added that his consciousness +of the desirability of getting money was not lessened by the +fact that he possessed none now; no, not so much as a specimen +of the smallest copper coinage of the realm.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I must try to borrow some from some of the chaps." He was +aware that this was not a hopeful field. "But a fellow can't +go without any money at all; even Mr. Bankes said he had +ninepence-halfpenny." He remembered every word which Mr. Bankes +had said. "Wheeler had sevenpence, and he promised to lend me +twopence, but he's such a selfish beast I shouldn't be +surprised if he's changed his mind. Besides, I ought to have +more than twopence, or sevenpence, either. Perhaps he might +lend me the lot; he's not a bad sort sometimes. Anyhow, I'll +try."</p> + +<p class="normal">He tried. Slipping his arm through Wheeler's he drew him on one +side. He approached the matter diplomatically.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I say, Wheeler, I know you're a trump."</p> + +<p class="normal">This sort of diplomacy was a mistake; Wheeler was at once on +the alert.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What are you buttering me up for? Don't you think you're going +to get anything out of me, because you just aren't; so now you +know it."</p> + +<p class="normal">This was abrupt, not to say a little brutal, perhaps. Bailey +perceived the error he had made; he changed his tone with +singular presence of mind.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Look here, Wheeler, I want you to lend me that sevenpence of +yours."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then you'll have to want; I like your cheek!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Lend me sixpence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I won't lend you a sight of a farthing."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You promised to lend me twopence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, did I? Then I won't. I'm going to buy sevenpenn'orth of +cocoanut candy, and perhaps I'll give you a bit of that, though +I don't promise, mind; and it'll only be a little bit, anyhow."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But look here, I want it for something--I do, I really do, or +else I wouldn't ask you for it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you want it for?" asked Wheeler, struck by something +in the other's tone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! for something particular."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you want it for? If you tell me, perhaps I'll lend +it."</p> + +<p class="normal">This was a bait; but Bailey did not trust his friend so +completely as he might have done. He suspected that if he told +him what it really was wanted for, the story might be all over +the playground in a minute; and it was possible that his +friends might not view his intended flight from the heroic +point of view from which it appeared to him. So he temporized.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you'll lend me the sevenpence first, I'll tell you +afterwards."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You catch me at it! What do I want to know what you want it +for? I know I want it myself, and that's quite enough for me."</p> + +<p class="normal">Wheeler turned away; Bailey caught him by the arm.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Lend me the twopence which you promised."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I won't lend you a brass farthing."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie felt the moment was not propitious. It occurred to him +that he might pick a quarrel with his friend and fight him, and +that when he had fought him long enough his friend might see +things in a different light, and a loan might be arranged. But +of this he was by no means certain. He was not clear in his own +mind as to the amount of hammering which would be required to +bring about a conversion. He had never measured his strength +with Wheeler; and it even occurred to him that he might be the +hammered one, and not his friend. On the whole, he thought that +he had better leave that scheme untried; sevenpence might be +bought too dearly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Baffled in one quarter he tried another. In quest of money he +buttonholed all the school. But this, again, was a mistaken +step. It soon got about that Bailey was in search of some one +to devour, and, in consequence, those who were worth devouring +took the hint--they by no means showed themselves anxious to be +devoured. In spite of his repeated efforts, he only met with +one success, and that was one of which he was scarcely entitled +to be proud.</p> + +<p class="normal">Willie Seymour, Bailey's cousin, has been already mentioned. He +was the youngster who led Mr. Shane's German grammar on its +final road to ruin. A little pale-faced boy, certainly not more +than nine years old, and without even the strength of his +years.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie caught him by the jacket.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now then, where's that money of yours?"</p> + +<p class="normal">His temper was not improved by the want of confidence his +friends had shown, and this was not a case in which he thought +delicacy was required.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What money? Bertie, don't! you're hurting my arm!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, and I'll hurt it, too! Where's that money of yours? I +know you've got some."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I've only got one and fivepence. Mamma sent it me last week to +buy a birthday present. It was my birthday, you know."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, was it! Then I'll buy you a birthday present--something +spiffing. Fork it up!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"But, Bertie----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fork it up!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's in my desk."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then just you let me see your desk. It's never safe to leave +money in your desk; it might get stolen."</p> + +<p class="normal">And Bailey dragged his relative indoors. It may be mentioned +that Willie's mother (Bertie's aunt) had particularly commended +her lad to Bertie's care. This was the first symptom of a +careful disposition he had shown.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>Chapter IX</h2> + +<h2><a name="div1_09" href="#div1Ref_09">THE START</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">With tears and sighs Willie Seymour produced his desk for his +relative's inspection. It was a little rosewood desk which his +mother had given him to keep his papers in, and envelopes, and +his own particular pens, and his stamps, and his money, and his +treasures. Bailey proceeded to inspect it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where's the key?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't take the money, Bertie. Mamma sent it me to buy a +birthday present with, and I've spent sevenpence already. It +was two shillings she sent."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, you've spent sevenpence, have you! Then I've half a mind +to give you a licking for spending such a lot. Do you think +your mother sent you money to chuck about all over the place? +She told me to look after you, and so I will. Give me the key."</p> + +<p class="normal">From a miscellaneous collection of odds and ends, which bulged +out the pockets of his knickerbockers, the key was produced.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't take the money, Bertie!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bailey unlocked the desk with a magisterial air.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If your mother knew that you'd spent sevenpence, what d'ye +think she'd say to me? She'd say, 'I told you to look after +him, and here you let him go chucking the money I sent him to +buy a birthday present into his stomach, and making himself as +ill as I don't know what! Is that the way to buy a birthday +present? Nice affectionate lad you are!'"</p> + +<p class="normal">At this point Bailey, having discovered the one and fivepence, +held it in his hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shall put this money into my pockets, and I shall take care +of it for you, and when you want it, you come to me and ask for +it. D'ye hear?"</p> + +<p class="normal">At this point he slipped the money into his trousers pocket.</p> + +<p class="normal">Willie wept.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What are you snivelling for? If you don't stop I'll take care +of your desk as well. Now I think of it, Wheeler wants just +such a desk as this. I shouldn't be surprised if he gave me +sevenpence for it; it would just come in handy."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bailey subjected the desk to a critical examination.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'll tell Mr. Fletcher if you take my desk away."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What, sneak, would you? As it happens, I don't care for you or +Mr. Fletcher either."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie tucked the desk under his arm and moved to the door. +Willie flung his head upon his arms and burst into a passion of +tears. At the door Bertie turned and surveyed the child.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here, take your desk. Think I want the thing!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He flung the desk towards his cousin. Falling on the edge of a +form, it burst open, and the contents were thrown out of it. +Leaving Willie to make the best of a bad case, and pick up his +ill-used property, Bertie marched away with the one and +fivepence in his pocket.</p> + +<p class="normal">That one and fivepence was all the cash he could secure. He +made one or two efforts in the course of the day to increase +his capital by the addition of a penny or two, but the efforts +were in vain. None of the smaller boys had any money; some of +the seniors he suspected were in possession of funds, but in +face of their refusal to oblige him with a temporary loan he +did not feel justified in taking them by the throats and +putting into practice any theory of their money or their life. +He suspected he might get neither; sundry knocks and bruises he +might be the richer for, but they were riches for which he had +no longing. One particularly gallant attack he made upon a +suspected seat of capital does not deserve to go unchronicled.</p> + +<p class="normal">The suspected seat of capital was Mr. Shane. Chancing to pass +the schoolroom on his way downstairs, a glimpse he caught of +some one within brought him to a standstill. He entered; he +shut the door behind him for precaution's sake, being unwilling +that his friends should intrude upon what he perceived might be +a delicate interview.</p> + +<p class="normal">In a corner of the schoolroom was Mr. Shane. He sat with his +elbows resting on the desk and his head resting on his hands. +So absorbed was he in his own meditations that he paid no heed +to Bailey's entrance. Bertie watched him in silence for a +moment or two, then he made his presence known.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I say, Mr. Shane."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Shane started and looked up. His face was very pale, there +were traces of what were suspiciously like tears about his +eyes, and his whole appearance was as of one who had received a +sudden blow. Without speaking he stared at Bailey, whose +presence evidently took him by surprise. Seeing that the other +held his peace, Bertie came to the point.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Can you lend me a shilling or two?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Lend you a shilling or two!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I daresay you'll think it like my cheek to ask you, and so it +is; but--I'm in an awful hole, I really am. I know I've not +been such a civil beggar as I might have been, but--I never +meant any harm; and--I'm sorry about that grammar, I really +am; I'd buy you another if I'd got the money, upon my word I +would--I don't know what I wouldn't do for you if you'd lend me +a shilling or two--especially if you'd make it three."</p> + +<p class="normal">In spite of himself Bertie grinned, and his eyes glistened at +the idea of spoiling the usher. Mr. Shane stared at him, as +well he might. He spoke with a sort of little pause between +each word, as though he were doubtful if he had heard aright.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You want me to lend you a shilling or two?--me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes. I'll let you have it back as soon as, I can, and I'm in +an awful hole, or I wouldn't ask you. Do lend it me!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Shane stood up, with a curious agitation in his air.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I haven't got it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not got it I Not got a shilling or two! Oh, I say, come!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I haven't got a penny in the world."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not got a penny in the world! Oh, I say, aren't you piling it +on!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not a penny; not a penny in the world; not one. I'm a beggar!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Shane's agitation was so curious, and the air with which he +proclaimed himself a beggar was so wild, that Bertie's surprise +grew apace. He wondered whether, as he might himself have +phrased it, the usher had a tile loose in his head.</p> + +<p class="normal">"See!" Mr. Shane turned his coat-tail pockets inside out. There +was nothing in them. "See!" He followed suit with the pockets +in his trousers. They also were void and empty. "Nothing! +nothing! not a sou! Mr. Fletcher engaged to pay me sixteen +pounds a year. There's fifteen shillings owing from last term. +I couldn't afford to buy myself a pair of boots when I came +back. Look at my boots." Mr. Shane held up his boots, one after +the other. Bertie stared at them; they were very much the worse +for wear. "And now he tells me that I'm to leave this very day, +leave in the very middle of the term, without a penny-piece. He +says he cannot let me have a penny-piece. I've worked hard for +my money; he knows I've worked hard for my money; he knows I've +been cruelly used; and yet he sends me away in the middle of +the term a beggar, and with fifteen shillings owing from last +term. What am I to do! My mother lives at Braintree. I can't +walk all the way to Braintree in Essex, especially in such +boots as these; and she hasn't any money to give me when I get +there, and I can't get another situation in the middle of the +term. It's cruel, cruel, cruel! I'm a beggar, and I shall have +to go to the workhouse and sleep in the casual ward, and break +stones before they let me leave in the morning. It's wicked +cruelty! I don't care who hears me say it, so it is!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Shane's agitation, though real enough, was also +sufficiently grotesque. With his pockets turned inside out, and +his collar and necktie all awry, he paced about the schoolroom, +swinging his arms, speaking in his thin, cracked tones, the +tears running down his cheeks, half choked with passion. It was +the grotesque side of the usher's woe which appealed to Bailey.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You don't mean to say Mr. Fletcher won't pay you your wages?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do, I do! He says he hasn't got it; he says he doubts if he +has five shillings to call his own. What right has he to engage +an usher if he has not got five shillings of his own? How does +he expect to pay me, and fifteen shillings owing from last +term? How am I to walk to Braintree in Essex in these boots +without a penny in my pocket? and what will my mother say when +I get home--if I ever do get home--with no money in my pocket, +and turned out of a situation in the middle of a term? It's a +cruel, wicked shame, and I'll shout it out in the middle of the +road! I don't care what they say, I will! I won't go without my +money, if it's only the fifteen shillings left owing from last +term!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then I suppose you can't lend me a shilling or two?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Lend you a shilling or two! How can I? It's for you to advance +a loan to me. Bailey, you've been a wicked boy to me ever since +I came, and now to come and ask me to lend you money! You're +all wicked about the place."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I've got one and fivepence." Bailey held the money in his +hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"One and fivepence! Bailey, it's your duty to lend me that one +and fivepence. You can't want money, your parents will send you +the means to take you home. And here am I without a penny. How +am I to walk all the way to Braintree in Essex in these boots +without a penny in my pocket? It is a wicked thing that I +should ever have been induced to accept such a situation. It's +your duty to make amends for your uniform bad conduct, and to +sympathise with me in my distress. You ought to lend me that +one and fivepence. Won't you lend it to me, Bailey?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie went through the familiar pantomime of putting his +fingers to his nose.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Me lend you one and fivepence--ax your grandmother! You must +think me jolly green."</p> + +<p class="normal">He thrust the hand which still held the one and fivepence into +his trousers pocket, and turning on his heel marched with an +air of great deliberation to the door. At the door he turned, +and again addressed the usher.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If I were you, old Shane, I'd go to Fletcher, and I'd say, +'Fork up, Fletcher, or I'll give you one in the eye;' and then +if he didn't fork up I'd give him a couple of good fine black +ones. He'd look nice with a couple of black eyes, would +Fletcher; and, if you like, I'll come with you now and see you +do it."</p> + +<p class="normal">He paused; but seeing that Mr. Shane gave no immediate signs of +acting on this useful hint he went on,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"You haven't got the spirit of an old dead donkey. You'd let +anybody have a kick at you. You're a regular all-round Molly, +Shane."</p> + +<p class="normal">With this frank expression of heart-felt sympathy for Mr. +Shane's distress he left the room, and banged the door behind +him. His enterprise, though displaying boldness, had been a +failure; he had not succeeded in adding to his capital. As he +walked away from the schoolroom he meditated upon the matter.</p> + +<p class="normal">"One and fivepence isn't much--not to run away with--but Mr. +Bankes said he'd only ninepence-halfpenny; I'm better than +that. Still, I'd like another shilling or two; one and +fivepence doesn't go far, stretch it how you will. But if I +can't get more I'll make it do, somehow. If Mr. Bankes managed +with ninepence-halfpenny I don't see why I shouldn't do with +one and fivepence. Something is sure to turn up directly I am +off."</p> + +<p class="normal">It occurred to him that perhaps Mr. Bankes might have had +something else besides his ninepence-halfpenny--something in +the shape of food, valuables, or extra clothing, or some other +unconsidered trifle of that kind. Bertie perceived that if he +put into execution his plan of immediate flight he would have +to go as he was, with his one and fivepence and nothing else. +He had a misty recollection of having read somewhere of a young +gentleman, just such another hero as himself, who started on +his exploration of the world with baggage in the shape of a red +cotton handkerchief, which contained a clean shirt, some bread +and cheese, and, if his memory served him, a pair of socks +which his little sister had neatly darned for him on the night +before his setting out.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie would have to start without even this amount of luggage. +Nor could he understand that he would be much worse off on that +account; the bread and cheese might be useful--if he remembered +rightly, the young gentleman referred to had eaten his bread +and cheese about ten minutes after starting--but for the shirt +and socks he could perceive no use whatever. He had a sort of +idea that either those sort of things would not be required, or +else that they could be had for asking when he was once out in +the world.</p> + +<p class="normal">But his chief fear was, and it kept him on tenter hooks +throughout the day, that his grand exploit would be nipped in +the bud, altogether frustrated, by his being prematurely +fetched home. He lived at Upton, a little town in Berkshire, +not twenty miles away. It would not take long for Mr. +Fletcher's communication to reach his home, and it was quite +within the range of possibility that a messenger would be +immediately despatched to fetch him. In that case he would +sleep that night in a paternal bed, and farewell to the Land of +Golden Dreams.</p> + +<p class="normal">The flitting had already commenced. By the afternoon some of +the boys, who lived close by, had already gone. The packing +progressed briskly. He had seen with his own eyes his boxes +locked and corded. It was with very mixed sensations that he +had himself assisted at the process. Within those well-worn +receptacles was he locking and cording the Land of Golden +Dreams! At the mere thought of such a thing he could have shed +unheroic tears. At any moment he might be called, he might be +greeted by a familiar face, he might be whirled away in a cab +at the rate of four or five miles an hour, with his luggage on +the roof of the vehicle, and then--farewell to the Land of +Golden Dreams.</p> + +<p class="normal">He might have put an end to his uncertainty by starting at once +on his progress through the world. But he had made up his mind +that that was not the thing. To run away in broad daylight, +like an urchin who had stolen a twopenny loaf, with half a +dozen yelping curs at his heels and not impossibly the country +folks all grinning--who could connect romance with such an +undignified departure? No, night was the thing for him--silent, +mysterious night; and, above all, the witching hour. That was +the time for romance! Under the cold white moon, and across the +moonlit meadows, when all the world was sleeping--then he could +conceive a flight into the world of mystery and of magic, and +of Lands of Golden Dreams. So he had decided that as nearly as +possible midnight should be the moment for his adventures to +begin.</p> + +<p class="normal">The choice of such an hour put difficulties in his way. First +of all, there was the difficulty of being sure of the time. He +did not himself possess a watch, and he could not rely upon +some distant church clock informing him of the passage of the +night. Fortunately he remembered that Tom Graham, who slept in +a bed next door but one to his, possessed a watch. He would +time his departure by Tom Graham's watch. Then there was the +difficulty of egress--how was he to get away? In his strong +desire to play the more heroic part, he would have liked to +have dropped from the window of his bedroom some thirty-five +feet on to the paving-stones of the courtyard below. But then +he reflected that he would not improbably break his neck, and +it would be just as well not to begin his adventures by doing +that; that sort of thing would come in its proper place a +little later on. He might knot his sheets together, and form an +impromptu rope, and descend by means of that: there were charms +about the idea which commended themselves to him. He had seen a +picture somewhere of a gallant youth descending by means of +such a rope a tower apparently a mile or two in height; it was +an unpleasant night and the youth was whirled hither and +thither by the tempestuous winds. Had his bedroom been a couple +of miles from the ground, why then--Bailey smacked his lips, +and his eyes glistened--but as it wasn't he discarded the idea. +He sighed to think that they build none of those lofty towers +now--at least, so far as he was aware.</p> + +<p class="normal">No; for the present it was sufficient to get away. Let him +first get clear away, and then he would have adventures fast +enough. He decided that the old familiar schoolroom window +would suffice for the occasion. He would get out of that.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the chief difficulty he had to face was the terrible risk +which existed of his being fetched away. One boy after another +went; hour after hour passed; a bare handful of young gentlemen +remained. They had dinner, such as it was; but Bertie had lost +his appetite, and was for the nonce contented with meagre fare. +They had tea, which was postponed to the latest possible hour, +and which when it came consisted of a liquid which such boys as +partook of it declared was concocted of the tea leaves which +had remained at breakfast, and which was accompanied by thick +slices of unbuttered bread. But Bertie never grumbled; he ate +his bread and he drank his tea without suggesting anything +against its quality.</p> + +<p class="normal">The evening passed. The number of boys was still more +diminished, yet for Bailey no one came. The clock pointed to an +hour at which it was declared that no one could come now--it +was half-past nine. The usual hour for bed was half-past eight, +but the boys had been kept up in the expectation and possible +hope that at Mecklemburg House it would not be necessary for +them to go to bed at all. Now they were ordered to their rooms.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie could have danced, and sung, and stood on his head, and +comported himself generally like a juvenile madman; but he +refrained, His time was coming; he would be able to comport +himself as he liked in two hours and a half, but at present the +word was caution.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was arranged that all the boys who remained should sleep in +the same room. There were only five: Edgar Wheeler, Tom Graham, +little Willie Seymour, a boy whose parents were in India named +Hagen, and commonly called Blackamoor, and Bertie Bailey. The +first into bed was Bailey. Not a word was to be got out of him +edgeways. He was a model of good behaviour. He even pressed the +others to hurry into bed, to go to sleep, to let him sleep. +They slept long before he did. He lay awake tingling all over. +He listened to their regular respirations--Hagen was a loud +snorer and always set up a signal of distress--and when he was +sure they were asleep he hugged himself in bed. Then he sat up, +being careful to make as little noise as possible, and in the +darkness peered at his sleeping comrades. Their gentle +breathing and Hagen's stentorian snores were music in his ears. +Then he lay back in bed again, biding his time.</p> + +<p class="normal">He heard a clock strike the half-hour--half-past ten. It was a +church clock. He wondered which. The night was calm, and the +sound travelled clearly through the air; it might have been a +long way off. And then--then he went to sleep.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was not at all what he intended--very much the other way. He +had supposed that he had only to make up his mind to lie awake +till twelve o'clock to do it. But he was wrong; the strain at +which he had kept his faculties through the day had told upon +him more than he had supposed.</p> + +<p class="normal">He awoke with a start--with a consciousness that something was +wrong. He listened for a moment, wondering what strange thing +had roused him. Then he remembered with a flash. The time had +gone and he had slept.</p> + +<p class="normal">With a half-stifled cry he sprang up in bed. What time was it? +Had he really slept? Only for a minute or two, he felt sure. He +groped his way to Graham's bed. That young gentleman slept with +his watch beneath his pillow; Bailey was awkward in his +attempts to get at it without waking the sleepy owner.</p> + +<p class="normal">He got it, and took it to the window that he might see the +time. Half-past two! soon it would be light--Bertie was almost +inclined to think it was getting lighter now. He gave a cry of +rage, and the watch dropped from his hand to the floor. +Startled, he turned to see if the sleepers were awakened by the +noise. He held his breath to listen. They slumbered as before. +He picked up the watch and placed it on the mantelshelf, not +caring to run the risk of rousing Graham by replacing it +beneath his pillow. As he did so, he noticed that the glass was +broken, shattered in the fall.</p> + +<p class="normal">With great rapidity he dressed himself, only pausing for a +moment to see that the one and fivepence was safe. His slippers +were packed; he had come to bed in his boots. Holding them in +his hand, in his stockinged feet he stole across the room, +carefully turned the handle of the door, went out, and shut the +door behind him.</p> + +<p class="normal">He met with no accident on his way to the schoolroom. Within +five minutes of his leaving his bed he was standing among the +desks and forms. The blinds had not been drawn: the moonlight +flooded the room--at any rate, the moon had not gone down. He +was going to carry out so much of his plans--he was to fly +through a moonlit world. Perhaps after all the little accident +which had caused him to shut his eyes was not of much +importance. Certainly, the sleep had refreshed him; he felt +capable of making for the Land of Golden Dreams without +requiring to pause upon the way.</p> + +<p class="normal">Among the moonlit desks and forms he put his boots on; laced +them up; then, with a careful hand, slipped the hasp of the +familiar window, raised the sash, got out, and lowered himself +to the ground. It was only when he was on the ground that he +remembered that he was without a cap. He put his hand into the +inner pocket of his jacket and produced an old cricket cap +which he had privately secured when he was supposed to be +assisting at the packing.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then he started for the Land of Golden Dreams.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>Chapter X</h2> + +<h2><a name="div1_10" href="#div1Ref_10">ANOTHER LITTLE DRIVE</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">He ran across the courtyard, glancing up at the silent house +behind him. In the moonlight Mecklemburg House looked like a +house of the dead. Through the gate, and out into the road; +then, for a moment, Bertie paused.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Which way shall I go?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He stood, hesitating, looking up and down the road. In his +anxiety to reach the Land of Golden Dreams he had not paused to +consider which was the road he had to take to get there. Such a +detail had not occurred to him. He had taken it for granted +that the road would choose itself; now he perceived that he had +to choose the road.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'll go to London--something's sure to turn up when I get +there. It always does. In London all sorts of things happen to +a fellow."</p> + +<p class="normal">His right hand in his pocket, clasping his one and fivepence, +he turned his face towards Cobham. He had a vague idea that to +reach town one had to get to Kingston, and he knew that through +Cobham and Esher was the road to Kingston. If he kept to the +road the way was easy, he had simply to keep straight on. He +had pictured himself flying across the moonlit fields; but he +concluded that, for the present, at any rate, he had better +confine himself to the plain broad road.</p> + +<p class="normal">The weather was glorious. It was just about that time when the +night is about to give way to the morning, and there is that +peculiar chill abroad in the world which, even in the height of +summer, ushers in the dawn. It was as light as day--indeed, +very soon it would be day; already in the eastern heavens were +premonitory gleams of the approaching sun. But at present a +moon which was almost at the full held undisputed reign in the +cloudless sky. So bright were her rays that the stars were +dimmed. All the world was flooded with her light. All was +still, except the footsteps of the boy beating time upon the +road. Not a sound was heard, nor was there any living thing in +sight with the exception of the lad. Bertie Bailey had it all +to himself.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie strode along the Cobham road at a speed which he +believed to be first rate, but which was probably under four +miles an hour. Every now and then he broke into a trot, but as +a rule he confined himself to walking. Conscious that he would +not be missed till several hours had passed, he told himself +that he would have plenty of time to place himself beyond reach +of re-capture before pursuit could follow. Secure in this +belief, every now and then he stopped and looked about him on +the road.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was filled with a sense of strange excitement. He did not +show this in his outward bearing, for nature had formed his +person in an impassive mould, and he was never able to +dispossess himself of an air of phlegm. An ordinary observer +would have said that this young gentleman was constitutionally +heavy and dull, and impervious to strong feeling of any sort. +Mr. Fletcher, for instance, had been wont to declare that +Bailey was his dullest pupil, and in continual possession of +the demons of obstinacy and sulkiness. Yet, on this occasion, +at least, Bailey was on fire with a variety of feelings to +every one of which Mr. Fletcher would have deemed him of +necessity a stranger.</p> + +<p class="normal">It seemed to him, as he walked on and on, that he walked in +fairyland. He was conscious of a thousand things which were +imperceptible to his outward sense. His heart seemed too light +for his bosom; to soar out of it; to bear him to a land of +visions. That Land of Golden Dreams towards which he travelled +he had already reached with his mind's eye, and that before he +had gone a mile upon the road to Cobham.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mecklemburg House was already a thing of the past That petty +poring over books, which some call study, and which Mr. George +Washington Bankes had declared was such a culpable waste of +time, was gone for ever. No more books for him; no more school; +no more rubbish of any kind. The world was at his feet for him +to pick and choose.</p> + +<p class="normal">By the time he had got to Cobham he was making up his mind as +to the particular line of heroism to which he would apply +himself. The old town, for Cobham calls itself a town, was +still and silent, apparently unconscious of the glorious +morning which was dawning on the world, and certainly +unconscious of the young gentleman who was passing through its +pleasant street, scheming schemes which, when brought to full +fruition, would proclaim him a hero in the sight of a universe +of men.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'll be a highwayman; I'd like to be; I will be. If a coach +and four were to come along the road this minute I'd stop the +horses. Yes! and I'd set one of them loose, and I'd mount it, +and I'd go to the window of the coach, and I'd say, 'Stand and +deliver.' And I'd make them hand over all they'd got, watches, +purses, jewellery, everything--I shouldn't care if it was +£10,000."</p> + +<p class="normal">He fingered the one and fivepence in his pocket; the sound of +the rattling coppers fired his blood.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And then I'd dash away on the horse's back, and I'd buy a +ship, and I'd man it with a first-rate crew, and I'd sink +it in the middle of the sea. And, first of all, I'd fill the +long-boat with everything that I could want--guns, and pistols, +and revolvers, and swords, and bullets, and powder, and +cartridges and things--and I'd get into it alone, and I'd say +farewell to the sinking ship and crew, and I'd row off to a +desert island, and I'd stop there five-and-twenty years. Yes; +and I'd tame all the birds and animals and things, and I'd be +happy as a king. And then I'd come away."</p> + +<p class="normal">He did not pause to consider how he was to come away; but that +was a detail too trivial to deserve consideration. By this time +Cobham was being left behind; but he saw nothing save the life +which was to be after he had left that desert isle.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'd go to Sherwood Forest, and I'd live under the greenwood +tree, and I'd form a band of robbers, and I'd have them dressed +in green, and I'd seize the Archbishop of Canterbury, and I'd +make him fight me with single-sticks, and I'd let the beggars +go, and I'd give the poor all the booty that I got."</p> + +<p class="normal">What the rest of the band would say to this generous +distribution of their hard-earned gains was another detail +which escaped consideration.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And I'd be the oppressor of the rich and the champion of the +poor, and I'd make everybody happy." How the rich were to be +made happy by oppression it is difficult to see; but so few +systems of philosophy bear a rigorous examination. "And I'd +have peace and plenty through the land, and I'd have lots of +fighting, and if there was anybody in prison I'd break the +prisons open and I'd let the prisoners out, and I'd be Ruler of +the Greenwood Tree."</p> + +<p class="normal">His thoughts turned to Jack the Giant-Killer. By now the day +was really breaking, and with the rising sun his spirits rose +still higher. The moonlight merging into the sunshine filled +the country with a rosy haze, which was just the kind of thing +for magic.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I wish there still were fairies."</p> + +<p class="normal">If he only had had the eyes no fairyland would have been more +beautiful than the world just then.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, I don't exactly wish that there were fairies--fairies are +such stuff; but I wish that there were giants and all that kind +of thing. And I wish that I had a magic sword, and a purse that +was always more full the more you emptied it, and that I could +walk ten thousand miles a day. I wish that you had only got to +wish for a thing to get it--wouldn't I just start wishing! I +don't know what I wouldn't wish for."</p> + +<p class="normal">He did not. The catalogue would have filled a volume.</p> + +<p class="normal">"But the chief thing for which I'd wish would be to be exactly +where I am, and to be going exactly where I'm going to."</p> + +<p class="normal">He laughed, and thrust his hands deeper in his pockets when he +thought of this, and was so possessed by his emotions that he +kicked up his heels and began to dance a sort of fandango in +the middle of the road. He perceived that it was a pleasant +thing to wish to be exactly where he was, and to be so well +satisfied with the journey's end he had in view. It is not +every boy who is bound for the Land of Golden Dreams; and +especially by the short cut which reaches it by way of the +Cobham road.</p> + +<p class="normal">So far he had not met a single human being, nor seen a sign, +nor heard a sound of one. But when he had fairly left Cobham in +the rear, and was yet engaged in the performance of that dance +which resembled the fandango, he heard behind him the sound of +wheels rapidly approaching. They were yet a considerable +distance off, but they were approaching so swiftly that one's +first thought was that a luckless driver was being run away +with. When Bertie heard them first he started. His thought was +of pursuit; his impulse was to scramble into an adjoining +field, and to hide behind a hedge. It would be terrible to be +re-captured in the initiatory stage of his journey to the Land +of Golden Dreams.</p> + +<p class="normal">But his alarm vanished when he turned and looked behind him. +The vehicle approaching contained a friend. Even at that +distance he recognised it as the dog-cart of Mr. George +Washington Bankes. The ungainly-looking beast flying at such a +terrific pace along the lonely road was none other than the +redoubtable Mary Anne.</p> + +<p class="normal">In a remarkably short space of time the vehicle was level with +Bertie. For a moment the boy wondered if he had been +recognised; but the doubt did not linger long, for with +startling suddenness Mary Anne was brought to a halt.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hallo! Who's that? Haven't I seen you before? Turn round, you +youngster, and let me see your face. I know the cut of your +jib, or I'm mistaken."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie turned. He looked at Mr. Bankes and Mr. Bankes looked at +him. Mr. George Washington Bankes whistled.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Whew--w--w, if it isn't the boy who stood up to the lout. +What's your name?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bailey, sir; Bertie Bailey."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, yes; Bailey! Early hours, Bailey--taking a stroll, eh? +What in thunder brings you here this time of day? I thought +good boys like you were fast asleep in bed."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bailey looked sheepish, and felt it. There was something in the +tone of Mr. Bankes' voice which was a little trying. Bertie +hung his head, and held his peace.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Lost your tongue? Poor little dear! Speak up. What are you +doing here this time of day?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you please, sir, I'm running away."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Running away!"</p> + +<p class="normal">For a moment Mr. Bankes started. Then he burst into a loud and +continued roar of laughter, which had an effect upon Bertie +very closely resembling that of an extinguisher upon a candle.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I say, Bailey, what are you running away for?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Under the circumstances Bertie felt this question cruel. When +he had last seen Mr. Bankes the question had been put the other +way. He had been treated as a poor-spirited young gentleman +because he had not run away already. Plucking up courage, he +looked up at his questioner.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You told me to run away."</p> + +<p class="normal">The only immediate answer was another roar of laughter. +Something very like tears came into the boy's eyes, and his +face assumed that characteristically sullen expression for +which he was famous. This was not the sort of treatment he had +expected.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You don't mean to say--now look me in the face, youngster--you +don't mean to say that you're running away because I told you +to?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The last words of the question were spoken very deliberately, +with a slight pause between each. Bertie's answer was to the +point. He looked up at Mr. Bankes with that sullen, bull-dog +look of his, and said,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And where do you think you're running to?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"To the Land of Golden Dreams."</p> + +<p class="normal">There was a sullen obstinacy about the lad's tone, as though +the confession was extracted from him against his will.</p> + +<p class="normal">"To the Land of Golden Dreams! Well! Here, you'd better get up. +I'll give you a lift upon the road? and there's a word or two +I'd like to say as we are going."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie climbed up to the speaker's side, and Mary Anne was +again in motion. The swift travelling through the sweet, fresh +morning was pleasant; and as the current of air dashed against +his cheeks Bertie's heart began to re-ascend a little. For some +moments not a word was spoken; but Bertie felt that Mr. Bankes' +big black eyes wandered from Mary Anne to him, and from him to +Mary Anne, with a half-mocking, half-curious expression.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I say, boy, are any of your family lunatics?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The question was scarcely courteous. Bertie's lips shut close.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Quite sure? Now just you think? Anybody on your mother's side +just a little touched? They say insanity don't spring to a head +at once, but gathers strength through successive generations."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bailey did not quite understand what was meant; but knowing it +was something not exactly complimentary he held his peace.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now--straight out--you don't mean to say you're running away +because I told you to?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, I do."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And for nothing else?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie paused for a moment to consider.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't know about nothing else, but I shouldn't have thought +of it if you hadn't told me to."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then it strikes me the best thing I can do is to turn round +and drive you back again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I won't go."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Bankes laughed. There was such a sullen meaning in the +boy's slow utterance.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! won't you? What'll you do?"</p> + +<p class="normal">In an instant Bertie had risen from his seat, and if Mr. Bankes +had not been very quick in putting his arm about him he would +have sprung out upon the road. As it was, Mr. Bankes, taken by +surprise, gave an unintentional tug at the left rein, and had +he not corrected his error with wonderful dexterity Mary Anne +would have landed the trap and its occupants in a convenient +ditch.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't you try that on again," said Mr. Bankes, retaining his +hold on the lad.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't you say you'll drive me back again."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here's a fighting cock. There have been lunatics in the +family--I know there have. Don't be a little idiot. Sit still."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Promise you won't drive me back."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And supposing I won't promise you, what then?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie's only answer was to give a sudden twist, and before Mr. +Bankes had realized what he intended he had slipped out of his +grasp, and was sprawling on the road. Fortunately the trap had +been brought to a standstill, for had Bertie carried out his +original design of springing out with Mary Anne going at full +speed, the probabilities are that he would have brought his +adventures to a final termination on the spot. Mr. Bankes +stared for a moment, and then laughed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, of all the young ones ever I heard tell of!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Then, seeing that Bertie had picked himself up, and was +preparing to escape by scrambling through a quickset hedge into +a field of uncut hay--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stop!" he cried. "I won't take you back. I promise you upon my +honour I won't. A lad of your kidney's born to be hanged; and +if it's hanging you've made up your mind to, I'm not the man to +stop you."</p> + +<p class="normal">The lad eyed him doubtfully.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You promise you'll let me do as I please?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I swear it, my bantam cock. You shall do as you please, and go +where you please. I can't stop mooning here all day; jump in, +and let's be friends again. I'm square, upon my honour."</p> + +<p class="normal">The lad resumed his former seat; Mary Anne was once more +started.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Next time you feel it coming on, why, tip me the wink, and +I'll pull up. It's a pity that a neck like yours should be +broken before the proper time; and if you were to jump out +while Mary Anne was travelling like this, why, there'd be +nothing left to do but to pick up the pieces."</p> + +<p class="normal">As Bertie vouchsafed no answer, after a pause Mr. Bankes went +on.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now, Bailey, joking aside, what is the place you're making +for?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm going to London."</p> + +<p class="normal">"London. Got any friends there?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ever been there before?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I've been there with father."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Know anything about it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't know much."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So I should say, by the build of you. I shouldn't be surprised +if you know more when you come back again--if you ever do come +back again, my bantam. Shall I tell you what generally happens +to boys like you who go up to London without knowing much about +it, and without any friends there? They generally"--Mr. Bankes, +as it were, punctuated these words, laying an emphasis on +each--"go under, and they stop under, and there's an end of +them."</p> + +<p class="normal">He paused; if for a reply, in vain, for there was none from +Bailey.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you think London's the Land of Golden Dreams? Well, it is; +that's exactly what it is--it's the Land of Golden Dreams, and +the dreams are short ones, and when you wake from them you're +up to your neck in filth, and you wish that you were dead. For +they're nothing else but dreams, and the reality is dirt, and +shame, and want, and misery, and death."</p> + +<p class="normal">Again he paused; and again there was no reply from Bertie. "How +much money have you got?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"One and fivepence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is that all?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well! well! I say nothing, but I think a lot. And do you mean +to tell me that you're off to London with the sum of one +shilling and fivepence in your pocket?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You said you ran away with ninepence-halfpenny."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, that's a score! And so I did, but circumstances alter +cases, and that was the foolishest thing that ever I did."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You said it was the most sensible thing you'd ever done."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You've a remarkable memory--a remarkable memory; and if you +keep it up you'll improve as you go on. If I said that, I was a +liar--I was the biggest liar that ever lived. I wonder if you +could go through the sort of thing that I have done?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Bankes' eyes were again fixed on Bertie, as though he would +take his measure.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Most men would have been dead a dozen times. I don't know that +I haven't been; I know I've often wished that I could have died +just once--that I could have been wiped clean out. God save +you, young one, from such a life as mine. Pray God to pull you +up in time."</p> + +<p class="normal">Another pause and then--</p> + +<p class="normal">"What's your plans?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't know."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shouldn't think you did by the look of you. And how long do +you suppose you're going to live, on the sum of one and +fivepence?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't know."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, I should say that with economy you could manage to live +two hours--perhaps a little more, perhaps a little less; that's +to say, an hour before you have your dinner and an hour after. +Some could manage to stretch it out to tea, but you're not one. +And when the money's gone how do you suppose you're going to +get some more?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't know."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now don't you think that I'd better turn Mary Anne right +round, and take you back again? You've had a pleasant little +drive, you know, and the morning air's refreshing."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I won't go, and you promised that you wouldn't."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You'll wish you had about this time to-morrow; and perhaps a +little before. However, a promise is a promise, so on we go. +Know where you are?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bailey did not; Mr. Bankes had turned some sharp corners, and +having left the highroad behind was guiding Mary Anne along a +narrow lane in which there was scarcely room for two vehicles +to pass abreast.</p> + +<p class="normal">"These are the Ember lanes. There's East Molesey right ahead, +then the Thames, then Hampton Court, and then I'll have to +leave you. I've come round this way to stretch the old girl's +legs." This was a graceful allusion to Mary Anne. "My shortest +cut would have been across Walton Bridge, as I'm off to Kempton +to see a trial of a horse in which I'm interested; so when I +get to Hampton Court I'll have to go some of my way back again. +Now make up your mind. There isn't much time left to do it in. +Say the word, and I'll take you all the way along with me, and +land you back just where you started. Take a hint, and think a +bit before you speak."</p> + +<p class="normal">Apparently Bertie took the hint, for it was a moment or two +before he answered.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm not going back."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very well. That's the last time of asking, so I wish you joy +on your journey to the Land of the Golden Dreams."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>Chapter XI</h2> + +<h2><a name="div1_11" href="#div1Ref_11">THE ORIGINAL BADGER</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">As Mr. Bankes spoke, Mary Anne dashed over the little bridge +which spans the Mole, and in another second they were passing +through East Molesey. Nothing was said as they raced through +the devious village street. The world in East Molesey was just +beginning to think of waking up. A few labourers were visible, +on their road to work. When they reached the river, some of the +watermen were preparing their boats, putting them ship-shape +for the day, and on Tagg's Island there were signs of life.</p> + +<p class="normal">Over Hampton Court Bridge flew Mary Anne; past the barracks, +where there were more signs of life, and where Hussars were +recommencing the slightly monotonous routine of a warrior's +life, and then the mare was brought to a sudden standstill at +the corner of the green.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The parting of the ways--you go yours, and I go mine, and I +rather reckon, young one, it won't be long before you wish +there'd been no parting, and we'd both rolled on together. +Which way are you going to London?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thought about going through Kingston."</p> + +<p class="normal">"All right, you can either go through Bushy Park here, or you +can go Kingston way. But don't let me say a word about the road +you go, especially as it don't seem to me to matter which it +is--round by the North Pole and Timbuctoo for all I care, for +you're in no sort of hurry, and all you want is to get there in +the end."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Can't I get to Kingston by the river?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly. You go through the barrack yard there, and through +the little gate which you'll see over at the end on your right, +and you'll be on the towing-path. And then you've only got to +follow your nose and you'll get to Kingston Bridge, and there +you are. The nearest is by Frog's Walk here, along by the +walls, but please yourself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'd sooner go by the river."</p> + +<p class="normal">"All right."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Bankes put his hand into his trousers pocket, and when he +pulled it out it was full of money.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Look here, it seems that I've had a hand in this little +scrape, though I'd no more idea you'd swallow every word of +what I said than I had of flying. You're about as fine a bunch +of greens as ever I encountered, and that's the truth. But, +anyhow, I had a hand, and as I'm a partner in the spree I'm not +going to sort you all the kicks and collar all the halfpence. +And I tell you"--Mr. Bankes raised his voice to a very loud +key, as though Bailey was arguing the point instead of sitting +perfectly still--"I tell you that for a boy like you to cut and +run with the sum of one and fivepence in his pocket is a thing +I'm not going to stand. No, not on any account, so hold out +your hand, you leather-headed noodle, and pocket this."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie held out his hand, Mr. Bankes counted into it five +separate sovereigns.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now sling your hook!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Before Bertie had a chance to thank him, or even to realize the +sudden windfall he had encountered, Mr. Bankes had caught hold +of him, lifted him bodily from his seat, and placed him on the +road. Mary Anne had started, and the trap was flying past the +Cardinal Wolsey, on the Hampton Road. Left standing there, with +the five sovereigns tightly grasped in his palm, Bailey decided +that Mr. Bankes had rather a sudden way of doing things.</p> + +<p class="normal">He remained motionless a minute watching the receding trap. +Perhaps he expected, perhaps he hoped, that Mr. Bankes would +look round and wave him a parting greeting; but there was +nothing of the kind. In a very short space of time the trap was +out of sight and he was left alone. Just for that instant, just +for that first moment, in which he realized his solitude, he +regretted that he had not acted on his late companion's advice, +and pursued the journey with Mary Anne. Then he looked at the +five pounds he held in his hand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, here's a go!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He could scarcely believe his eyes. He took up each of the +coins separately and examined it. Then he placed them in a low +on his extended palm, and stared. Their radiance dazzled him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Catch me going back while I've got all this, I should rather +like somebody to see me at it. Five pounds!" Here was a +long-drawn respiration. "Fancy him tipping me five pounds! I +call that something like a tip. Won't I spend it! Just fancy +having five pounds to spend on what you like! Well, I never +did!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hallo, you boy, got anything nice to look at?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie turned. A soldier, in a considerable state of undress, +was standing a few yards behind him, watching his proceedings.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What's that to you?" asked Bertie.</p> + +<p class="normal">He put both his hands into his trousers pockets, keeping tight +hold on the precious sovereigns, and turning, walked up the +barrack yard. As he passed, the soldier grinned; but Bertie +condescended to pay no heed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If I'd had a fortune left to me, I'd stand a man a drink, if +it was only the price of half a pint."</p> + +<p class="normal">This was what the soldier shouted after Bertie. One or two of +the troopers who were engaged in various ways, and who were all +more or less undressed, looking very different from the dashing +pictures of military splendour which they would shortly present +upon parade, stared at the boy as he went by, but no one spoke +to him.</p> + +<p class="normal">Once on the towing-path, he turned his face Kingston-wards and +hastened on. These five sovereigns burnt a hole in his pocket. +When his capital had been represented by the sum of one and +fivepence he had been dimly conscious that it would be +necessary to be careful in his outlay. He had even outlined a +system of expenditure. But five pounds!</p> + +<p class="normal">They represented boundless wealth. He had been once presented +by a grateful patient of his father's with a tip of half a +sovereign. That was the largest sum of which he had ever been +in possession at one and the same time, and no sooner had the +donor's back been turned than his mother had confiscated five +shillings of that. She declared that it was intended the +half-sovereign should be divided among his brothers and +sisters, and the five shillings went in the division. But five +pounds! What were five shillings, or even half a sovereign, to +five pounds.</p> + +<p class="normal">If Mr. George Washington Bankes had desired to dissipate +whatever effect his words of warning might have had he could +not have chosen a surer method. As the possessor of five +pounds, Bertie's belief in the land of golden dreams was +stronger than ever. The pieces of golden money had as good as +transported him thither upon the spot.</p> + +<p class="normal">His spirits rose to boiling-pitch as he walked beside the +river. The sunshine flooded all the world, and danced upon the +glancing waters, and filled his heart with joy. As he looked +up, the words, "five pounds," seemed streaming in radiant +golden letters across the sunlit sky.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nearly opposite Ditton church he sat down on the grass to revel +in his fancies. The castles which he built, the schemes he +schemed, the future he foretold! No one passing by, and seeing +a boy with an apparently sullen face, sprawling on the grass, +would have had the least conception of the world of imagination +in which, at that moment, he lived and moved, and had his +being.</p> + +<p class="normal">He lay there perhaps more than an hour. He might have lain +there even longer had not two things recalled him to the world +of fact. The first was a growing consciousness that he was +hungry; and the other, the crossing of the ferry. The Ditton +ferry-boat made its first appearance, with two or three young +fellows who had seemingly made the passage with a view of +enjoying an early morning bathe on the more secluded Middlesex +side. When they got out, Bertie got in. Not that he wanted to +go to Ditton, nor that he even knew the name of the place which +he saw upon the other side of the water, but that he fancied +the row across the stream. When he was in the boat a thought +struck him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How much will you row me to Kingston for?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I can't take you in this boat, this here's the ferry-boat; but +I can let you have a boat the other side, and a chap to row +you, and I'll take you for--do you want to go there and back?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No; I want to stop at Kingston."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you going to the fair there? I hear there's to be a fine +fair this time, and a circus, and all."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie had neither heard of the fair nor of the circus; but the +idea was tempting.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shouldn't be surprised if I did go. How much will you row me +for?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The ferryman hesitated. He was probably debating within himself +as to the capacity of the young gentleman's pockets, and also +not improbably as to his capacity for being bled.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'll row you there for five shillings."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Bertie was not quite so verdant as he looked.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'll give you eighteenpence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, you're a cool hand, you are, to offer a man +eighteenpence for what he wants five shillings for. But I don't +want to be hard upon a young gentleman what is a young +gentleman. I'll row you there for four; a man's got to live, +you know, and it isn't as though you wanted a boat to row +yourself."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Bertie was unable to see his way to paying four. Finally a +bargain was struck for half a crown. Then a difficulty occurred +as to change, and Bertie entrusted one of his precious +sovereigns to the ferryman to get changed at the Swan. Then a +boat was launched, a lad not very much older than Bertie was +placed in charge, the fare was paid in advance, and a start was +made for Kingston.</p> + +<p class="normal">By the time they reached that ancient town, Bertie was hungry +in earnest. The walk, the drive, and now the row in the +freshness of the early morning had combined to give him an +appetite which, at Mecklemburg House, would have been regarded +with considerable disapproval. Now, too, the short commons of +the day before were remembered; and as Bertie fingered the +money in his pockets he thought with no slight satisfaction of +the good things in the eating and drinking line which it would +buy.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was landed at his own request on the Middlesex side of +Kingston Bridge, and having generously made the lad who had +rowed him richer by the sum of sixpence, he started, with +renewed vigour, to cross the bridge into the town. No sooner +had he crossed than a coffee-shop met his eye. It was the very +thing he wanted. With the air of a capitalist he entered and +ordered a sumptuous repast--coffee, bread and butter, ham and +eggs. Having made a hearty meal,--and a hearty meal was a +subject on which he had ideas of his own, for he followed up +the ham and eggs with half a dozen open tarts and a jam puff +or two, buying half a pound of sweets to eat when he got +outside,--he paid the bill and sallied forth.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was cattle-market day, and unusual business seemed to be +doing. Not only was the market-place crowded with live stock, +but they overflowed into the neighbouring streets. For the +present, Bertie was content to watch the proceedings. In the +position of a capitalist he could travel to London in state and +at his leisure. Just now his mind was running on what the +ferryman had said about the circus and the fair. He could go to +London at any time. It was not a place which was likely to run +away. But circuses and fairs were things which were quick to +go, and once gone were gone for ever. Bertie resolved that he +would commence his journey by seeing both the circus and the +fair.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nor was his resolution weakened by a joyous procession which +passed through the Kingston street.</p> + +<p class="normal">"<span class="sc">Badger's Royal Popular Cosmopolitan and World-famed +Hippodrome</span>" was an imposing title for a circus, but not more +imposing than the glories revealed by that procession.</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Supported by all the greatest artists in the world chosen +from all the nations of the universe</i>" was the continuation of +the title, and, judging from the astonishing variety of ladies +and gentlemen who rode the horses, who bestrode the camels, who +crowded the triumphal cars, and who ran along on foot +distributing handbills among the crowd, it really seemed that +the statement was justified by fact. There were Chinamen whose +pigtails seemed quite real; there were gentlemen of colour who +seemed warranted to wash; there were individuals with beards +and moustaches of an altogether foreign character; and there +were ladies of the most wondrous and enchanting beauty, +dressed in the most picturesque and amazing styles. Bertie +Bailey, at any rate, was persuaded that it would be absurd for +him to think of going on to town till he had attended at least +one performance of Badger's Royal Popular Cosmopolitan and +World-famed Hippodrome.</p> + +<p class="normal">He followed the procession to the fair field. And there, +although it was not yet noon, the fair was already in full +swing. All those immortal entertainments without which a fair +would not be a fair were liberally provided. There were shows, +and shooting galleries, and bottle-throwing establishments, and +seas upon land, and resplendent roundabouts, and stalls at +which were vended goods of the very best quality; and all those +joys and raptures which go to make a fair in every part of the +world in which fairs are known.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Bertie cared for none of these things. All his soul was +fixed upon the circus. He attended the performance. As befitted +a young gentleman of fortune he occupied a front seat, price +two shillings. A hypercritical spectator might have suggested +that the procession had been the best part of the show. But +this was not the case in Bertie's eyes. He was enraptured with +the feats of skill and daring which he witnessed in the ring. +Only one consideration marred his complete enjoyment. +Unfortunately he could not make up his mind whether he would +rather be the gentleman who, disdaining all ordinary modes of +horsemanship, standing upon the backs of two cream-coloured +steeds, with streaming tails, dashed round the ring; or the +clown whose business it was--a business which he seemed to +think a pleasure--to keep the audience in a roar. He was not so +much struck by a gentleman who performed marvels on a flying +trapeze; nor by the surefootedness of a lady who walked upon an +"invisible wire,"--which was, in this case, a rope about the +thickness of Bertie's wrist.</p> + +<p class="normal">But he quite made up his mind that he would be either the clown +or the rider; and that, when he had determined which of these +honourable positions he would prefer to fill, he would lose no +time in laying siege to one of the ladies of the establishment, +and to beg her to be his. But here the same difficulty +occurred;--he was not quite certain which. However, by the time +the performance was over, and the audience was dismissed, on +one point he was assured, he would enlist under the banners of +the world-famed Badger. Dick Turpin, Robin Hood, Robinson +Crusoe, Jack the Giant Killer, might do for some folks, but a +circus was the place for him.</p> + +<p class="normal">When he regained the open air, and had bidden an unwilling +adieu to the sawdust glories, the afternoon was pretty well +advanced and the fair was more crowded than ever. But Bertie +could not tear himself away from Badger's. He hung about the +exterior of the tent as though the neighbourhood was holy +ground.</p> + +<p class="normal">Several other loiterers lingered too; and among them were four +or five men who did not look, to put it gently, as though they +belonged to what are called the upper classes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I've half a mind," said Bertie to himself, "to go inside the +tent, and ask Mr. Badger if he wants a boy. But perhaps he +wouldn't like to be troubled when there's no performance on."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie's ideas on circus management were rudimentary. Mr. +Badger would perhaps have looked a little blue to find himself +met with such a request if there had been a performance on.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you think of the circus?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The question was put by one of the individuals before referred +to. He had apparently given his companions the slip, for they +stood a little distance off, ostentatiously paying no attention +to his proceedings. He was a short man, inclined to stoutness, +and Bertie thought he had the reddest face he had ever seen.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's not a bad show, is it? And more it didn't ought to be, +for the amount of money it cost me to put that show together no +one wouldn't believe."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie stared. It dimly occurred to him that it must have cost +him all the money he possessed and so left him nothing to throw +away upon his clothing, for his costume was distinctly shabby. +But the stout man went on affably:--</p> + +<p class="normal">"I saw you looking round, so I thought as perhaps you took a +interest in these here kind of things. Perhaps you don't know +who I am?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie didn't and said so.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm Badger, the Original Badger. I may say the only Badger as +was ever known,--for all them other Badgers belongs to another +branch of the family."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Original Badger put his hand to his neck, apparently with +the intention of pulling up his shirt collar, which, however, +wasn't there. Bertie stared still more. The stout man did +not by any means come up to the ideas he had formed of the +world-famed Badger.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're not the Mr. Badger to whom the circus belongs."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ain't I! But I ham, I just ham." The Original Badger's +enunciation of the letter was more emphatic than correct.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And I should like to see the man who says I hain't! I'd +fight that man either for beer or money either now or any other +time, and I shouldn't care if he was twenty stone. Now look +'ere"--the Original Badger gave Bertie so hearty a slap upon +the back that that young gentleman tottered--"What I say is +this. I wants a well-built young fellow about your age to learn +the riding, and to train for clown, and I wants that young +feller to make his first appearance this day three weeks. Now +what do you say to being that young feller?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't think I could learn it in three weeks," was all Bertie +could manage to stammer.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh couldn't you? I know better. Now, look 'ere, I'm going to +pay that young feller five and twenty pound a week, and find +him in his clothing. What do you say to that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie would have liked to say a good deal, if he could have +only found the words to say it with. Among other things he +would probably have liked to have said that he hoped the +clothing which was to accompany the five and twenty pounds a +week would be of a different sort to that worn by the Original +Badger. It would have been a hazardous experiment to have +offered five and twenty pence for the stout man's costume.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now, look 'ere, there's a house I know close by where you and +me can be alone, and we can talk it over. You're just the sort +of young feller I've been looking for. Now come along with me +and I'll make your fortune for you,--you see if I don't."</p> + +<p class="normal">Before Bertie quite knew what was happening, the stout man had +slipped his arm through his, and was hurrying him through the +fair, away from it, and down some narrow streets which were not +of the most aristocratic appearance. All the time he kept +pouring out such a stream of words that the lad was given no +chance to remonstrate, even if he had had presence of mind +enough to do it with. But, metaphorically, the Original +Badger--to use an expression in vulgar phrase--had knocked him +silly.</p> + +<p class="normal">What exactly happened Bertie never could remember. The Original +Badger led him to a very doubtful looking public-house, and, +before he knew it, the lad was through the door. They did not +go into the public bar, but into a little room beyond. They had +scarcely entered when they were joined by three or four more +shabby individuals, whom the Original Badger greeted as his +friends. If Bertie had looked behind he would have perceived +these gentry following close upon his heels all the time.</p> + +<p class="normal">"This young gentleman's going to stand something to drink. Now, +'Enery William, gin cold."</p> + +<p class="normal">The order was given by the Original Badger to a shrivelled-up +individual without a coat who seemed to act as pot-boy. When +this person disappeared, and Bertie was left alone with the +Original Badger and his friends, he by no means liked the +situation. A more unpleasant looking set of vagabonds could +with difficulty be found; and he felt that if these were the +sort of gentry who had to do with circuses a circus was not the +place for him.</p> + +<p class="normal">The pot-boy re-appeared with a bottle of water, and a tray of +glasses containing gin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Two shillings," said the pot-boy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"All right; the gentleman pays."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Pay in advance," said the pot-boy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Two shillings, captain!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The Original Badger gave Bertie another of his hearty slaps +upon the back. Bertie felt they were too hearty by half. +However, he produced a florin, with which the pot-boy +disappeared, leaving the glasses on the table.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm going," he said, directly that functionary was gone.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What, before you've drunk your liquor? You'll never do for a +circus, you won't." Bertie felt he wouldn't. "Why, I've got all +that business to talk over with you. I'm going to engage this +young feller in my circus to do the clowning and the riding for +five and twenty pound a week."</p> + +<p class="normal">The Original Badger cast what was suspiciously like a wink in +the direction of his friends. One of these friends handed the +glasses round. He lingered a moment with the glass he gave to +Bertie before he filled it half-way up with water, then he held +it towards the boy. He was a tall, sallow-looking ruffian, with +ragged whiskers; the sort of man one would very unwillingly +encounter on a lonely road at night.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Drink that up," he said; "that's the sort of thing for circus +riders."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't want to drink the stuff," said Bertie. "Drink it up, +you fool!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The lad hesitated a moment, then emptied the glass at a +draught. What happened afterwards he never could describe; for +it seemed to him that no sooner had he drunk the contents than +he fell asleep; and as he sank into slumber he seemed to hear +the sound of laughter ringing in his ears.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>Chapter XII</h2> + +<h2><a name="div1_12" href="#div1Ref_12">A "DOSS" HOUSE</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">When he woke it was dark. He did not know where he was. He +opened his eyes, which were curiously heavy, and thought he was +in a dream. He shut them again, and vainly wondered if he were +back at Mecklemburg House or in his home at Upton. He half +expected to hear familiar voices. Suddenly there was a crash of +instruments; he started up, supporting himself upon his arm, +and listened listlessly, still not quite sure he was not +dreaming. It was the crash of the circus band; they were +playing "God Save the Queen."</p> + +<p class="normal">Something like consciousness returned. He began to understand +his whereabouts. A cool breeze was blowing across his face; he +was in the open air; behind him there was a canvas flapping. It +was a tent. Around him were discords of every kind. It was +night; the fair was in all its glory. He was lying in the fair +field.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hallo, chappie! coming round again?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Some one spoke. Looking up, peering through his heavy eyes, he +perceived that a lean, ragged figure was leaning over him. +Sufficiently roused to dislike further companionship with the +Original Badger and his friends, he dragged himself to a +sitting posture. The stranger was a lad, not much, if any, +older than himself, some ragamuffin of the streets.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who are you?" asked Bertie.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never mind who I am. I've had my eyes on you this ever so +long. Ain't you been a-going it neither. I thought that you was +dead. Was it----?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He gave a suggestive gesture with his hand, as though he +emptied a glass into his mouth. Bertie struggled to his feet.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I--I don't feel quite well."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You don't look it neither. Whatever have you been doing of?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie tried to think. He would like to have left his new +acquaintance. The Original Badger and his friends had been +quite enough for him, but his legs refused their office, and he +was perforce compelled to content himself with standing still. +He did not feel quite such a hero as he had done before.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you lost anything?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The chance question brought Bertie back to recollection. He put +his hand into his trousers pockets--they were empty. +Bewildered, he felt in the pockets of his waistcoat and of his +jacket--they were empty, too! Some one had relieved him of +everything he possessed, down to his clasp knife and pocket +handkerchief. Willie Seymour's one and fivepence, and Mr. +Bankes' five pounds, both alike were gone!</p> + +<p class="normal">"I've been robbed," he said.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shouldn't be surprised but what you had. What do you think +is going to happen to you if you lies for ever so many hours in +the middle of the fair field as if you was dead? How much have +you lost?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Five pounds."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Five pounds!--crikey, if you ain't a pretty cove! Are you +a-gammoning me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie looked at the lad. A thought struck him. He put out his +hand and took him by the shoulder.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You've robbed me," he said.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You leave me alone! who are you touching of? If you don't +leave me alone, I'll make you smart."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You try it on," said Bertie.</p> + +<p class="normal">The other tried it on, and with such remarkable celerity, that +before he had realized what had happened, Bertie Bailey lay +down flat. The stranger showed such science that, in his +present half comatose condition, Bailey went down like a log.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You wouldn't have done that if I'd been all right; and I do +believe you've robbed me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Believe away! I ain't, so there! I ain't so much as seen the +colour of your money, and I don't know nothing at all about it. +The first I see of you was about five o'clock. You was a-lying +just where you are now, and I've come and had a look at you a +dozen times since. Why, it must be ten o'clock, for the circus +is out, and you ain't woke up only just this minute. How came +you to be lying there?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't know. I've been robbed, and that's quite enough for +me,--my head is aching fit to split."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Haven't you got any money left?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, I haven't."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where's your home?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What's that to you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, it ain't much to me, but I should think it's a good deal +to you. If I was you I'd go home."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, you're not me, so I won't."</p> + +<p class="normal">"All right, matey, it ain't no odds to me. If you likes lying +there till the perlice come and walks you off, it's all the +same to me so far as I'm concerned."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I've got no money; I've been robbed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I tell you what I'll do, I ain't a rich chap, not by no manner +of means, and I never had five pounds to lose, but I've had a +stroke of luck in my small way, and if you really haven't got +no home, nor yet no coin, I don't mind standing in for a bed so +far as four pence goes."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't know what you mean; leave me alone. I've got no money; +I've been robbed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So you have, chummy, and that's a fact; so you pick yourself +up and toddle along with me; there ain't no fear of your being +robbed again if you've nothing to lose."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie half resisted the stranger's endeavour to assist him in +finding his feet, but the other managed so dexterously that +Bertie found himself accompanying his new friend with a fair +amount of willingness. The fair was still at its height; the +swings were fuller; the roundabout was driving a roaring trade; +the sportsmen in the shooting gallery were popping away; but +all these glories had lost their charm for Bertie. It seemed to +him that it was all a hideous nightmare, from which he vainly +struggled to shake himself free.</p> + +<p class="normal">Had it not been for occasional assistance, he would more than +once have lost his footing. Something ailed him, but what, he +was at a loss to understand. All the hopes, and vigour, and +high spirits of the morning had disappeared, and with them all +his dreams had vanished too. He was the most miserable young +gentleman in Kingston Fair.</p> + +<p class="normal">He kept up an under current of grumbling all the way, now and +then making feeble efforts to rid himself of his companion; but +the stranger was too wide awake for Bertie to shake him off. +Had he been better acquainted with the town, and in a fit state +to realize his knowledge, he would have been aware that his +companion was leading him, by a series of short cuts, in the +direction of the apple-market. He paused before a tumbledown +old house, over the door of which a lamp was burning. Bertie +shrunk away, with some dim recollection of the establishment +into which he had been enticed by the Original Badger and his +friends. At sight of his unwillingness the other only laughed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What are you afraid of? This ain't a place in which they'd rob +you, even if you'd got anything worth robbing, which it seems +to me you ain't. This is a doss-house, this is."</p> + +<p class="normal">So saying he entered the house, the door of which seemed to +stand permanently open. The somewhat reluctant Bertie entered +with him. No one appearing to receive them, the stranger lost +no time in informing the inmates of their arrival.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here, Mr. Jenkins, or Mrs. Jenkins, or some one, can I come +up?"</p> + +<p class="normal">In answer to this appeal, a stout lady appeared at the head of +a flight of stairs, which rose almost from the threshold of the +door. Hall there was none. She was not a very cleanly-looking +lady, nor had she the softest of voices.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is that you, Sam Slater? Who's that you've got with you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"A friend of mine, and that's enough for you."</p> + +<p class="normal">With this brief response, the stranger, whose name appeared to +be Sam Slater, led the way up the flight of stairs.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Anybody here?" he asked, when he reached the landing.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not at present there ain't; I expect they're all at the fair."</p> + +<p class="normal">"All the better," said Sam.</p> + +<p class="normal">He followed the lady through a door which faced the landing, +pausing for a moment to see that Bertie followed too. Something +in Bertie's appearance struck the lady's eye.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What's the matter with your friend,--ain't he well?" she +asked.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, he's not exactly well," responded Sam, favouring Bertie +with a curious glance from the corner of his eye.</p> + +<p class="normal">A man who was seated by a roaring fire, although the night was +warm and bright, got up and joined the party. He was in his +shirt-sleeves, and he also was stout, and he puffed +industriously at a short black clay pipe. He stood in front of +Bertie, and inspected him from head to foot.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He don't look exactly well, not by any means he don't."</p> + +<p class="normal">The stout man grinned. Bertie staggered. The sudden change from +the sweet, fresh air to the hot, close room gave him a sudden +qualm. If the stout man had not caught him he would have fallen +to the floor.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Steady! Where do you think you're coming to? You're a nice +young chap, you are! If I was you I'd turn teetotal."</p> + +<p class="normal">Sam Slater interfered.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You don't know anything at all about it; he's not been +drinking; he's been got at, and some one's cleared him of his +cash."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You leave him to me, Jenkins," said the stout lady.</p> + +<p class="normal">For Bertie had swooned. As easily as though he had been a baby, +instead of being the great lad that he was, she lifted him and +carried him to another room. When he opened his eyes again he +found that he was lying on a brilliantly counterpaned bed. Sam +was seated on the edge, the lady was standing by the side, and +Mr. Jenkins, a steaming tumbler in his hand, was leaning over +the rail at his head.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Better?" inquired the lady, perceiving that his eyes were +open.</p> + +<p class="normal">For answer Bertie sat up and looked about him. It was a little +room, smaller than the other, and cooler, owing to the absence +of a fire.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Take a swig of this; that'll do you good."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Jenkins held the steaming tumbler towards him. Bertie +shrank away.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's only peppermint, made with my own hands, so I can +guarantee it's good. A barrel of it wouldn't do you harm. Drink +up, sonny!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus urged by the lady, he took the glass and drank. It +certainly revived him, making him feel less dull and heavy; but +a curious sense of excitement came instead. In the state in +which he was even peppermint had a tendency to fly to his head. +Perceiving his altered looks the lady went on,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Didn't I tell you it would do you good? Now you feel another +man."</p> + +<p class="normal">Then she continued, in a tone which Bertie, if he had the +senses about him, would have called wheedling--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Anybody can see that you're a gentleman, and not used to such +a place as this. You are a little gentleman, ain't you now?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie took another drink before he replied. The steaming hot +peppermint was restoring him to his former heroic state of +mind.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I should think I am a gentleman; I should like to see anybody +say I wasn't."</p> + +<p class="normal">Either this remark, or the manner of its delivery, made Mr. +Jenkins laugh.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh lor!" he said, "here's a three-foot-sixer!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never mind him, my dear," observed the lady, "he knows no +better. I knows a gentleman when I sees one, and directly I set +eyes on you I says, 'he's a gentleman he is.' And did they rob +you of your money?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Some one's robbed me of five pounds."</p> + +<p class="normal">This was not said in quite such a heroic tone as the former +remark. The memory of that five pounds haunted him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Poor, dear, young gentleman, think of that now. And was the +money your own, my dear?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Whose do you think it was? Do you think I stole it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Under the influence of the peppermint, or harassed by the +memory of his loss, Bertie positively scowled at the lady.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear no, young gentlemen never steals. Five pounds! and all +his own; and lost it too! What thieves this world has got! +Dear, dear, now."</p> + +<p class="normal">The lady paused, possibly overcome by her sympathy with the +lad's misfortune. Behind his back she interchanged a glance +with Mr. Jenkins. Mr. Jenkins, apparently wishing to say +something, but not being able to find the words to say it with, +put his hand to his mouth and coughed. Sam Slater stared at +Bertie with a look of undisguised contempt.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You must be a green hand to let 'em turn you inside out like +that. If I had five pounds--which I ain't never likely to have! +more's the pity--I'd look 'em up and down just once or twice +before I'd let 'em walk off with it like that. I wonder if your +mother knows you're out."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My mother doesn't know anything at all about it; I've run away +from school."</p> + +<p class="normal">Under ordinary circumstances Bertie would have confined that +fact within his own bosom; now, with some vague idea of +impressing his dignity upon the contemptuous Sam, he blurted it +out. Directly the words were spoken a significant look passed +from each of his hearers to the other.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear, now," said the lady. "Run away from school, have you +now? There's a brave young gentleman; and that there Sam knows +nothing at all about it. It's more than he dare do."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never had a school to run away from," murmured Sam.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did they use you very bad, my dear?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It wasn't because of that; I wouldn't have minded how they +used me. I ran away because I wanted to find the Land of Golden +Dreams."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Jenkins put his hand to his mouth as if to choke what +sounded very like a laugh; Sam stared with a look of the most +profound amazement on his face; a faint smile even flitted +across the lady's face.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Land of Golden Dreams," said Sam. "Never heard tell of +such a place."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You never heard tell of nothing," declared the lady. "You +ain't a scholar like this young gentleman. And what's the name +of the school, my dear?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mecklemburg House Collegiate School."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie informed them of the name and title of Mr. Fletcher's +educational establishment with what he intended to be his +grandest air, with a possible intention of impressing them with +its splendour.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There's a mouthful," commented Sam. "Oh my eye!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The lady's reception of Bertie's information was more +courteous.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There's a beautiful name for a school. And where might it be?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's not very far from Cobham. But I don't live there."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, my dear. And where do you live, my lovey?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The lady became more affectionate in her titles of endearment +as she went on. Mr. Jenkins, leaning over the head of the bed, +listened with all his ears; but on his countenance was a +delighted grin.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I live at Upton."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Upton," said the lady, and glanced at Mr. Jenkins behind the +bed. Mr. Jenkins winked at her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My father's a doctor; he keeps two horses and a carriage; +everybody knows him there; he's the best doctor in the place."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And is your mother alive, my dear?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I should rather think she was, and won't she go it when she +knows I've run away!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear now, think of that! I shouldn't be surprised if she was +very fond of you, my dear. And I daresay, now, she'd give a +deal of money to any one who told her where you were."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I should think she would. I daresay she'd give--I daresay +she'd give----" he searched his imagination for the largest sum +of which he could think; he desired to impress his audience +with an idea of the family importance and wealth. "I daresay +she'd give a thousand pounds." His hearers stared. "But she's +not likely to know, for there's no one to tell her."</p> + +<p class="normal">This statement seemed to tickle Mr. Jenkins and Sam so much, +that with one accord they burst into a roar of laughter. Bertie +glowered.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never mind them, my lovey; it's their bad manners, they don't +know no better. I'll soon send them away. Now, out you go, +going on with your ridiculous nonsense, and he such a brave +young gentleman; I'm ashamed of you;--get away, the two of +you."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Jenkins and Sam obediently went, stifling their laughter on +the way. But apparently when they were outside they gave free +vent to their sense of humour, for their peals of mirth came +through the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never mind them, my dear; you undress yourself and get into +bed, and have a nice long sleep, and be sure you have a friend +in me. My name's Jenkins, lovey, Eliza Jenkins, and that there +silly man's my husband. By the way, you haven't told me what +your name is, my dear."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My name's Bailey, Bertie Bailey."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear now, and you're the son of the famous Dr. Bailey of +Upton. Think of that now."</p> + +<p class="normal">She left him to think of it, for immediately after Mrs. Jenkins +followed her husband and Sam. Bertie, left alone, hesitated for +a moment or two as to what he should do. He tried to think, but +thought was just then an exercise beyond his powers. The events +of the last few hours were presented in a sort of kaleidoscopic +picture to his mind's eye. There was nothing clear. He found a +difficulty in realizing where he was. As he looked round the +unfamiliar room, with its scanty furniture, and that of the +poorest and most tawdry class, he found it difficult not to +persuade himself that he saw it in a dream.</p> + +<p class="normal">All the events of the day seemed to have been the incidents of +a dream. Mecklemburg House seemed to be a house he had seen in +a dream. He seemed to have left it in a dream. That walk along +the moonlit road had been a walk in a dream. He had driven with +Mr. George Washington Bankes in a dream. He had possessed five +pounds in a dream; had lost it in a dream; had been to the +circus in a dream; the Original Badger and his friends were the +characters seen in a dream--a dream which had been the long +nightmare of a day.</p> + +<p class="normal">One thing was certain, he was sleepy; on that point he was +clear. He could hardly keep his eyes open, and his head from +sinking on his breast. As in a dream he lazily undressed; as in +a dream he got into the bed; and once into the bed he was +almost instantly wrapped in a sound and dreamless slumber.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was awoke by the sound of voices. It seemed to him that he +had only slept five minutes, but it was broad daylight; the sun +was shining into the room, and, almost immediately after he +opened his eyes, the clock of Kingston church struck twelve. It +was high noon.</p> + +<p class="normal">But he was not yet fully roused. He lay in that delicious state +of languor which is neither sleep nor waking. The owners of the +voices were evidently not aware that he was even partially +awakened. They went on talking with perfect absence of +restraint, entirely unsuspicious of there being any listener +near. The speakers were Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's all nonsense about the thousand pounds; a thousand pence +will be nearer the thing; but even a thousand pence is not very +far off a five-pound note, and a five-pound note's worth +having."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Jenkins ceased, and Mrs. Jenkins took up the strain. +Bertie, lying in his delightful torpor, heard it all; though he +was not at first conscious that he was himself the theme of his +host and hostess's conversation.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He says his father keeps two horses and a carriage; he must be +tidy off. If his mother's fond of him, she wouldn't mind paying +liberal to hear his whereabouts. If you goes down and tells her +how you took him in without a penny in his pockets, not so much +as fourpence to pay for his bed--which it's against our rule to +take in anybody who doesn't pay his money in advance--and how +he was ill and all, there's no knowing but what she wouldn't +pay you handsome for putting her on his track and all."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It's worth trying anyhow. Dr. Bailey, you say, is the name?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He says his own name is Bertie Bailey, and his father's name +is Dr. Bailey."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie pricked up his ears at the sound of his name, and began +to wonder.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And his home is Upton? There don't seem no railway at this +here Upton. Slough seems the nearest station, because I asked +them at the booking office, and there's a tidy bit to walk."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't you walk it. You take a cab and drive. Make out as how +there wasn't no time to lose, and as how you thought the +mother's heart was a longing for her son. Do the thing in +style. If there don't nothing else come of it they'll have to +pay your expenses handsome."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm not going all that way for my expenses, so I'll let them +know! They'll have to make it worth my while before I tell them +where to lay their finger on the kid."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie wondered more and more. He still lay motionless, but by +now he was wide awake. It dawned upon him what was the meaning +of the conversation. Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins were apparently about +to take advantage of his incautious frankness to betray him for +the sake of a reward. He had a dim recollection of having +blurted out more than he intended; and, on the strength of the +information he had thus obtained, Mr. Jenkins was going to pay +a little visit to his home.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't you be afraid," went on the lady, "I tell you they'll +pay up handsome. You and me, perhaps, wouldn't make much fuss +if one of our young 'uns was to cut and run, but gentlefolks is +different. It isn't likely that a lady can like the thought of +a boy of hers knocking about in the gutter, and trying his luck +in the ditch. Just you put your hat on, and you go straight to +this here Upton, and you see if it isn't the best day's work +you've ever done. I'll go fast enough, if you've not started +soon."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Jenkins did not seem to like this idea at all; his tone was +a little sulky.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You needn't put yourself out, Eliza; I'm a-going."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then why don't you go, instead of standing wool gathering +there?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You don't know his address. What am I to ask for when I get to +this here Upton?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, ask for Dr. Bailey; it's only a little place. You'll find +he's as well known as the church clock, and perhaps better."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And about the boy; what are you going to do when he wakes up?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'll look after him. Don't you trouble your head about the +boy; you'll find him here when you come back as safe as +houses."</p> + +<p class="normal">"All right, Eliza, I'm off; and by to-night, I shouldn't be +surprised if Master Bertie Bailey, Esquire, was returned to his +fond parent's arms."</p> + +<p class="normal">His tone was jocular; but the expression of his countenance was +not exactly genial when Master Bertie Bailey sat up in bed, as +he did at this identical moment, and looked his host and +hostess in the face.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>Chapter XIII</h2> + +<h2><a name="div1_13" href="#div1Ref_13">IN PETERSHAM PARK</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Bertie looked at Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins, and Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins +looked at him, and husband and wife looked at one another.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And have you had a nice sleep, my dear?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie vouchsafed no reply to the lady's question, continuing +to look at her with his characteristically dogged look in his +eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And how long have you been awake, my dear? Have you only just +now woke?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie threw the clothes from off him, and turned to Mr. +Jenkins.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I won't go home, even if you do go and tell my mother, you old +sneak!"</p> + +<p class="normal">This uncomplimentary epithet was applied to Mr. Jenkins with +such sullen ferocity, that that gentleman started and looked +even more discomfited than he had done before. Bertie got out +of bed and stood upon the floor.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Give me my clothes, and let me go; you've no right to keep me +here."</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Jenkins was apparently speechless, but his quicker-witted +wife was voluble enough.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Certainly, my dear. No one wants to keep you, lovey. You pay +us what you owe and you're as free as the air!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't owe you anything."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not anything for a young gentleman like you; it's only six +shillings, my dear."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Six shillings!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, six shillings. Would you like your bill, my dear? +Jenkins, go and get the young gentleman his bill."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're a lot of thieves!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, thieves are we? Very well, if you like to think us so, my +dear. But I shouldn't have thought that a young gentleman like +you would have liked to rob poor people of the money he owes +for his board and lodging. And if you talk about thieves, my +dear, Jenkins will go for a policeman, and a policeman will +soon show you who's the thief, if you don't pay us what you +owe, my lovey. And I shouldn't be surprised if, when he heard +as how you'd runned away, the policeman wasn't to take and lock +you up at once, my pet. Now, Jenkins, you come along with me, +and while I makes up the young gentleman's bill you go and +fetch a policeman, because as he thinks we're thieves, he do."</p> + +<p class="normal">While the lady delivered herself of this voluble string of +observations she had gradually approached the door. Before +Bertie had perceived her design, she had pushed her husband +through the door, and was through herself; the door was shut, +the key turned in the lock, and Bertie was a prisoner.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now we'll see who's thieves!" the lady was heard to observe +outside. "Now, Jenkins, you go and get a policeman this instant +minute, and mind you bring a good big one, too!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Very few boys would be so foolish as to, what is rather +erroneously termed run away; sneak away would perhaps be the +correct phrase. If in any given million we were to put it that +there is one such being, we should perhaps be stating a larger +average than actually exists. But we may be pretty sure, that +for even that young gentleman the adventures which had befallen +Bertie Bailey at the very outset would have been quite +sufficient; he would have devoted the small remainder of his +energies to running, <i>i.e</i>., sneaking, back again.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Bertie Bailey was made of sterner stuff; he was of those +young gentlemen who have to learn their lessons a good many +times over before they can get the meaning of what they have +learnt into their heads. Those who reach the end of this story +will find that he did learn his lesson to the end, and that it +was a terrible lesson too, but the ending was not yet.</p> + +<p class="normal">So soon as he understood that he was a prisoner, Bertie cast +about for some method of escape. In his heart he could not but +allow that the commencement of his journey had not been so +successful as he had intended that it should be. But he was +naturally slow to admit a failure. And to think that the +ingenious Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins should make capital out of his +misfortunes; that was an idea he by no means relished.</p> + +<p class="normal">Fortunately, the lady had left his clothes behind. It occurred +to Bertie that she might perceive her error and return to fetch +them. To prevent any likelihood of that he put them on. Then he +looked about to find a path to freedom.</p> + +<p class="normal">The window immediately caught his eye. It was a very little +one, in the fashion of a double lattice, which opened outwards. +But Bertie resolved that it was large enough for him. He opened +it carefully and peeped out. It was apparently a window at the +side of the house, looking out upon a narrow passage-way.</p> + +<p class="normal">Had Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins known the character of their guest, +they would never have been so foolish as to think the bird was +safe while he had the command of that convenient window. It was +only some ten or twelve feet above the ground, and to Bertie +the drop was nothing.</p> + +<p class="normal">He lost no time in putting it to the test. First peering up and +down the narrow passage, to see that no one was in sight and +that no other window commanded a view of his operations, he +brought the only chair the room contained up to the window and +commenced to climb through it, feet foremost. The operation was +a delicate one, but the size of the window precluded any other +mode of egress. Even as it was, when he was about half way +through he discovered that he was stuck fast. For a few +disagreeable moments he feared that he would have to remain in +that uncomfortable position till Mrs. Jenkins returned to +secure her prey.</p> + +<p class="normal">He wriggled and twisted, but for a time in vain. Suddenly, +however, he did more than he intended; for the result of a +desperate effort was to precipitate him so rapidly backwards +that he was only just able to grasp the old-fashioned, narrow, +wooden window sill with his right hand in time to prevent +himself from falling in a heap upon the ground. He hung for a +second, to give himself chance to recover from the shock, then +he loosened his hold, and, dropping, alighted on his feet upon +the ground; and no sooner was he on the ground than, without +waiting to see if there was any one about, he dashed helter +skelter down the passage at the top of his speed.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was not pursued. On that point his mind was soon at rest. +Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins were probably too much engaged with other +matters to think of the possibility of their guest effecting +his escape. The passage led, by a succession of devious +turnings, into the Richmond Road. When he reached the main +thoroughfare Bertie ceased to run.</p> + +<p class="normal">Under the railway arch, past the shops, past the cricket field, +into the lanes beyond, went Bertie. He had had nothing to eat +that morning, he had not a farthing in his pocket; he had no +conception where money was to come from unless it tumbled from +the skies; yet he went unhesitatingly forward, as though all +the world was at his feet, and all its wealth was in his +pocket.</p> + +<p class="normal">Past Ham Common into Petersham, and now he began to think that +perhaps he was a little hungry. Delicious recollections of the +morning meal of yesterday floated through his mind. A dish of +ham and eggs he would have welcomed as a dish worthy of the +gods; but there were no ham and eggs for him just then.</p> + +<p class="normal">The road was dusty; the previous rains had disappeared, and the +mud was turned to dust. By the time he reached Bute House he +had made up his mind that the dust and heat combined were a +little more than he quite relished. By then, too, he had no +doubt but that he was hungry and thirsty too.</p> + +<p class="normal">Suddenly the sound of voices fell upon his ear; of children's +voices, of their laughter, of their cries of pleasure as they +called to one another. He looked through the rails into +Petersham Park. The park was full of children. There was some +huge school treat, and in hundreds they were passing here and +there. Up the hill, and along the valley, among the trees, and +in the nooks and dells, as far as the eye could penetrate, +there were children moving. He entered, and advancing some +distance from the outer wall, he lay down upon the grass.</p> + +<p class="normal">When he had lain there some time there were races started. +Little boys and big raced for prizes. Those in charge of the +multitude of children arranged the sports.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here's a race for a shilling!" shouted one such person +in authority. He held a leather bag above his head. There +was a shout from the boys who crowded round him. The prize +was of unusual magnitude. All the prizes seemed to be in +money,--twopence, threepence, fourpence had been their value +until now--and no sooner were they won than the winners rushed +to spend their prizes at the stalls of fruit and sweets, the +proprietors of which plied a roaring trade. When the race for a +shilling was announced there was a shout from a multitude of +throats.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now then, why don't you have a try to win? you're big enough. +Lying there as if you're half asleep; jump up, and show them +how fast your feet can travel!"</p> + +<p class="normal">A young man was standing by Bertie, looking down at him, +evidently unaware that he was not an original member of the +noisy crowd.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Jump up! Why don't you go in for the race? Are you ill?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm not ill."</p> + +<p class="normal">Without another word Bertie got up and joined the host of boys +who were preparing to run. There were probably a hundred, and +the directors of the sports had considerable difficulty in +arranging a fair start. The race was confined to the bigger +ones; there were no starts allowed, and they were all supposed +to start from the same line. But the competitors had not the +nicest sense of honour, and each endeavoured to steal a yard +from his friend. Finally they were got into something like a +proper line.</p> + +<p class="normal">The distance to be run was about two hundred yards. The course +was not a very regular one, as some were up the hill, and some +were down; the breadth of the level ground was not sufficient +to contain them all. Two persons stood in a line to mark the +winning-post, and between them they stretched a cord. The one +on the right held the shilling in a bag.</p> + +<p class="normal">Several false starts were made. In their anxiety to be first +the competitors could not manage to stand still. Half a dozen +times they broke away, and had to be called back again. At last +they were off. The course was from the park and towards the +road, the winning-post being about a dozen yards from the +school house at the gate.</p> + +<p class="normal">The race was short, and, so far as the majority of the +competitors were concerned, by no means sharp. Quite a third +were out of it in the first six yards; half the remainder were +beaten in a dozen, and before half the distance was covered +there were only four or five who had a chance of winning. Among +these was Bailey. He was not over fast on his feet as a rule, +but never had the inducement to make the best possible speed +been so strong before. He was running for his dinner, and, for +all he knew, his tea and supper too.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the last fifty yards the race resolved itself into a +struggle of three. In front was a tall, lanky boy, who, so far +as length of limb was concerned, ought to have left the others +at the post. But his condition was not equal to his build; he +went puffing and panting along. Obviously it would take him all +he knew to last it out. About a couple of yards behind him, and +almost side by side with Bertie, was a slightly-built lad, who +was straining every nerve to keep his place. The freshest of +the three was Bailey.</p> + +<p class="normal">Yet the lanky youth looked like winning. He lumbered and +blundered along, but his long legs enabled him to cover at a +single stride the ground which they had to take two steps to +cover. The boy by Bertie's side had just given up the struggle +with a gasp, when the lanky lad caught his foot in a hole and +went headlong to the ground. Like a flash Bertie put on a spurt +and dashed victorious in. The prize-holder held out the leather +bag, and Bertie caught it as he passed.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the lanky youth, disappointed in his expectations, having +puffed himself for nothing, beheld the reward of his endeavours +snatched from his grasp with a burning sense of injury. +Struggling to his feet he gave his emotions words.</p> + +<p class="normal">"It ain't fair! Who's he? He ain't one of us! He's a stranger!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Instantly the words were caught up by a host of disappointed +competitors.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He's a stranger! What's he want running races along with us? +and winning of the prizes?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The individual who had so hastily yielded up the reward of +victory, turned to Bertie.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Aren't you one of our boys?"</p> + +<p class="normal">But Bertie did not wait to give an answer. The shilling of +which he had gained possession meant so much to him, that he +instinctively felt that to wait to explain exactly who he was +would be a waste of time. He had been told to run, he had run, +he had fairly won, he had been handed the shilling as his by +right; it meant dinner, supper, everything to him; he was not +going to stop to argue the point as to who he was. So when the +over hasty-individual put the question to him, his only answer +was to take to his heels and run.</p> + +<p class="normal">Instantly a crowd was after him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stop him! stop him! He's a stranger! He's not one of us!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But if he had run fast before, he ran faster now. He was +through the gate before any one was near him, dashing across +the road, and under the shadow of the "Star and Garter."</p> + +<p class="normal">But the chase was relinquished almost as soon as it was begun. +The person who had held the shilling stopped it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Never mind, boys; he won the race, so let him take the prize. +Perhaps he wants it more than we do. I daresay we can find +another shilling, and next time we'll be a little more +particular."</p> + +<p class="normal">The crowd returned into the park again.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie pursued his way. When he saw that the chase had stopped +he slowed a little, soon contenting himself with rapid walking. +He was very hot; the perspiration stood in great beads upon his +face; his clothing had an inclination to stick to his limbs. +And he was very thirsty; his throat was parched and dry. He was +hungry too; his long abstinence began to tell; he felt he could +not go much farther without something to eat and drink.</p> + +<p class="normal">Along the Lower Road, past Petersham fields, past Buccleuch +House, into Richmond town. The town was crowded. The afternoon +was well advanced. The fine weather had brought people out into +the streets. Hill Street and George Street were crowded with +both pedestrians and carriages. Richmond can be both gay and +lovely on a sunny afternoon. It was then. The untidy, dusty, +perspiring boy looked out of place in that big bright crowd, +made up as it was for the most part of well-dressed people.</p> + +<p class="normal">Once or twice he stopped and looked into the confectioners' +shops, but from their appearance they were evidently beyond his +means. If he had only been still the possessor of five pounds +he might have ruffled it with the best of them, but a shilling +would not go far in those well-filled emporiums of +confectionery and nice-looking but unsubstantial odds and ends, +and he so hungry too. He was beginning to fear that Richmond +was not the place for him, and that he would have to go hungry +and thirsty, when he reached the coffee palace in the Kew Road.</p> + +<p class="normal">Here he thought he might venture in; and he did. He had a +bloater and some bread-and-butter, and a cup of coffee, and +there was not much change left in his pocket after that. But it +was a sufficiently hearty meal, and the choice of materials did +credit to his judgment. He left the shop with his hunger +satisfied, feeling brighter and fresher altogether, and with +fivepence in his pocket clutched tightly with his right hand. +Those coppers were exceeding precious in his eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">He set out to walk to London. He knew that Richmond was not +very far from London, and had a general idea that he had to +keep straight on. He had lingered over his meal, taking his +time and resting, and watching the other customers enjoying +theirs, so that it was about six o'clock when he rose and went. +A curious spirit of adventure possessed him still. The bull-dog +nature of the boy was roused, and it was with an implicit faith +in the future that he went straight on.</p> + +<p class="normal">Until he reached Kew Bridge all was easy sailing; there was a +straight road, and he went straight on. But at Kew Bridge he +pulled up, puzzled. He had crossed the river at Hampton Court, +and again at Kingston, and apparently here was another bridge +to cross. It seemed to him that things were getting mixed. +Ignorant of the convolutions of the Thames, of its manifold +twists and turns, he began to wonder whether he had not after +all gone wrong, when he found the river in front of him again.</p> + +<p class="normal">By the bridge lingered two or three of the flower-sellers who +haunt the neighbourhood of Kew Gardens. He addressed himself to +one of them.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Am I right for London?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course you is, over the bridge, turn to the right, and go +straight on. Won't you buy a bookay? Only this one left; ain't +sold none all day,--flowers only just fresh,--only sixpence, +sir."</p> + +<p class="normal">The man kept up by Bertie's side, supported by one or two of +his colleagues, proffering their wares.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I haven't any money."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't say that, sir,--I'm a poor chap, sir,--I am indeed, +sir,--very 'ard to stand all day and not sell nothing--just +this one, sir--you shall have it for fivepence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I tell you I haven't any money."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Leave the gentleman alone, Bill. Don't you see he's a-going +home to his ma?"</p> + +<p class="normal">His colleagues dropped off, firing a parting shot; but the man +whom Bertie had originally addressed kept steadily on, sticking +close to his side. They crossed the bridge together. The sun +was beginning to go home in the west, majestically enthroned in +a bank of crimson clouds. The waters were tinted by his +departing rays.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Just this one, sir--take pity on a poor chap, now do, sir--you've +got a nice home to go to, and a ma and all, and here's me, what +hasn't earned a copper all the day, with nothing to eat and drink, +and not a bed to lay me 'ead upon--buy this one, sir--you shall have +it for fourpence."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I haven't any money."</p> + +<p class="normal">They went down the bridge together, the man still sticking to +Bertie's side.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If I was a gentleman, and a poor chap came to me, and asked me +to buy a bookay, I wouldn't tell him I'd got no money, and me a +hard-working chap what hasn't tasted food for a couple of days, +and hasn't seen a bed for a week--just this one, sir--you shall +have it for threepence, and that's less than it cost me, it is +indeed, sir--won't you have it for threepence?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I tell you I haven't any money."</p> + +<p class="normal">The man stopped, allowing Bertie to wend his way alone, but his +voice still followed after.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, you haven't any money, haven't you? would you like me to +lend you half-a-crown or a suvering? I'm sure I'm game. 'Ow +much does your ma allow you a week? a hapenny and a smack on +the 'ead? If I was you I'd ask your nurse to take you out in +the pram, and buy you lollipops,--go on, you mealy-faced young +'umbug!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie almost wished he had not asked the way, but had been +content to blunder on unaided. The flower-seller's voice was +peculiarly audible; the passers by were more amused than Bertie +was. It was his first experience of the characteristic +eloquence of a certain class of Londoner; he would have been +content if it had been his last. He went on, feeling somewhat +smaller in his own esteem.</p> + +<p class="normal">Past the "Star and Garter," along the Kew road, never a very +cheerful thoroughfare. Bertie thought it particularly cheerless +then. Through Gunnersbury, and Chiswick, and Turnham Green, +past the green itself, past Duke's Avenue, which is already a +caricature of its former self, and threatens to be an avenue no +more. Past where, not so very long ago, the toll bar used to +stand, though there is no memorial of its presence now. Past +the carriage manufactory; past the terminus of that singular +railway which boasts of a single carriage and a single +engine,--said railway being two if not three miles long. Into +King Street, Hammersmith, and when he had got so far upon his +journey the lad began to tire.</p> + +<p class="normal">The evening was closing in. The lamps were lighted; the shops +were ablaze with gas; the streets were crowded. But Bertie did +not know where he was; he was standing on strange ground. He +wondered, rather wearily, if this were London; but after his +recent experience with the vendor of bouquets he was afraid to +ask. He was hungry again, and began to look into the shop +windows with anxious eyes. Fivepence would not go far.</p> + +<p class="normal">He tramped wearily on, right through King Street. At a +costermonger's stall he bought a pennyworth of apples, and +munched them as he went. His capital was now reduced to +fourpence, and night was come, and he was on the threshold of +the great city--that Land of Golden Dreams.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>Chapter XIV</h2> + +<h2><a name="div1_14" href="#div1Ref_14">IN TROUBLE</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Through the Broadway, along the Hammersmith Road, on, and on, +and on. Every step he took made the next seem harder. He was +conscious that he could hardly walk much more. The crowd, the +lights, the strangeness of the place, confused him. He wondered +where he was. Was this London? and was it nothing else but +streets? and was this the Land of Golden Dreams?</p> + +<p class="normal">When he reached the Cedars, where the great pile of school +buildings is now standing, he saw, peering through the +railings, a little arab of the streets. To him he applied for +information.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is this London?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The urchin withdrew his head from between the two iron rails +through which he had managed to squeeze it, and eyed his +questioner. He was a little lad, smaller than Bertie, hatless, +shoeless, in a ragged pair of trousers which were several sizes +too large for him, and which were rolled up in a bunch about +his ankles to enable him to put his feet far enough through to +touch the ground.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What, this? this 'ere? no, this ain't London."</p> + +<p class="normal">"How far is it then?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"How far is it? what, London? It just depends what part of +London might you be wanting?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Any part; I don't care."</p> + +<p class="normal">The urchin whistled. His small, keen eyes had been reading his +questioner all the time, and Bertie was conscious of a sense of +discomfort as he observed the curious gaze. In some odd way he +felt that this little lad was bigger and stronger, and older +than himself; that he looked down at him, as it were, from a +height.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Say, matey, where might you be going to? You don't look as +though you knowed your way about, not much, you don't."</p> + +<p class="normal">The cool tone of superiority irritated Bertie. Tired and weary +as he was, and a little sick at heart, he was not going to +allow a little shrimp like this to look down on him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you won't tell me the way, why, that's enough. I don't want +any of your cheek."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie moved on, but the other called after him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You needn't turn rusty, you needn't; I didn't mean no harm. +I'm going to London, I am, and if you like you can come along +o' me."</p> + +<p class="normal">The urchin was by his side again. Bertie looked at him with +disgusted eyes. He had not set out upon his journey with the +intention of travelling with such tag-rag and bobtail as this +lad. So far the society into which he had fallen had been of an +unfortunate kind; he had had enough of Sam Slater, and of Sam +Slater's sort.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm not going with you; I'm going by myself."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Alright, matey, every bloke's free to choose his pals."</p> + +<p class="normal">The urchin turned a series of catherine-wheels right under +Bertie's nose. Then, with a whistle of unearthly shrillness, he +set off running, and disappeared into the night. Bertie was +left no wiser than before.</p> + +<p class="normal">He dragged along till he reached Addison Road A gentleman in +evening dress came across the road, smoking a cigar. He was of +middle age, irreproachably attired, with nothing of Sam Slater +about him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you please, sir, can you tell me how far it is to London?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The gentleman stopped short, puffing at his cigar.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What's that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie repeated his inquiry. For answer, the gentleman took him +by the shoulder, led him to a neighbouring lamp-post, and +looked him in the face.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What are you doing here? You look respectable; you're from the +country, aren't you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie hesitated; he remembered the effect produced by his +incautious frankness on Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Speak up; you have got a tongue, haven't you? What are you +doing here? run away from home?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The lad, giving a sudden twist, freed himself from the +gentleman's grasp, and ran off as fast as his legs could carry +him. The stranger, puffing at his cigar as he stood under the +lamp-post, laughed as he peered after the retreating boy. But +Bertie, despite his weariness, still ran on. He dimly wondered, +whether he bore about with him some outward sign by which any +one could tell he was a runaway. He made up his mind that he +would ask no more questions if he ran the risk of meeting such +home thrusts in reply.</p> + +<p class="normal">He wandered onwards till he reached Kensington Gardens, and +then the Albert Hall. There was a concert going on, and the +place was all lit up. He stared with amazement at the enormous +building, imperfectly revealed in the darkness of the night. +Carriages and cabs were going to and fro. Some one touched him +on the shoulder. It was a gorgeous footman, with powdered hair, +in splendid livery. His magnificence dazzled him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I say, you boy, do you know Thurloe Square?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No, sir."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you mean? are you gettin' at me? You take a message +for me to Thurloe Square, and there'll be a bob when you get +there."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But I don't know Thurloe Square; I'm a stranger, sir."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A stranger, are you? Then what do you mean by standing +there, as though you was born just over the way? Get on out of +it! I shouldn't be surprised if you was after +pockethandkerchiefs;--what's your little lay? I'll tell the +policeman to keep an eye on you, telling me you don't know +Thurloe Square;--oh yes, I jest dersay!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The footman appeared to be angry; Bertie slunk away. He crossed +the road to the park; a gate was open; people were going in and +out. He entered too. It looked quiet inside; perhaps there was +grass to sit upon. He went up towards the Serpentine, and had +not gone far when he came to a seat. On this he sat. Never was +seat more welcome; it was ecstasy to rest. He was dimly +conscious of what was going on; before he knew it he was fast +asleep.</p> + +<p class="normal">Time passed; still he slept. A perfect sleep untroubled by +dreams. Some one else approached the seat, some one in the last +stage of raggedness, so exhausted that he seemed hardly able to +drag one foot behind the other. He, too, sat down; he, too, +fell fast asleep.</p> + +<p class="normal">Some one else approached,--a woman with a baby and a watercress +basket. The baby was crying faintly; the woman tried to comfort +it, speaking to in a droning monotone:</p> + +<p class="normal">"I've nothing to give you, bairn," she said; "I've nothing to +give you, bairn! God help us all!"</p> + +<p class="normal">A policeman came along. When he reached the seat he stopped, +and flashed the bull's-eye lantern in the faces of the +sleepers. The woman woke up instantly, perhaps used to such a +visitation.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm going, sir; I only sat down for a moment to rest awhile."</p> + +<p class="normal">The baby began to cry again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I've nothing to give you, bairn," she said; "I've nothing to +give you, bairn! God help us all!"</p> + +<p class="normal">It seemed to be a stereotyped form of speech. She got up, with +the baby and her basket, and walked away, the baby crying as +she went. The policeman remained behind, flashing his +bull's-eye.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now then, this won't do, you know; wake up, you two."</p> + +<p class="normal">He took the ragged sleeper by the shoulder, and shook him; he +seemed to wake in a kind of stupor, and staggered off without a +word. The policeman turned to Bertie.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now then!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The lad woke with a start; he thought some one was playing +tricks with him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What do you want?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I want you to clear out of this, that's what I want."</p> + +<p class="normal">Opening his eyes Bertie was for a moment dazzled by the glaring +light; then he saw at the back the policeman's form, looming +grim and awful. Possessed by a sudden fear, he sprang to his +feet, and ran as for his life.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now I wonder what you've been up to?" murmured the policeman. +"I don't remember seeing your face before; I should say you was +a new hand, you was."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie ran, without knowing where he was running to; across the +road, under a rail. He found himself upon the grass. It was +quite dark, mysterious, strange. He could hardly be followed +there, so he thought at least, and strolled more slowly on. But +he was very tired still, and, yielding to his weariness, when +he had gone a little farther, he sat down upon the grass to +rest.</p> + +<p class="normal">And this was the Land of Golden Dreams! this was his entrance +into the promised land! A gentle breeze murmured through the +night; there was a sound as of rippling grass and of rustling +leaves; he could see no stars; a heavy dew was falling; the +grass was damp; it was chilly; the breeze blew cold; he +shivered with hunger and with cold. His head was nodding on his +breast; almost unconsciously he lay full length upon the sodden +grass, and again fell fast asleep.</p> + +<p class="normal">But this time it was not a dreamless slumber; it was a +continued nightmare. He was oppressed with horrid visions, with +continuous strugglings against hideous forms of terror. +Unrefreshed he woke. It was broad day; but there had come a +sudden change of weather, the skies were overcast and dull. His +limbs were aching; he was stiff, and wet, and cold; he was +soaked to the skin; his clothes stuck to his body. Shivering, +he struggled to his feet, rising with pain. The place was +deserted. Three was a solitary horseman in the distance; the +horseman and the lad were the only living things in sight.</p> + +<p class="normal">It began to drizzle; the wind had risen; it whistled in the +air. The fine weather had departed as though never to return. +Bertie's teeth were chattering; he felt dull and stupid, +ignorant of what he ought to do.</p> + +<p class="normal">He began walking through the rain across the grass. How cold he +was, and oh! how hungry. He must have something to eat, and +something warm to drink. He thought of his money; he felt for +his fourpence; it was gone!</p> + +<p class="normal">The discovery stunned him. He could not realize the fact at +once, but searched in each of his pockets laboriously, one +after the other. He turned them inside out; felt for holes +through which it might have fallen. He remembered that he had +put it in the right hand pocket of his trousers; he examined it +again and again, in a sort of stupor. In vain; it was gone!</p> + +<p class="normal">He retraced his steps. It might have fallen out of his pockets +in the night; he fell upon his knees and searched. There was no +sign of it about. He was without a sou, and he was so hungry +and so cold, and it was raining, and he was wet to the skin.</p> + +<p class="normal">He could not realize his loss. He wandered stupidly on, +stopping at times, feeling in his pockets again and again. It +could not be gone. But there was no money there. This was his +Land of Golden Dreams; this was the object of his journey; this +was the result of his dash into the world; he was cold, and he +was hungry, and he saw no signs of anything to eat.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last he left the park behind. He went out by the Piccadilly +gate, as miserable a figure as any to be seen, stained with +mud, soaked with wet, hungry and forlorn. It was early. The +early omnibuses were bringing crowds of business men to town. +The drivers were muffled in their mackintoshes, the outside +passengers crouched beneath their umbrellas. Everything and +every one looked cold, and miserable, and wet; Bertie looked +worst of all, for he looked hungry too.</p> + +<p class="normal">How hungry! There had been moments at Mecklemburg House when +hunger had made itself felt, but never hunger such as this. +The very worst meal Mr. Fletcher had ever set before his +pupils--and his system of dietary was not his strongest +point--Bertie would have welcomed as a feast. Even a dry +crust of stale bread would have been welcome; a cup of the +wishy-washiest tea would have been nectar of the gods.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was footsore too. As he wandered by the Piccadilly mansions +and approached the shops, he became conscious that his feet +were blistered. It was a discomfort to be obliged to put them +to the ground. His right foot, in particular, had a blister on +the heel, and another on the ball of the foot. It seemed to him +that every moment these were getting larger. He would have +liked to have taken his boot and sock off and examine his +injuries. He was aware, too, that he was dirty; more than two +days had passed since he had come in contact with soap and +water. Once upon a time he had had a vague idea that it was a +glorious sport of the heroic character to be dirty; now he +would have liked to have had a wash. But he could neither wash +nor examine his feet in the middle of Piccadilly.</p> + +<p class="normal">The presence of the shops caused him an additional pang. The +display of costly goods in their windows seemed to add to his +misery. Even the possession of his fourpence, as compared to +the value of such treasures, would have placed him at a +disadvantage.</p> + +<p class="normal">But without it he was poor indeed. He was fascinated by the +fruit shops; all the fruits of the earth, those in season and +those out, seemed gathered there. He glued his nose to the +window and looked and longed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now then, what are you doing there? move on out of that!"</p> + +<p class="normal">A policeman, in a shiny cape, from which the wet was dripping, +roughly shouldered him on. He was not even allowed to look. +This was not at all the sort of thing he had expected. His idea +of his entry into the great city had been altogether different. +He was to come as the king of boys, if not of men; as something +remarkable, as a heaven-born conqueror; something to be talked +of; the centre of all eyes directly he was seen. To sleep upon +the sodden grass, to be penniless, cold, wet, and hungry, to be +shouldered by policemen, to be bidden to move on, these things +had not entered into his calculations when that night at +Mecklemburg House he had dreamed those golden dreams.</p> + +<p class="normal">He struggled on; his feet became more painful; he was limping; +rest he must. He turned down a bye-street, and then down a +friendly entry, and leaned against the wall. Was this what he +had come for, to lean in the rain against a wall, and to be +thankful for the chance of leaning? He had not read in lives of +Robin Hood, and Turpin, and Crusoe, and Jack the Giant-Killer, +of episodes like this. But then, perhaps, his acquaintance with +the histories of those gentlemen was not so perfect as it might +have been.</p> + +<p class="normal">Suddenly he heard the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. +Some one was coming along the side-street as though racing for +his life. A lad about his own age came darting round the corner +in such terrific haste that he almost ran into Bertie's arms.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Catch hold! here's a present for you."</p> + +<p class="normal">The runner gasped out the words, without pausing in his flight. +Like an arrow from a bow he darted on, leaving Bertie standing +there. To his amazement Bailey found that he had thrust +something in his hand; his surprise was intensified when he +discovered what it was,--it was a purse. The runner had turned +another corner and was already out of sight.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie, in his bewilderment, could do nothing else but gaze. +Such unexpected generosity, coming at such a moment, was so +astonishing that it was almost as though the gift had fallen +from the skies. A good fat purse! It was like the stories after +all. He could feel that it was heavy; he almost thought that he +could feel that it was full. Suppose it were full of gold! Had +it fallen from the skies?</p> + +<p class="normal">All this occupied an instant. The next he was conscious that +some one else was coming up the street; apparently some one +else in equal haste; apparently more than one. Cries rang in +his ears; he could not quite distinguish the words which were +shouted, but at their sound, for some reason, a cold chill went +down his back.</p> + +<p class="normal">Some one came round the corner; some one who seized him as +though he were some wild thing.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Got you, have I! thought you'd double, did you, and slip out +when I'd run past? Artful, but it didn't quite do,--not this +time, at any rate."</p> + +<p class="normal">His captor shook him as a terrier shakes a rat. It was a +policeman, a huge, bearded fellow, six feet high. Bertie was +like a plaything in his hands. On hearing some one coming, the +boy, without any thought of what he was doing, had slipped the +hand which held the purse behind his back. The policeman was +down on it at once.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What's that you've got there?"</p> + +<p class="normal">He twisted the boy round, revealing the hand which held the +purse. He took it away.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, that's it, is it? You hadn't got time to throw it away, I +suppose, or perhaps you thought it was too good to lose--worth +running a little risk for, eh? Well, you've run the risk just +once too often."</p> + +<p class="normal">By this time others had come into the entry, and now Bertie +recognised the words which he had heard. What they had been +shouting was, "Stop thief!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The new comers showed a lively interest in the captive. A man, +who looked like a respectable mechanic, reckoned him up.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That's not the boy," he said.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, isn't it? It doesn't look like it, not when he was hiding +here, and holding the purse in his hand!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The policeman held up the purse with an air of smiling scorn.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Had he got the purse? Well, whether he had or whether he +hadn't, all I can say is he isn't the boy who took it; I'm +willing to take my oath to that. He was a different-looking +sort of boy altogether, and I was standing as close to him as I +am to you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I never took the purse," said Bertie, with dogged lips and +dogged eyes. He realized that great trouble had come upon him, +as he writhed and twisted in the policeman's hand. "It was +given to me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, I daresay, and by a particular friend, no doubt. You come +along with me, my lad, and tell that tale elsewhere."</p> + +<p class="normal">The policeman began to drag the lad along the entry.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The boy will go quietly, I daresay, if you give him a chance," +observed the man who had previously spoken. "However it may be +about the purse being found upon him, I'm prepared to prove +that that's not the boy who took it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, you can come and give your evidence, can't you? It's no +good standing arguing here; the lad had got the purse, and I've +got the lad, and that's quite enough for me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where are you going to take him to?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Marlborough Street Police Court."</p> + +<p class="normal">"All right, I'll come round and say what I've got to say. My +name's William Standing,--I'm a picture framer; I'll go and +tell my governor where I'm off to, and I'll be there as soon as +you are."</p> + +<p class="normal">The man walked away. The policeman proceeded to haul Bertie off +with him again. The boy was speechless. He was tired, his feet +were sore; the policeman's pace was almost more than he could +manage. In consequence, every now and then he received a jerk, +which all but pitched him forward on his nose.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why don't you leave the boy alone?" inquired a man in the +little crowd, which walked alongside in a sort of procession, +whose ideas of a policeman's duty were apparently vague. "He +ain't done no 'arm to you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why, bless yer, if it wasn't for them little 'uns them +policemen would have no one to collar; they daren't lay a +finger on a man of your build, old pal."</p> + +<p class="normal">This remark, from another member of the crowd, produced a +laugh. The original speaker was a diminutive specimen of his +kind, whom the policeman could have carried in his arms with +the greatest of ease.</p> + +<p class="normal">When they regained Piccadilly they came upon the victim of the +robbery. This was a portly, middle-aged female, who was a +pleasant combination of mackintoshes and agitation. She was the +centre of an interested circle, into whose sympathetic ears she +was pouring her tale of woe. The arrival of the policeman with +his captive created a diversion.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is this the boy?" inquired the constable.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you got my purse?" replied the lady. "It contained +thirty-seven pounds, fifteen shillings, and threepence, in two +ten pound notes, two fives,--I've got the numbers in my +purse,--seven pounds in gold, four of them half-sovereigns, +fifteen shillings in silver, and a threepenny bit; and whatever +I shall do without it I don't know. I'm the landlady of the +'Rising Sun,' and I was going to pay my wine-merchant's bill, +and I said to my daughter only this morning, 'Take all that +money loose I didn't ought to do. No, Mary Ann, a cheque it +ought to be.' But Mary Ann's that flighty, though she's +in her thirties, though twenty-two she tries to pass herself to +be----"</p> + +<p class="normal">The policeman endeavoured to stop the lady's flood of +eloquence.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You can tell us all that when we get to the station. You'll +have to come with me to identify the purse and charge the boy."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't want to charge the boy, all I want is to identify the +purse. As for the young limb of a boy, I'd like to give him a +good banging with my unbrella, that I would!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The lady shook her umbrella at the boy in a way which caused +the crowd to laugh. But there was no laughter left in Bertie.</p> + +<p class="normal">"We can't have any banging here," said the policeman, who was +anxious to get on. "If you take my advice, you'll call a cab +and let us all go comfortably together."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Me go in a cab with a policeman and that there limb of a boy; +not if I know it! I've kept the 'Rising Sun' respectable these +six-and-twenty years,--sixteen years in my husband's time,--as +respectable a man as ever breathed, though cherry brandy was +his failing,--and ten long years a widow, and go to prison with +a policeman and that there limb of a boy in a cab----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nobody's asked you to go to prison," said the policeman, whose +patience was beginning to fade. "I can't stand talking here all +day. Now then, boy, best foot forward, march!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie's poor best foot was blistered, so that the policeman +had to assist him, with occasional awkward jerks, to march to +jail.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>Chapter XV</h2> + +<h2><a name="div1_15" href="#div1Ref_15">OUT OF THE FRYING-PAN INTO THE FIRE</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">There was a meeting in Trafalgar Square that day. Some people +thought they had a grievance, and resolved to air it. No matter +what the grievance was; the world is very full of them, and too +many of them are hard and stern, and old and deep, difficult to +be removed. But the authorities had decided that this +particular grievance should not be aired in this particular +way; they would permit no meeting to be held in Trafalgar +Square. The result was, contests with the police. The people +with the grievance tried hard to air it; there were ugly +rushes, the excitement spread, and in the neighbourhood +adjoining there was something very like a riot.</p> + +<p class="normal">One procession of the people with a grievance making for the +Square, had been met by the police and turned aside. Part of +the processioners had been turned into Piccadilly, and were +being driven along that thoroughfare, helter skelter, just as +the procession which escorted Bertie and his captor approached. +The policeman saw his danger, and tried to turn aside. It was +too late. The fugitives coming tumultuously along, and seeing +only a single constable, made a rush in his direction.</p> + +<p class="normal">In a moment Bertie found himself the centre of a pushing, +yelling, struggling crowd, with the policeman holding on to him +like grim death. Above the tumult could be distinguished the +accents of the landlady of the "Rising Sun."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm the landlady of the 'Rising Sun,' and I've kept the house +respectable these six-and-twenty years--ten long years a widow, +and sixteen years a respectable married woman--and it's a sin +and a shame that a respectable female----"</p> + +<p class="normal">But the crowd was no respecter of persons; the lady was hustled +on one side, where her voice was heard no more. Bertie became +conscious that a contest was going on for the possession of +himself. The policeman stuck to him with extraordinary +tenacity; with equal tenacity the crowd endeavoured to drag him +away. Bertie suffered. Without wasting any time in inquiring as +to the rights of the case, his new friends did their best to +deprive the law of its prey. But they directed their efforts +with misguided zeal. If they had left him to his fate, Bertie +could only have suffered imprisonment at the worst; now he ran +a risk of being drawn and quartered. They apparently did their +best to drag his arms and legs out of their sockets; he felt +his clothes giving way in all directions. Through all the heat +and turmoil he felt that if this was town he preferred the +country.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the unequal strife the constable, unsupported, was +vanquished in the end. It was well for Bailey the end came when +it did; if he had stuck to his prize much longer the pieces of +a boy would have strewed the street. Some one in the crowd +struck the constable in the face with a stick. Putting up his +hand to ward off a second blow, Bertie was instantly snatched +from his grasp. His capture was so unsuspected, that the two +zealous friends who were doing their best to tear him limb from +limb, recoiling backwards, loosed their hold, and let him fall +upon the ground.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Get up, youngster, and hook it! The peelers will have you +again if you don't look sharp; there's a lot of them coming +down the street."</p> + +<p class="normal">A workman stooped over the lad as he lay in the mud and +assisted him to rise. He regained his feet, feeling stunned and +bewildered. His friendly ally gave him a push, which sent him +staggering into the thick of the crowd. It was only just in +time to prevent the constable from catching hold of him again. +The confusion suddenly became worse confounded.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The peelers! the peelers!" was the cry.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was a trampling of hoofs; the crowd parted in all +directions, each seeking safety for himself. Half a dozen +mounted constables went galloping through.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now you cut and run! If you aren't quick about it they'll nail +you again as sure as eggs!"</p> + +<p class="normal">It was the friendly workman urging Bertie to flight. He did not +need much urging, but made the best of his way through the +crowd, the memory of the policeman's grip still upon him. No +one tried to stop him. Every one, including apparently his +original captor, was too much engaged in his own affairs. He +did not wait to see what became of the landlady of the "Rising +Sun," though he seemed to hear her indignant accents above the +tumult and the din. As fast as his wearied legs would carry him +he tore away.</p> + +<p class="normal">All that day he had nothing to eat. He saw nothing again of the +policeman, nor of the crowd, nor of the lady who had lost her +purse with its thirty-seven pounds, fifteen shillings, and a +threepenny bit. But he had been in custody; he had signalized +his entry into the Land of Golden Dreams by being within an ace +of jail; the thought was with him all the day. Every policeman +he saw he shrunk away from, and every policeman seemed to +follow his shrinking with suspicious eyes. He was in continual +expectation of feeling a hand upon his shoulder, and another +experience of how it felt to be dragged through the streets.</p> + +<p class="normal">It never ceased to rain; yet the rain did not come down fast, +but always in the same slow, persistent drizzle. It was a cold +rain, and the wind, which every now and then became almost +tempestuous, was cold. Every one seemed to be in a bad temper; +there were sour faces everywhere. The drivers of the various +vehicles quarrelled with one another, and cursed and swore. +Pedestrians hustled each other into the gutter; each seemed to +be persuaded that the other did his best to get into his way.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie had paid three previous visits to London,--this made the +fourth. On each of the previous occasions he had been +accompanied by his father; this was the first time he had come +alone. Many a time that day he wished that he had postponed his +personal exploration till a little later on; about the middle +of the century after next, he was persuaded, would have been +time enough for him.</p> + +<p class="normal">His first visit had been as one of a family party to see the +pantomime. There had been a morning performance; they had left +home early in the morning, returning late at night. That day +was a red-letter day in Bertie's calendar.</p> + +<p class="normal">"When I went to see the pantomime," was the words which formed +a prelude to many a tale of the wondrous sights which he had +seen.</p> + +<p class="normal">The second time he came up with father alone. The doctor had +had some meeting to attend at the hospital at which he had +spent his student days, and Bertie bore him company. Afterwards +a visit had been paid to Madame Tussaud's and the Zoological +Gardens. But the climax of the day had been the dinner at the +restaurant in the evening before returning home. Bertie always +thought that he had seen life when he looked backwards at that +dinner in the after days. Champagne had accompanied that +repast, and a band had played.</p> + +<p class="normal">But the crowning visit had been the third. A certain +cousin--feminine--had been a member of the party, and she alone +would have canonized the day. They had gone to the exhibition +and dined there, and seen the illuminations, and he had told +himself that London was a city of delights, a paradise below, +fairyland to-day.</p> + +<p class="normal">This point of view did not occur to him with so much force on +this, the occasion of his fourth visit. As he struggled up and +down the wet and greasy streets, with his blistered feet and +his empty stomach, anything more unlike a city of delights it +seemed to him that he had never seen. He was continually +getting into everybody's way, always being hustled into the +gutter, and once, when an irate elderly gentleman sent him +flying backwards to assume a sitting posture in the centre of a +heap of mud, everybody laughed. But it was no joke to him. The +elderly gentleman was a little sorry when he saw what he had +done.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You oughtn't to get in my way! The police didn't ought to +allow boys like you to hang about the streets!"</p> + +<p class="normal">That was the way he expressed his penitence, and then passed +on. Bertie picked himself up at leisure. He was a sorry sight, +and when the people saw the spectacle he presented they laughed +again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If I was you I'd sow seeds in that there mud you've got on +you; it'd be as good as 'arf a hacre of ground."</p> + +<p class="normal">This was the comment of a paper-seller. He resumed his calling, +shouting, "Hecho! Fourth hedition! Hecho!" But some one else +had a word to say. This was a girl who was selling flowers for +button-holes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You let me stick these 'ere flowers in that there sile you've +just picked up. They'll grow like winkin'!"</p> + +<p class="normal">All this was hard enough to bear, but the worst was the hunger +and thirst. Although it rained all day, his thirst remained +unquenched.</p> + +<p class="normal">Toward evening he found himself in Covent Garden. As he looked +shyly round his hopes rose just a little. To begin with, there +seemed shelter. If he might only be allowed to stay in this +place all night!</p> + +<p class="normal">On the ground was vegetable refuse, ancient cabbage leaves, +odds and ends of garbage which littered the place. If he could +only pick up one or two of those cabbage leaves and see how far +they would go towards staying his appetite! Surely no one could +object to that, since they were placed there only to be thrown +away. So he began picking up the cabbage leaves.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now then, what are you doing there? None of that now! Clear +out of this, or I'll clear you out, and precious quick!"</p> + +<p class="normal">At the sound of a strident voice Bertie trembled as though he +had been guilty of a heinous crime. He dropped the cabbage +leaves out of his hands again. A little man, who was apparently +some one in authority, had suddenly appeared from behind one of +the pillars, and was shouting at Bertie with the full force of +his lungs. Like a frightened ewe the hero of yesterday gave a +look round and slunk away. He was disappointed of his meal. The +ground was evidently holy ground, and the cabbage leaves were +evidently sacred cabbage leaves. The disappointment seemed to +make his hunger worse. He had scarcely strength enough to slink +away. He put his arms around one of the pillars, and, leaning +his head against it, cried.</p> + +<p class="normal">This was what had become of all his golden dreams! Of what +stuff are heroes made?</p> + +<p class="normal">"I say, young one, what's in the wind? Any one trodden on your +precious toes? You don't seem so chirpy as some."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie looked up through his tears to see who the speaker +was. A little time ago to have been caught crying would have +covered him with shame, now all shame of that sort seemed to +have gone for ever. He vaguely feared that this was some new +Jack-in-office again bidding him move on; but he was wrong.</p> + +<p class="normal">The speaker was a boy about his own age; but there was +something about him which at a very first glance showed that he +was different from other boys. He was respectably dressed; the +chief peculiarity about his clothing being that it seemed to +fit him like his skin. A tighter pair of trousers surely never +imprisoned human legs. His waistcoat fitted him without a +crease, and it seemed that he had been made for his coat, and +not his coat for him. He wore a billycock hat of a particularly +knowing pattern, set rakishly upon the side of his head; a +stand-up collar made it difficult for him to look anywhere +except straight in front of him; and an enormous pin, set in +the centre of a gorgeous blue necktie, made his costume quite +complete.</p> + +<p class="normal">Even more remarkable than his costume was his face. It has been +said of the famous Lord Chancellor, Lord Thurlow, that no one +could be so wise as Lord Thurlow looked; it was almost equally +impossible that any one could be so knowing as the expression +of his countenance declared this young gentleman to be. It was +an unhealthy face, an unpleasant face, with something in it +which reminded you of how Methuselah might have appeared in his +green old age. It was never still; the eyes seemed to be all +over the place at once; it seemed to be continually listening +to catch the first sound of something or some one drawing near.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Down on your luck? What are you piping your eye for? Does that +sort of thing suit your constitution? Turn round to the light, +and let's have a look what you're like; don't keep hugging that +pillar as though it was your ma."</p> + +<p class="normal">Through all his misery Bertie saw that this young gentleman was +centuries older than himself, though they had probably entered +the world within the same twelve months. Besides, he was too +prostrated to resist, even had he wished, and he allowed the +other to drag him into a position in which he might study his +features at his leisure.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I thought so,--directly I caught sight of your back I thought +I knew your size. Wasn't you in Sackville Street this morning?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"In Sackville Street?" repeated Bertie vaguely.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, in Sackville Street, my bonny boy. Never heard tell of +Sackville Street before, I suppose? So I should think by the +look of you. Wasn't it you I pitched the old girl's purse to?"</p> + +<p class="normal">A light was dawning upon Bertie's mind.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Was it you who stole the purse?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The other gave a quick look round, as though the question took +him by surprise--if anything so self-possessed could be said to +be taken by surprise.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Stow your cackle! Do you want to have me put away? Where do +you live when you're at home? You must be a sharp one, though +you do look so jolly green! I thought you'd be buckled to a +certainty! I never expected to see you walking about as large +as life. It gave me quite a start when I saw you hugging that +pillar as though you loved it. How did you make tracks?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie was trying to collect his thoughts. This boy before him +was a thief, a miserable hound who tried to escape the +consequences of his own misdeeds by putting the odium of his +crimes upon the innocent. But Bertie was alone; alone in the +great city, hungry, thirsty, tired, wet, and cold. Human +companionship was human companionship after all. And this boy +looked so much more prosperous than he himself was. Yesterday +he would have done great things; to-day he would have welcomed +a crust of bread coming even from this thief.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The policeman wanted to lock me up."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No! did he though? Funny ones those policemen are! they're +always wanting to go locking people up. And did he cop the +purse?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"He took the purse away from me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And how come you to be making love to that there pillar, +instead of enjoying yourself in a nice warm cell? I suppose you +didn't give the policeman one in the nose and knock him down?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"We met some people in the street, and they made him let me +go."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did they though? that was kind of them! When policemen was +making free with me I wish I was always meeting people in the +streets who would make them interfering bobbies let me go. And +now, who are you when you're at home? We're having quite a nice +little conversation, ain't we, you and I? Glad I met you, quite +a treat!" He raised his hat to express his sense of the +satisfaction which he felt. "You don't look as though you were +raised in these 'ere parts."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie hung his head; he was ashamed: ashamed of many things, +but most of all just then of the company he was in. And yet, if +he turned this thief adrift, where else should he find a +friend? And he was so tired, so hungry, so conscious of his own +helplessness.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You very nearly got me locked up this morning," was his +answer.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, my noble marquis, wasn't it better for you to be locked +up than me? It'll have to come, you know--if not to-morrow the +day after."</p> + +<p class="normal">To Bertie this view of the matter had not occurred before. It +had not entered into his calculations that a journey to the +Land of Golden Dreams would necessitate the process of +locking-up.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you on the cross, or only mouching around?"</p> + +<p class="normal">This inquiry was Greek to Bertie, and his questioner perceived +that he failed to understand.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're a fly bloke, that you are! What's your little game? You +haven't got a fortune in your pocket, or a marquis for a pa? +What do you do to live? I suppose you ain't reckoning to die +just yet awhile."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I wish I could do something, but I can't."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, you wish you could do something, do you, but unfortunately +you can't! Well, you are a trial for the nerves! Have you got +any money?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie hung his head still lower. To be despised by a thief! +Was this the result of all his dreams?</p> + +<p class="normal">"No!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Got any friends?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I've run away from them."</p> + +<p class="normal">And here the boy broke down. Turning, and leaning against a +pillar, he burst into a passion of tears. The other eyed him +for a few moments, whistling beneath his breath.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That's the time of day, is it? I thought you were something of +that kind from the first, I did. What did you run away for?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie could not have told him to save his life. To have told +this thief that he had started on a journey to the Land of +Golden Dreams; that he had resolved to emulate the doings of +his heroes, Dick Turpin, Crusoe, Jack the Giant-Killer, and +Robin Hood! Oh, ye gods! and now to be crying against a post!</p> + +<p class="normal">"Father living?"</p> + +<p class="normal">No answer.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mother?"</p> + +<p class="normal">No answer.</p> + +<p class="normal">How well he knew that he loved his parents now! The mere +mention of the word "mother" made him hysterical with woe. To +have come within reach of his mother's loving arms, to have +been folded to her breast! If he could only come within reach +of her again!</p> + +<p class="normal">The other stood observing him with critical eyes, whistling all +the time.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You seem to have had a considerable lot of water locked up +tight. I should think you would have bust if you hadn't had a +chance to let it go. What are you a-howling at? Crying for your +mammy?"</p> + +<p class="normal">For answer Bertie turned with a sudden ferocity and struck at +him savagely. But the blow was struck at random, and the other +had no difficulty in avoiding it by stepping aside.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hollo! don't you come that game again, or I'll show you how to +use a bunch of fives."</p> + +<p class="normal">But Bertie showed no further signs of fight. It had only been +an almost childish display of passionate spite at the other's +coarse allusion to his "mammy"--the mother whom he was now so +sure he loved so well. Even the passion of his tears died away +into a whimper. He had not strength enough to continue in a +passion long.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you hungry?" asked the other.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm starving!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, I've been hungry, and more than once, and it isn't nice. I +shouldn't be surprised if you found it rather nasty, especially +if you aren't used to it. Now, look here; let's have a look at +you."</p> + +<p class="normal">He went close up to Bertie and looked him straight in the face +with his keen, restless eyes. Bertie returned the look as well +as he could with his tear-stained orbs.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You look a game 'un, somehow; and you look grit. I suppose +it's feeling peckish you don't like. There's a lot of talk +about courage what's always the same, but I don't believe there +ever was a chap who kept up his pluck upon an empty belly. I've +been hungry more than once. Now, look here; if I take you to a +crib I know of, and set you up in vittles and a shake-down, +will you keep your mouth shut fast?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't know what you mean."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, yes, you do; you're not so soft as that. If I act square +with you, will you act square with me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I always do act square," said Bertie.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very well, then, come along; if you do, then you're the sort +for me. I did you a bad turn this morning, now I'll do you a +good one to make up."</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>Chapter XVI</h2> + +<h2><a name="div1_16" href="#div1Ref_16">THE CAPTAIN'S ROOM</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Trusting himself to his companion's guidance, Bertie went where +the other chose to take him. Under ordinary circumstances he +would have thought a good many times before he would have +allowed himself to be led blindfold he knew not where; but +tired, wet, cold, and so hungry, he resigned himself to +circumstances. He could not possibly find himself in a worse +position than his present one; at least, so it seemed to him. +Certainly it had not been part of his plans to be a companion +of thieves; but then nothing which had befallen him had been +part of his plans.</p> + +<p class="normal">His companion led him to a court within a stone's throw of +Drury Lane, and was just about to turn the corner when +something caught his eyes. He walked straight on, taking Bertie +with him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There's a peeler. I don't want him to see me go down there; it +isn't quite what I care for to let them gentry have their eyes +upon my family mansion."</p> + +<p class="normal">What he meant Bertie failed to understand. He saw no one in +sight to cause alarm, and indeed it almost seemed that his +companion had eyes behind his head, for, as quickly appeared, +the policeman was at their back some considerable distance off. +They reached the entry to another court, and down this his +companion strutted, as though he was anxious all the world +should have their eyes upon him. But no sooner was he in than +he slunk into a doorway.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come in here, my bonny boy, and let the gentleman go past. +He's taking a little walk for the benefit of his health, poor +chap. They're always taking walks, them peelers are. I wish +they'd stop at home; I really do."</p> + +<p class="normal">A measured tramp, tramp, tramp approached. The thief put his +hand over Bertie's mouth as though he were fearful he would +make a sound. The policeman reached the entry, paused a moment +as if to peer into its depths, and then passed on. When he had +gone the thief spoke again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good-bye, dear boy; sorry to lose you, but the best of friends +must part. Come along, my rib-stone pippin; you and me'll go +home to tea."</p> + +<p class="normal">Satisfied that the coast was clear, the two ventured out of the +doorway, reached the open street again, and this time turned +without hesitation into the court which they had passed before. +It was unlit by any lamp, and was so narrow that it was not +difficult to believe that a man standing on a roof on one side +of the way might, if he were an active fellow, spring with a +single bound on to the roof on the opposite side. Fortunately +it was not long, the whole consisting of apparently not more +than twelve or fifteen houses. At the extreme end Bertie's +companion stopped.</p> + +<p class="normal">The place was a <i>cul-de-sac</i>. It ended in a dead wall. But on +the other side of the wall towered a house of what, in such a +neighbourhood, seemed unusual dimensions. The entrance proper +was in another street, and the original architect had probably +had no intention that an entry should be effected from where +they were. In a recess in the wall, so hidden as to be +invisible to Bertie in that light, and so placed as to appear +to be a door opening into the last house in the court in which +they actually stood, was an ancient wooden door, from which the +paint had all disappeared owing to the action of time and +weather. The two boys stood still for a moment, Bertie dimly +wondering what was going to happen next. It seemed to him that +he really was an actor in a dream at last--the strangest dream +he had ever dreamed. Then the thief whistled a few lines of +some uncouth melody in a low but singularly piercing tone. A +pause again; then he gave four taps against the ancient wooden +door, with a momentary pause between each one. Bertie had heard +of mysterious methods of effecting entrances into mysterious +houses, and had been charmed with them; but he concluded that +they were perhaps better in theory than practice. He would not +have liked to have been kept hanging about in the wet such an +unconscionable length of time every time he wanted to go home.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last the door was opened--just as Bertie was beginning to +think that the mysterious proceedings would have to be all gone +through again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who's there?" inquired a husky voice.</p> + +<p class="normal">It seemed that after all the whistling and the tapping caution +were required.</p> + +<p class="normal">"All right, mother; it's only me and a friend. Come on, Ikey; +cut along inside."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie, thus addressed as "Ikey," was about to "cut along +inside," when he found the way barred by the old woman who +acted as janitrix. She was a very unpleasant-looking old woman, +old and grisly, and very much in want of soap and water: quite +unpleasant-looking enough to be called a "hag"--and she smelt +of gin. In her hand she carried a guttering tallow candle in a +battered old tin candlestick. Hitherto she had held it behind +her back, as if to conceal the presence of a light from +passers-by. Now she raised it above her head so that its light +might fall on Bertie's face. He thought he had never seen a +more disagreeable-looking lady.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who's the friend?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What's that to you? He's a friend of mine, and square; that's +quite enough for you. Come along, my pippin."</p> + +<p class="normal">The answer reminded Bertie of Sam Slater. Even then he wondered +if he had not better, after all, trust himself to the tender +mercies of the streets; but the other did not allow much time +for hesitation. He caught Bailey by the arm, and half led, half +dragged him up a flight of steep stone steps. The old woman +with the candlestick sent after them what sounded very like a +volley of imprecations, while she closed and locked and barred +the door.</p> + +<p class="normal">The thief led the way into a fairly sized room, which was +lighted by another tallow candle. The one which the old woman +brought with her when she entered made the pair. There was no +carpet on the floor, which was extremely dirty; a rickety deal +table and four or five rickety chairs formed all the furniture. +There was a bright fire burning in an antiquated fireplace, +from which the ashes had apparently never been removed for +months, and the atmosphere of the room was distinctly close.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What have you got to eat?" asked the thief, when the old woman +reappeared.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're always ready enough to eat, but you re not so ready to +pay for what you've eaten. You boys is all the same; you'd rob +an old woman of her teeth."</p> + +<p class="normal">The crone tottered to a cupboard in a corner of the room. The +allusion to her teeth was not a happy one, for a solitary fang +which protruded from her hideous jaws seemed to be all the +teeth she still possessed. From the cupboard she produced a +couple of chipped plates, a loaf of bread, and a piece of +uncooked steak, which probably weighed several pounds. The +thief's eyes glistened at sight of it.</p> + +<p class="normal">"That's the tuck! Cut me off a chunk, and I'll frizzle it in +two threes."</p> + +<p class="normal">The old woman cut off a piece which weighed at least a pound +and a half. A frying-pan was produced from some unexpected +corner. The young rogue, disencumbering himself of his coat and +waistcoat, immediately elected himself to the office of cook. A +short dialogue took place between the old woman and himself +while the cooking was going on.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What luck have you had?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"What's that to you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That means you ain't had none. Ah, Freddy, you ain't what you +was. I've known you when you allays came home with your pockets +full of pretty things."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You ain't what you was, neither."</p> + +<p class="normal">A pause. A savoury smell began to come from the frying-pan. The +old woman turned her watery, bloodshot eyes to Bertie.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Who's your friend?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Them who don't ask no questions don't get told no lies."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What's his lay?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"His lay's hitting old women in the eye; so now you know."</p> + +<p class="normal">The old woman shook her head, and mourned the decadence of the +times.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, them boys! them boys! When I was a young gal there weren't +none of them boys in them there days! Times is changed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And this steak's done! Now then, Ikey, make yourself alive and +hand the plates."</p> + +<p class="normal">Without the interposition of a dish the steak was divided in +the frying-pan, placed in two equal portions on the plates, and +Bertie and the cook fell to.</p> + +<p class="normal">Epicures have it that a steak fried is a steak spoiled. Neither +of those who ate that one would have agreed to the truth of the +statement then. From the way in which they disposed of it, a +finer, juicier, or more tender steak was never known. The old +woman produced a jug of porter to wash it down. Freddy, as the +old woman called the thief, did far more justice to this than +Bertie did. With the aid of the dark-coloured liquid the whole +pound and a half of meat rapidly disappeared, and with it the +better part of a loaf as well.</p> + +<p class="normal">The old woman sat spectator of the feast.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There was a time when I could eat like that. It's over now a +hundred years ago, but I mind it as though it were yesterday."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Go on! you're not a hundred years old!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm a hundred and twenty-two next Tuesday week."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie stared, holding a mouthful of steak suspended on his +fork in the air. A hundred and twenty-two! What was his tale of +years compared to that? Freddy winked at him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, I daresay. You were a hundred and ninety-five yesterday, +and sixty-two this morning. It's my belief you're about five +and twenty."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Five and twenty! I daresay I look it, but I ain't. I'm more +than that. I always did look a wild young thing."</p> + +<p class="normal">Freddy roared; anything looking less like five and twenty, or a +"wild young thing," could scarcely be conceived. The old woman +went placidly on.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I remember Jacky Sheppard, and Dicky Turpin, and Tommy King; +they were all highwaymen in my young days."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I suppose you were a highwayman's wife?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"So I was; and they hung him the week after we were married. I +went and saw him hung, and I've never seen a better hanging +since. No, that I haven't. Times is changed since then."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But you ain't changed. I wonder you don't marry again, a wild +young thing like you."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I ain't a marrying sort--not now I ain't. I've had ten of +them, and that's quite enough for me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Lor', no! What is ten?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ten's quite enough for one young woman, and when you've been +two hundred and ninety times in prison a woman don't feel much +like marrying again. It takes it out of her, it do."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie had ended his meal. The warmth and the food had given +the finishing touch to his previous fatigue; his head was +already nodding on his breast. He heard the old woman talking +as in a dream. Ten husbands! two hundred and ninety times in +jail! Were they part of his nightmare, the things which he +heard her say?</p> + +<p class="normal">"Hollo, Ikey, you're blinking! Now then, mother, where are you +going to put my pal? Can't you find a place where he can be +alone?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Had Bertie been sufficiently wide awake he would have seen the +speaker wink at the old woman.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There's only the captain's room."</p> + +<p class="normal">The woman's suggestion seemed to startle Freddy, and to set him +thinking.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The captain's room? Where is the captain?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"How am I to know where he is or where he ain't? He don't tell +me none of his goings on, none of you don't. He says to me he'd +be four or five days away. That's all I know about it. Times is +changed!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Got the key?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Of course I've got the key."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then hand it over."</p> + +<p class="normal">The old woman produced a key from a voluminous pocket in her +dress.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now, Freddy, none of your tricks? He's on the square?"</p> + +<p class="normal">She pointed the key at Bertie, to show the allusion was to him. +The young thief took the key away from her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He's as square as you! Come along, Ikey! Mother, you stop +there till I come back. I want to have a little talk to you."</p> + +<p class="normal">Taking up one of the candlesticks, the lad led the way out of +the room. Bertie staggered, rather than walked, after him.</p> + +<p class="normal">The house seemed to be very old-fashioned and very large. There +were a curious number of staircases, and passages, and turns +and twists, and ins and outs, and ups and downs. As Bertie +followed his companion's lead it all seemed to him as though it +were part of his dream; as though the house was built in the +fashion of a maze, and he were bidden to find his way about it +blindfold.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last he found himself in a room, the door of which he was +vaguely conscious his companion had unlocked. Although very far +from being luxurious, it was better furnished than the one they +had left. There was a piece of carpet on the floor; there were +two or three substantial-looking chairs, a horsehair couch, an +arm-chair, a table, a chest of drawers with a looking-glass on +top, and in the corner an old-fashioned four-poster bed with +the curtains drawn all round. The closely-drawn dirty dimity +curtains made one wonder if it was occupied already, but Freddy +showed that it was not by going to it and drawing the curtains +aside.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There's a bed for you, my bonny boy! The Queen ain't got a +better bed than that in Buckingham Palace; and if you have got +a marquis for a pa, you ain't seen a better one, I know you +ain't. That's the captain's bed, that is, and if he was to know +I'd made you free of it he'd have a word to say. But as he's +gone to see his grandma, and perhaps won't be back for ever so +long, we needn't take no count of what he says."</p> + +<p class="normal">Tired as he was, Bertie was not by any means so prepossessed by +the appearance of the bed as his companion seemed to be. It +seemed to him just a trifle dirty, and more than a trifle the +worse for wear. The beds at Mecklemburg House were even better, +while the beds at home were things of beauty and joys for ever +compared to this. But still it was a bed, and a bed is a bed; +and especially was a bed a bed to him just then.</p> + +<p class="normal">Freddy waited while he undressed. He even watched him get +between the sheets, and drew the curtains when he was there. +Then he went and left Bertie to sleep in peace in the captain's +room.</p> + +<p class="normal">And he slept in peace. Just such a dreamless slumber as he had +enjoyed in the Kingston "doss-house," and it lasted at least as +long. This young gentleman had over-calculated his strength, +and had not supposed he would have been so quickly wearied on +his journey to the Land of Golden Dreams.</p> + +<p class="normal">When he awoke it was some minutes before he collected his +thoughts sufficiently to understand his whereabouts. The +rapidly-occurring incidents of the last day or two had +bewildered a brain which was never very bright at best. Putting +out his hand, he parted the curtains which hung about him like +so many shrouds, and looked out.</p> + +<p class="normal">The room was filled with daylight; that is to say, as much +filled as it probably ever was. The only window was a small +one, and at such a height from the ground that Bertie would +have needed to stand upon a chair to reach it even.</p> + +<p class="normal">Had he desired to imitate his escape from his Kingston hosts he +would have found very much more difficulty in climbing from the +window of the captain's room. But what interested him more than +the peculiar position of the window was something which he saw +on the chair beside his bed.</p> + +<p class="normal">This something was some bread and cheese, a couple of saveloys, +and some stout in a jug. On the bread was a little scrap of +paper. He took it up, and found that on it was written,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sleep it out, old pal!"</p> + +<p class="normal">This was short, and to the point. It was written on bad paper +in worse writing; but what it meant was, probably, that Freddy, +entering with refreshments, had found Bertie wrapt in slumber, +and being unwilling to disturb him had left him there to sleep +it out. Bertie ate and drank, and lying back again upon the +captain's bed prepared to act upon the hint. And he did. He +woke once or twice in the course of the day, but each time it +was only for a minute or two, and each time he turned round and +went to sleep again.</p> + +<p class="normal">But at last he woke for good--or ill, as it turned out, for he +woke to be the victim of a series of adventures which were to +nearly cost him his life, and which were to show him, better +than anything else possibly could have done, that he had been +like the silly little child who plays with fire and burns +itself with the element it does not understand. He was a young +gentleman who required a considerable amount of teaching before +he would consent to write himself down an ass; but he was to +get much more than the requisite amount of teaching now.</p> + +<p class="normal">Exactly the same thing happened as at Kingston. He awoke to +hear the sound of voices in the room; and now, as then, the +speakers were carrying on a conversation without having the +slightest idea that they were being overheard.</p> + +<p class="normal">At first he could not distinguish the words which were being +spoken. He only knew that there was some one speaking. At first +he took it for granted that the speakers were the lad who had +brought him to the house and the old woman he had nicknamed +"Mother." But the delusion only lasted for a moment; he quickly +perceived that the voices were voices he had never heard +before, and that the speakers were two men. He perceived, too, +that the day had apparently gone--he had slept it all away--and +that the room was lighted by a lamp.</p> + +<p class="normal">So unconscious were the speakers of there being a listener that +they made no attempt to lower their voices; and one in +particular spoke with a strain of intense passion in his tones. +His were the words which were the first which Bertie heard.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fifty thousand pounds! Fifty thousand pounds! Ha, ha, ha!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The speaker repeated the words over and over again, bursting +into a peal of laughter at the end. Another voice replied--a +colder and more measured one. The new speaker spoke with a +strong nasal accent. Bertie was not wise enough to know that by +his speech he betrayed himself to be that new thing in +nationalities, a German American.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Steady, my friend; fifty thousand pounds in jewels are not +fifty thousand pounds in cash, especially when the jewels are +such as these."</p> + +<p class="normal">The other went on unheeding.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Talk about punting on the Stock Exchange! There are precious +few punters on the Stock Exchange who pick up fifty thousand +pounds and walk off with it at a single coup."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And, also, there are very few punters on the Stock Exchange +who would run the risk of getting penal servitude for life for +doing it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, there's that to be considered."</p> + +<p class="normal">"As you say, there's that to be considered."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you think they'd make it penal servitude for life?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I think it extremely probable, with your past history and +mine."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Suppose it came to penal servitude for life, what then?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Exactly! That is the question to be asked--'What then?'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"The Countess of Ferndale's jewels! lying on the table in front +of me! and in my time I've run the risk of being sent to prison +for a pocket-handkerchief."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But in that case you did not run the risk, my friend, of penal +servitude for life, eh?'</p> + +<p class="normal">"Rosenheim, what are you driving at? Why do you keep harping +upon that string? Do you think they'll nab us?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"They will have a very good try."</p> + +<p class="normal">"They have tried before and failed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"They have also tried before and--not failed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fifty thousand pounds! The finest set of jewels in England! +insured for fifty thousand pounds--and that's a lot less than +they cost--and we've got the insurance policy and the jewels +too! Ha! ha! ha! Should we present the policy?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"We will be generous and return them that. Or, better still, we +will keep the policy in case that anything should happen. +Holding it, we might make terms with some one. There have such +things been done, eh?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fifty thousand pounds! and they cost perhaps a hundred +thousand in their time! Did you ever see such a necklace? Those +diamonds remind me of fairy tales which I have read--if I were +to put the lamp out they'd light the room."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes; but we will not put the lamp out, for fear some of the +jewels should be lost--which would be a pity, eh?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did you ever see anything like those diamonds? See how they +are flashing in the lamp-light--now look at them!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie thought that he might as well look too. He peeped +through the curtains of the bed to see what was going on. He +felt a not unnatural curiosity, for what he had heard had made +him open both his eyes and ears. Fifty thousand pounds! The +repetition of this sum had a startling effect.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>Chapter XVII</h2> + +<h2><a name="div1_17" href="#div1Ref_17">TWO MEN AND A BOY</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">There was a lamp on the table. The fire was lighted in the +grate; the table was drawn close up in front of it. The couch +was beside the table, and on it a man reclined full length. The +head was turned towards Bertie, so that he only had a back view +of the person lying down. He could see that he had brown hair, +worn rather long, and that he was smoking a cigar, and that was +all he could see.</p> + +<p class="normal">By the table, standing so that his face was turned towards +Bertie, was another man--evidently the impetuous speaker. +He was about the middle height, slight, yet sinewy, with +coal-black hair cut very short, and a dark olive skin, his face +being concealed by neither moustache nor beard. He was holding +something in his hands, something which he eyed with ravenous +eyes. From his position Bertie was not able to perceive what +this something was, but he could see that the table was +littered with other articles, and that a roll of paper and two +boxes of a peculiar shape lay open on the floor.</p> + +<p class="normal">The dark man was holding the something in his hands in a +variety of positions, so that he might get the full effect from +different points of view.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did you ever see such stones?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"They are not bad, considering. Their value consists in their +number, my dear friend. Separate stones of better quality can +be found."</p> + +<p class="normal">"How much do you say we shall get for it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That remains to be seen. If you ask me how much it cost I +should say, probably, altogether, twenty thousand pounds."</p> + +<p class="normal">Twenty thousand pounds! The dark man was holding in his +hand something which cost twenty thousand pounds. Curiosity +was too much for Bertie's discretion. The magnitude of the +sum had so startling an effect on his bump of inquisitiveness +that before he knew it he was trying his best to see what +surprising thing it was which had cost twenty thousand pounds. +Half-unconsciously he quitted the security of the bed, and +standing in his shirt bare-legged on the floor he strained his +eyes to see.</p> + +<p class="normal">Just then the dark man moved into such a position that the +unexpected spectator was yet unable to see what it was he held. +It was aggravating, but what followed was rather more +aggravating still.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fancy wearing a thing like that! I wonder how I should look +with twenty thousand pounds worth of diamonds round my neck."</p> + +<p class="normal">He put his hand up to his neck, clasping round it what seemed +to Bertie a line of glittering light. Then he turned, probably +with the intention of studying the effect in the looking-glass, +and, turning, he saw Bertie.</p> + +<p class="normal">For a moment there was silence--silence so complete that you +could have heard much fainter sounds than the fall of the +proverbial pin. The man was apparently thunderstruck, as well +he might be. He stared at the figure in the shirt as though it +were that of one risen from the dead. As for Bertie, his feet +seemed glued to the floor, and his tongue to the roof of his +mouth. It suddenly dawned upon him that it would have perhaps +been better if he had stayed in bed.</p> + +<p class="normal">The man was the first to regain his self-possession. It was to +be a very long time indeed before Bertie was to be again master +of his.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What the something are you?"</p> + +<p class="normal">At the sound of his companion's voice, the man on the sofa +sprang to his feet as though he had been shot. He gave one +quick glance; then, snatching up a revolver which lay upon the +table, he fired at the frightened boy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Rosenheim!"</p> + +<p class="normal">At the very moment of pulling the trigger the dark man struck +up his arm, so that the bullet was buried in the ceiling. But +the effect upon Bertie was just as though it had penetrated his +heart--he fell like a log.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He's only a boy. You've shot him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have not shot him. That I will do in a minute or two."</p> + +<p class="normal">When Bertie recovered from his swoon the dark man was bending +over him. His companion was sitting in a chair regarding him +with cold, staring eyes--a long, thin man, with a slight +moustache and beard, and a peculiarly cruel cast of +countenance.</p> + +<p class="normal">The dark man was the first to address him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So you've come too, have you? Perhaps it's a pity, after all. +It'll only prolong your misery. Now stand up, put your hands +behind your back, and look me in the face."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie did as he was bid, feeling very weak and tottering on +his feet. The dark man was perched on the edge of the table, +holding a revolver in his hand. His companion, the long, thin +man who sat in the chair, held a revolver too. Bertie felt that +his position was not an agreeable one. Of one thing he was +conscious, that the table was cleared of its contents, and that +the roll of paper and boxes which he had noticed on the floor +had disappeared.</p> + +<p class="normal">The dark man commenced the cross-examination, handling his +revolver in a way which was peculiarly unpleasant, as though it +were a toy which he was anxious to have a little practice with.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Look me in the face."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie did as he was bid as best he could, though he found it +difficult to meet the keen black eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He needn't look me in the face, or I'll put five shots inside +of him."</p> + +<p class="normal">This was from the long, thin man. Bertie was careful not to +show the slightest symptom of a desire to turn that way. The +dark man went on.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you know what truth is? If you don't it'll be a pity, +because if you tell me so much as the millionth part of a lie +I'll empty my revolver into you where you stand."</p> + +<p class="normal">As if to emphasize this genial threat the dark man pointed his +revolver point-blank at his head.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'm on that line. I'll empty mine inside him too."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie was conscious that the long, thin man was following his +companion's lead. A couple of revolvers were being pointed at +him within three feet of his head. He felt more anxious to tell +the truth, even though under difficulties, than he had ever +been in all his life.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What's your name?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bertie Bailey."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What are you doing here?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I--I don't know!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie very certainly didn't. If he could only have undreamt +his dreams about the Land of Golden Dreams how happy had he +been.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, you don't know. Who brought you here?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Freddy."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Freddy? Do you mean Faking Fred?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you please, sir, I--I don't know. The old woman called him +Freddy."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, the old woman had a finger in the pie, had she? I'll have +a finger in her pie before I've done, and Freddy's too. So +you've been sleeping in my bed?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Please, sir, I--I didn't know it was your bed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Turn round to me."</p> + +<p class="normal">As this command came from the long, thin man--he had apparently +changed his mind about being looked in the face--Bertie turned +with the celerity with which a teetotum turns.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where do you live?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"At Upton, sir."</p> +<br> +<p class="center"><img src="images/pg238.png" alt="A couple of revolvers were being pointed at him."><br> +A couple of revolvers were being pointed at him."</p> + + +<p class="normal">"Where's that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"In Berkshire."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You're not a thief?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No--o, sir."</p> + +<p class="normal">In his present society Bertie positively felt ashamed to own +it. He perhaps felt that these gentlemen might resent it as a +slight upon their profession.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you run away from home?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ye--es, sir."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What for?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Fu--fun, sir."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A good thing to run away for."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie felt that it was a bad thing just then, especially if +this sort of thing might be looked upon in the light of fun.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What's your father?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"A doctor, sir."</p> + +<p class="normal">"So you're the son of Dr. Bailey, of Upton, in Berkshire?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ye--es, sir."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Turn round again!--sharp!"</p> + +<p class="normal">No one could have turned round sharper than Bertie did then. +The dark man took up the questioning.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How long have you been awake?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I--I don't know, sir."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did you hear what we were talking about?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ye--es, sir."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What did you hear?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I--I don't know."</p> + +<p class="normal">"That won't do. Out with it! What did you hear?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The revolver was brought on a level with Bertie's face. With +his eyes apparently doing their best to investigate the +contents of the barrel he endeavoured to describe what he had +heard.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I--I heard about the Countess of Ferndale's jewels, and--and +about fifty thousand pounds."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! you did, did you? And what did you hear about the Countess +of Ferndale's jewels?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I heard that you had--stolen them."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Is that so? You seem to be gifted with uncommonly good +hearing, Master Bailey. What else did you hear? Go on."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I--I heard that they were insured for fifty thousand pounds, +and--and that--that you'd stolen the policy."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Dear me! What a remarkably fine ear this boy must have! Go on, +young man!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie was painfully conscious that these compliments upon his +hearing were not to be taken as they were spoken. He earnestly +wished that his hearing had not been quite so good, but with +that revolver staring him in the face he felt that perhaps it +was better on the whole he should go on. Yet the next +confession was made with an effort. He felt that his audience +would not receive it well.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I--I--I heard that if--if you were ta--taken you--you would +get pe--penal servitude for life."</p> + +<p class="normal">There was an ominous silence. The words had had exactly the +effect he had intuitively expected. It was the long, thin man +who spoke.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh! you heard that if we were caught we should get penal +servitude for life? And it didn't occur to you that you might +help to catch us, eh?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No-o, sir."</p> + +<p class="normal">"It wouldn't. Now wouldn't it occur to you that such a thing as +a reward might perhaps be offered, which it might perhaps be +worth your while to handle, eh? That such a trifle as five or +ten thousand pounds, in the shape of a reward, might come in +useful, eh?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie did not answer. He could not have answered for his life. +The fellow's tone seemed to freeze his blood. The dark man put +a question.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did you hear any names mentioned?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Yes, sir."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What name did you hear mentioned?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I heard you call this gentleman Rosenheim, sir."</p> + +<p class="normal">In an instant a hand was round his neck, which grasped him as +though it were made of steel. There was a sudden twist, and Mr. +Rosenheim had flung the lad upon his back. The grasp tightened; +he began to choke. If Mr. Rosenheim had been allowed to work +his own sweet will it would have been over with him there and +then. But the dark man interfered.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What's the use of killing him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The answer was hissed rather than spoken.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I'll tell you what's the use; it is I who will put him away, +not he who will put me away, eh?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Leave him alone for a minute; I want to speak to you. It's a +nuisance, but I don't think it's so bad as you think. Anyhow, +I don't see how we're going to gain anything by killing the +boy--at least, not in here."</p> + +<p class="normal">There was a meaning conveyed in the speaker's last few words +which Mr. Rosenheim seemed to understand. They looked at each +other for a moment, eye to eye. Then Mr. Rosenheim, standing +up, loosed his grasp on Bertie's throat, and the lad was free +to breathe again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Get up; walk to the end of the room, put your hands behind +your back, shut your eyes, and stand with your face to the +wall. I'm going to cover you with my revolver, and if you move +it'll be for the very last time of asking, for I'll shoot you +as dead as mutton. Sharp's the word!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Sharp was the word. Bewildered, half-stunned, panic-stricken as +he was, Bertie had still sense enough to know that he had no +alternative but to do as he was bid. The dark man meant what he +said, and the youthful admirer of Dick Turpin knew it. The +ever-ready revolver covered him as he walked quickly down the +room, and took up the ignominious position he was ordered to. +Hands behind his back, eyes shut, and his face against the +wall! It was worse than standing in the corner at Mecklemburg +House Collegiate School, and only little boys had been sent +into the corner there.</p> + +<p class="normal">How long he remained standing there he never knew. It seemed to +him hours. But time goes slowly when we stand with our hands +behind, eyes shut, face to the wall, and know that a revolver +is taking deliberate aim at us behind our backs. A minute +becomes an hour, and we feel that old age will overtake us +prematurely if we stand there long. They say that when a man is +drowning his whole life passes in a moment before his eyes. As +Bailey stood with his face against the wall he felt something +of that feeling too, and if ever there was a veritable Land of +Golden Dreams his home at Upton was that land then. If he could +only stand again within the shadow of his mother's door, ah, +what a different young gentleman he would be!</p> + +<p class="normal">Certainly, Mr. Rosenheim and his friend took their time. What +they said Bertie could not hear, strain his ears how he might. +The sound of their subdued whispering added to the terror of +the situation. What might they not be resolving? For all he +knew, they might be both examining their revolvers with a view +of taking alternate pops at him. The idea was torture. As the +moments passed and still no sign was made his imagination +entered into details. There was a movement behind him. He +fancied they were taking their positions. Silence again. He +waited for the shooting to begin. He wondered where the first +shot would hit him. Somewhere, he fancied, about the region of +the left knee. That would probably bring him to the ground, +and the second and third shots would hit him where he +fell--probably in the side. The fourth and fifth shots would +miss, but the sixth would carry away his nose, while the +seventh would finish his career. Promiscuous shooting would +ensue, the details of which would have no interest for him, but +for some occult reason he decided that they would not cease +firing until they had put inside him about a couple of pounds +of lead.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the midst of these agreeable speculations it was a relief to +hear the dark man's voice.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Turn round!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie turned round, with surprising velocity.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Where are your clothes?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I think they're on the bed, sir."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Put them on! Sharp's the word!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Sharp always was the word. Bertie had done some quick things in +dressing before to-day, but never anything quite so quick as +that. Mr. Rosenheim was sitting in the arm-chair, still +fondling his revolver, eyeing Bertie with a most uncomfortable +pair of eyes. When Bertie found that in his haste he was +putting on his trousers hind side foremost Mr. Rosenheim gave a +start. Bertie gave one too, a cold shiver went down his back, +and the time in which he reversed the garment and got inside +his breeches was perhaps the best on record.</p> + +<p class="normal">The dark man meanwhile was brushing his hat, putting on his +overcoat, and apparently preparing himself for a journey. There +was a Gladstone bag on the table. Into this he put several +articles which he took from the chest of drawers. Bertie had +completed his own costume for some little time before either +spoke.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was Mr. Rosenheim who addressed him first.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come here!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie went with remarkable celerity. "For a doctor's son, my +friend, you are not too well dressed, eh?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie hung his head; he was conscious of the defects in his +attire. The dark man flung him a clothes-brush.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Brush yourself, and make yourself presentable. There's a jug +and basin behind that curtain; wash yourself and brush your +hair."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie did as he was bid; never had he been so docile.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was the most uncomfortable toilet he had ever made. When he +had carefully soaped his face all over, and was about to wash +it off again, there was a report. A shot whistled through the +air and buried itself in the wall about a foot above his head. +He dropped as though it had struck him, and all but repeated +his former swoon.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You can get up, my friend. It is only a little practice I am +having."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie got up, but the pleasure of that wash was destroyed for +him. Mr. Rosenheim's ideas of revolver practice were so +peculiar that he was in momentary terror of his aiming at an +imaginary bull's-eye in the centre of his back.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How long are you going to be? Come here and let me have a look +at you."</p> + +<p class="normal">Though only half-dried, the soap-suds still remaining in +the corners of his eyes, Bertie obeyed the dark man's order +and stood in front of him. That gentleman still held the +too-familiar revolver in his hand. It had long been the secret +longing of Bertie's soul to possess one of his own; +henceforward he would hate the sight of the too-agile arm for +evermore.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You don't look like a doctor's son. Own up you lied."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I--I didn't, sir."</p> + +<p class="normal">"A pretty sort of doctor's son you look! Has your father any +money?"</p> + +<p class="normal">A wild idea entered Bertie's brain. He remembered how Mr. and +Mrs. Jenkins had risen to the bait.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ye--yes, sir; he's very rich. He'd give a thousand pounds to +get me back again."</p> + +<p class="normal">But this time the bait failed, and signally.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Oh, he would, would he? Then he must be about the most +remarkable fool of a father I ever came across. Don't you try +to stuff your lies down my throat, my joker, because I'm a liar +myself, and know the smell. You listen to me. You'd better; +because if you don't listen to every word, and stick it inside +your head, it'll be a case of shooting, though I'm hung for you +five minutes after. Do you hear?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ye--yes, sir."</p> + +<p class="normal">"My name's Captain Loftus. Do you hear that?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ye--yes, sir."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And I'm your uncle--your Uncle Tom. Do you hear that? I'm your +Uncle Tom."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ye--yes, sir."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Don't say 'sir,' say 'Uncle Tom.'"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ye--yes, Un--Uncle Tom."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And don't you stutter and stammer; there's no stuttering and +stammering about this."</p> + +<p class="normal">"This" was the revolver which "Uncle Tom" pointed in his +playful way at his nephew.</p> + +<p class="normal">"And you've been a bad boy, and you've run away from your poor +mother, and I'm going to take you back again. You understand?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ye--yes, sir--I mean, Uncle Tom."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Mind you do mean 'Uncle Tom,' and don't let us have any +fooling about it. Do you hear? Don't let's have any fooling +about it."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No--o, Uncle Tom."</p> + +<p class="normal">How devoutly he hoped that what his "uncle" said was true, and +that he was going to be taken back to his mother. But the hope +was shattered by the words which followed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now just you listen to me. I've got half a dozen more words to +say, and they're the pick of the lot. I'm going to take you +with me. You'll be all right so long as you keep your mouth +shut; but if you speak a word without permission from me, or if +you hint anyhow at the pleasant little conversation we've had +here, I'll shoot you on the spot. You see, I'm going to put my +revolver into the inside pocket of my coat; it will be always +there, and always ready for you, and mind you don't forget it."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie was not likely to forget it. He watched the captain +placing the weapon in a convenient inner pocket of his overcoat +with an interest too deep for words. Mr. Rosenheim added an +agreeable little remark of his own.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You understand, my friend? You are to dismiss from your mind +any little ideas you may have had about the Countess of +Ferndale's jewels, or your uncle, Captain Tom Loftus, will +practise a little revolver shooting upon you, eh, my friend?"</p> + +<p class="normal">And Mr. Rosenheim covered the lad with his own revolver. There +was such an absolutely diabolical grin upon the gentleman's +face that Bertie felt as though his blood had congealed in his +veins. The revolver might go off at any moment, and this time +it would be a case of hitting. Bertie was persuaded that one +more of Mr. Rosenheim's little practice shots would be quite +enough for him.</p> + +<p class="normal">The change from Mr. Rosenheim to Captain Loftus was actually a +relief.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you ready?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ye--yes, sir!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Sir?</i>"</p> + +<p class="normal">The "sir" was shouted in a voice of thunder, and the captain's +hand moved towards the inner pocket of his coat.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Un--Uncle Tom, I mean."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And you better mean it too, and say it, or you'll never say +another word. Put your hat on. Catch hold of that Gladstone."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie put his hat on, and took the bag. The captain turned to +Mr. Rosenheim.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good-bye."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Good-bye, my friend; I wish you a pleasant journey, and your +nephew too."</p> + +<p class="normal">The captain put his own hat on, took Bertie's hand, led him out +of the room, and almost before the lad knew it they were +standing in the street. Bertie thanked his stars that at least +Mr. Rosenheim was left behind.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>Chapter XVIII</h2> + +<h2><a name="div1_18" href="#div1Ref_18">THE BOAT-TRAIN</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">They did not leave the house by the same mysterious door by +which Freddy had entered, but by one which brought them at once +into a busy street. Vehicles were passing to and fro, and they +had not gone many steps before the captain--to give him the +title which he had not improbably himself affixed to his +name--called a hansom. Bertie got in. The captain directed the +driver where to drive in an undertone, seated himself beside +his "nephew," and they were off.</p> + +<p class="normal">During the drive not a word was spoken. Where they were going +Bertie had not the faintest notion; he felt pretty certain that +he was not really being taken home. His head was in a whirl; he +was in such awe of his companion that he scarcely dared to +move, far less to use his eyes in an endeavour to see where +they were going. The cab almost immediately turned into a busy +thoroughfare. The hubbub of the traffic and the confusion of +the crowded streets completed the lad's bewilderment, making it +seem to him as though they were journeying through pandemonium. +The busy thoroughfare into which the cabman turned was, in +fact, the Strand--the Strand at what is not the least busy hour +of the day, when the people are crowding into the theatres. The +cabman took another turn into comparative quiet, and in another +minute they were whirling over Waterloo Bridge, along Waterloo +Bridge Road, into the huge terminus of the South-Western +Railway. A porter came forward to help them to alight, but the +captain, dismissing him, took his bag with one hand, and taking +Bertie's own hand in the other, stepped on to the platform of +the station.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had only taken a few steps when, pulling up, he spoke to +Bailey in low, quick, significant tones.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Look here, my lad; I don't want to haul you about as though +I'd got you in custody, and I don't mean to let you get out of +my sight. I'm going to loose your hand, and let you walk alone. +Carry this bag, and stick as close to me as wax, or----"</p> + +<p class="normal">A significant tap against the pocket which contained the +revolver served to complete the sentence. Bertie needed no +explanation in words; the action was as full of meaning as any +eloquence of speech could possibly have been.</p> + +<p class="normal">The hansom had put them down at the departure platform of the +main-line trains. The captain looked at the station clock as +they came in, and Bertie, following the direction of the +other's eye, saw that it was a quarter-past nine. The station +was full of people; porters and passengers were hurrying hither +and thither, mountains of baggage were passing to and fro.</p> + +<p class="normal">The captain turned into the booking-office, Bertie sticking +close to his side. Some wild idea of making a dash for freedom +did enter his mind, but to be dismissed as soon as it entered. +What could he do? He was fully persuaded that if he were to +make the slightest sign of attempting to escape, his companion +would shoot him on the spot. But even if he did not proceed to +quite such extreme lengths, what then? To have attempted to +take to actual flight, and to have run for it, would have been +absurd. He would have been caught in an instant. His only hope +lay in an appeal to those around him. But what sort of appeal +could he have made? If he had suddenly shouted, "This man has +stolen the Countess of Ferndale's jewels, worth fifty thousand +pounds!" no doubt he would have created a sensation. But the +revolver! Bertie was quite persuaded that before he would have +had time to have made his assertion good the captain would have +put his threat into execution, and killed him like a cat, even +though, to use that gentleman's own words, he had had to hang +for it five minutes afterwards.</p> + +<p class="normal">No; it seemed to him that the only course open to him was to +obey the captain's instructions.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was a crowd round the ticket-office, at sight of which +the captain put the lad in front of him, and his hand upon his +shoulder, holding him tight by means of the free use of an +uncomfortable amount of pressure. Under these circumstances he +could scarcely ask for tickets without the lad hearing what it +was he asked for--as in fact he did.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Two first for Jersey."</p> + +<p class="normal">Two first-class tickets for Jersey! The tickets were stamped +and paid for, and they were out of the crowd again. It was some +satisfaction to know where it was they were going, but not +much. He was too evidently not being taken home again. Jersey +and Upton were a good many miles apart.</p> + +<p class="normal">The captain went up and down the train with the apparent +intention of discovering a compartment which they might have +for themselves. But if that was his intention he sought in +vain. The tourist season had apparently set in early, and on +this particular night the train was crowded. They finally found +seats in a compartment in which there were already two +passengers, and into which there quickly came two more. It was +a smoking carriage; and as the other passengers were already +smoking, and the captain lit a cigar as soon as he entered, the +atmosphere soon became nice and fresh for Bertie. Five smoking +passengers in a first-class compartment do not make things +exactly pleasant for a non-smoking sixth. The captain took a +corner seat; Bertie sat on the middle seat next to him, right +in the centre of the smoke.</p> + +<p class="normal">They started. All the passengers, with the exception of the +captain and Bertie, had books or papers. For a time silence +reigned. The passengers read, the captain thought, the lad +lamented. If the train had only been speeding towards Slough +instead of Jersey! It may be mentioned that at this point of +the expedition Bertie was not even aware where Jersey was, and +was not even conscious that to reach it from London one had to +cross the sea.</p> + +<p class="normal">As they passed Woking the silence was broken for a moment. A +tall, thin, severe-looking gentleman, with side whiskers, and a +sealskin cap tied over his ears, having finished with the +<i>Globe</i>, handed it to the captain.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you seen the <i>Globe</i>?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Thank you, I haven't."</p> + +<p class="normal">The captain took it, and began to read. Almost without +intending it Bertie watched him. For some reason, though he +could scarcely have told what it was, for the reader gave no +outward signs of anything of the kind, he was persuaded that +the paper contained something which the captain found of +startling interest. He saw the captain stare with peculiar +fixedness at one paragraph, never taking his eyes off it for at +least five minutes. He even thought that the captain's lips +were twitching, that the captain's face grew pale. As if +perceiving the inspection and resenting it, he drew the paper +closer to him, so that it concealed his countenance.</p> + +<p class="normal">As they were nearing Aldershot and Farnham a little +conversation was commenced which had a peculiar interest for +Bertie, if for no one else in the compartment.</p> + +<p class="normal">In the opposite corner, at the other end of the carriage, was +seated a stout old gentleman, with a very red face and very +white hair. He wore a gorgeous smoking-cap, which was stuck at +the back of his head, and there was something about his +appearance and demeanour which impressed the beholder with the +fact that this was a gentleman of strong opinions.</p> + +<p class="normal">In front of him was a thin young gentleman with a pale face, +who puffed at a big meerschaum pipe as though he did not +exactly like it. He was reading a novel with a yellow back, +which all the world could perceive was <i>The Adventures of Harry +Lorrequer</i>. The old gentleman had been reading the <i>Evening +Standard</i> through a pair of gold glasses of the most imposing +size and pattern.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had apparently finished with his paper, for he lowered it +and stared through his glasses at the thin young man in front +of him. The thin young man did not seem to be made the more +comfortable by his gaze.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you seen about the Countess of Ferndale's jewels?"</p> + +<p class="normal">This was said in loud, magisterial tones, which commanded the +attention of the whole compartment. The young man seemed +startled. Bertie was startled; he almost thought he saw the +<i>Globe</i> tremble in the captain's hands.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I beg your pardon?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Have you seen about the Countess of Ferndale's jewels?"</p> + +<p class="normal">This was said in tones rather louder and more magisterial than +at first.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No! No! I haven't!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then, sir, I say it's a disgrace to the country."</p> + +<p class="normal">Whether it was a disgrace to the country that the thin young +man had not heard about the Countess of Ferndale's jewels was +not quite clear. The thin young man seemed to think it was, for +he turned pink. However, the old gentleman went on,--</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here's a noble lady, the wife of one of the greatest English +peers, returning from personal attendance upon her sovereign, +bearing with her jewels of almost priceless value, and they +disappear from underneath her nose. I say it's a disgrace to +the country, sir!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The thin young man seemed relieved. It was evidently not his +want of knowledge which was a disgrace to the country, but the +disappearance of the lady's jewels. Bertie pricked up his ears; +the captain gave no sign of having heard.</p> + +<p class="normal">The young man ventured on a question.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How's that? Have they been stolen?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"How's that, sir! Stolen, sir! I should think they have been +stolen!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The words were spoken with almost volcanic force. All the +carriage began to take an interest in what was being +said--excepting always "Uncle Tom."</p> + +<p class="normal">The old gentleman grasped his paper with his right hand, and +emphasized his words with the first finger of his left.</p> + +<p class="normal">"At half-past two this afternoon the Countess of Ferndale, who +has been in attendance at Windsor Castle, started from Windsor +to London. Windsor, sir, is at a distance of twenty-two miles +from town--twenty-two miles; no more. The traffic between that +place and London, sir, is extremely large; and yet, travelling +on that short strip of railway, in one of Her Majesty's own +state coaches----"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't think it was in one of the Queen's own coaches she was +travelling."</p> + +<p class="normal">"No; it wasn't."</p> + +<p class="normal">The first interruption came from the severe-looking gentleman +who had lent the Captain the <i>Globe</i>; the second from a +placid-looking gentleman with black whiskers, who sat beside him +in front of Bertie.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, sir, and what difference does that make?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"None at all, perhaps, to the main issue," the severe gentleman +allowed. "It's only a statement of fact."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, sir, supposing it is a statement of fact, which, as at +present advised, I am not prepared to allow, I suppose I may +take it for granted that she was travelling in a compartment +which was exclusively reserved for her own use?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"That, I believe, was the case."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, sir, travelling on that short strip of railway, in a +compartment exclusively reserved for her own use, what happens +in this England of the nineteenth century? It is incredible! +monstrous! She had with her certain family jewels of almost +priceless value. She had been wearing them in Her Majesty's own +presence. They were in the charge of certain officers of her +household; and yet, when she comes to the end of that journey +of two and twenty miles, they were gone, sir!--gone! vanished +into air!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No! If they were stolen, he must have been a jolly clever +thief," observed the thin young man.</p> + +<p class="normal">"A jolly clever thief!" said, or rather roared the stout old +gentleman. "You speak of the author of such an outrage as a +jolly clever thief. If I had the miscreant within reach of my +hand"--the stout old gentleman stretched out his hand, and the +thin young man shrank out of the way--"I should consider myself +justified in striking him down, and trampling the life out of +his wretched carcass. I should consider the doer of such an act +deserved well of his country, sir!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie felt a cold shiver go down his back. He pictured the +stout old gentleman striking him down, and trampling the life +out of his wretched carcass. At that moment he almost felt as +though he had been guilty of the crime; he almost expected the +stout old gentleman to read his guilt upon his countenance, and +conclude the business there and then. As for the captain--the +least that Bertie expected him to do was to open the door and, +without waiting for such a small detail as the stopping of the +train, disappear into the night. What he actually did was to +return the <i>Globe</i>, with a courteous bow, to the severe-looking +gentleman, carefully cross his knees, and light a fresh cigar. +Then he listened to what was being said with an air of placid +interest.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What was the value of the jewels?" inquired the gentleman with +the black whiskers.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Priceless! priceless! How can you value jewels which have been +in the possession of a noble family for generations? which are +family heirlooms?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I suppose they must be pretty well known, in which case the +thieves will find considerable difficulty in getting rid of +their spoil."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Getting rid of their spoil! Is it conceivable that such +villains are to be allowed to get rid of their spoil, to sell +it, and fatten on the proceeds?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very conceivable, indeed, unless something is done to stop +them."</p> + +<p class="normal">The stout old gentleman was so affected by the idea of the +countess's jewels being brought into the market in such an +ignoble way that words failed him, and he gasped for breath.</p> + +<p class="normal">During all this time Bertie's sensations were indescribable. He +felt as though he were under the power of some hideous spell. +He would have given anything to have been able to spring up and +denounce the miscreant who had wrought this crime. There would +have been something worthy of a hero in that; but he could not +do it, he was spellbound. Perhaps the consciousness of the +revolver which was in the captain's pocket had something to do +with his state of mind; but it was not only that, he was +paralysed by the position itself--by the knowledge that his own +act had made him the companion of such a rogue.</p> + +<p class="normal">Just at the moment the captain raised his hand, as if by +chance, and tapped the inner pocket of his coat. Slight though +the action was, Bertie saw it, and he shuddered. But there was +worse to follow.</p> + +<p class="normal">The remark was made by the severe-looking gentleman. .</p> + +<p class="normal">"What strikes me is, how was the theft performed? Those in +charge of the box swear that it was never out of their sight. +When they started the jewels were in it; when they reached +their journey's end they were gone. They couldn't have been +spirited away."</p> + +<p class="normal">"The boxes were changed."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie felt that his heart had ceased to beat. The words were +spoken by "Uncle Tom."</p> + +<p class="normal">It was the first time he had opened his lips. The eyes of all +in the carriage were fixed upon him. He was seated, apparently +quite at his ease, a cigar in his mouth, one hand upon his +knee, and, as he spoke, with the other he undid the top button +of his overcoat.</p> + +<p class="normal">"How could they be changed? Those in charge state that they +never lost sight of the particular box in which the jewels +were."</p> + +<p class="normal">The captain took his cigar out of his mouth, and puffed out a +wreath of smoke.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have a theory of my own upon the subject."</p> + +<p class="normal">"And I say it is monstrous! preposterous! incredible! Do you +mean to tell me such a trick as that could have been played in +the light of day?"</p> + +<p class="normal">This was from the stout old gentleman.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Apparently it was done in the light of day, however it was +done. I have only suggested a theory. Of course you are at +liberty to accept it or reject it, as you please."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I do reject it entirely! absolutely! I am sixty-seven next +June, and I know perfectly well that no such trick would be +played on me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are, probably, a person of peculiar acumen."</p> + +<p class="normal">But the stout old gentleman was not to be flattered.</p> + +<p class="normal">"As you have a theory of how the robbery was performed, perhaps +you have a theory of how the robbers might be caught."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have one or two theories. I could go further and say that, +if it were made worth my while, I would engage to find the +thieves."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Made worth your while, sir! Isn't it worth every honest man's +while to find a thief?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Not necessarily. Take your own case. Would you be prepared to +find the thieves?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"If I knew where they were."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Precisely; that is just the point. What you mean is, that if +they were found you would give them into custody, but you have +to find them first. People don't go thief-hunting from motives +of pure philanthropy; even a policeman requires you to make it +worth his while."</p> + +<p class="normal">"May I ask if you are an amateur detective?" inquired the +severe-looking gentleman.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shouldn't call myself quite that," said "Uncle Tom."</p> + +<p class="normal">"But you have evidently had considerable experience in dealing +with crime?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"It has been the study of my life," said "Uncle Tom."</p> + +<p class="normal">"I suppose that it is a very interesting study?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Very interesting indeed."</p> + +<p class="normal">"If it is not an impertinent question, may I ask whether it has +been your own experience that such a study improves the moral +nature of a man?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Quite the reverse," said "Uncle Tom."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are frank."</p> + +<p class="normal">"What is life unless you are?" asked "Uncle Tom."</p> + +<p class="normal">The captain laughed; but Bertie was in agony The train began to +slow.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I think this is Southampton," said the thin young man.</p> + +<p class="normal">And it was.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>Chapter XIX</h2> + +<h2><a name="div1_19" href="#div1Ref_19">TO JERSEY WITH A THIEF</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">The night's boat was the <i>Ella</i>. When the train drew to a +standstill and the passengers got out Bertie supposed that +their journey was at an end. His ideas as to the whereabouts of +Jersey were very vague indeed. He was surprised, therefore, +when the captain, taking his hand, led him along the gangway to +the boat. The stars were shining brightly overhead, but +midnight never is quite as light as noon, and in the uncertain +light he could neither see nor understand where it was that +they were going.</p> + +<p class="normal">The captain led him to the hurricane deck, and then he paused. +Then he led Bertie to a seat.</p> + +<p class="normal">"This will be your bed to-night. I don't choose to go into the +cabin, and I don't choose that you shall go without me."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie sat down and wondered. Dark figures were passing to and +fro; there were the lights on the shore; he could feel the +throbbing of the engines; there was the unclouded sky above; he +still was in a dream. Unfortunately the figure of the captain +standing near turned the dream into a nightmare.</p> + +<p class="normal">Most of the passengers went at once into their cabins. No one +came near them.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Look up at me."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie looked up. The captain, standing, looked down at him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you think I didn't see you in the train? Do you think I +didn't see you wanting to open your mouth and blab before all +those fools? It would have been capital fun for you, now, +wouldn't it?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie shivered. The captain's ideas of fun were singular. +Bertie would have almost given his life to have done what the +rascal hinted at, but he would have done it in his extremity of +agony and with no idea of fun. It would have taken a burden off +his mind which seemed almost greater than he could bear; it +threatened to drive him mad. But to have played the part +suggested would have needed a touch of the heroic--a courage, a +strength which Bertie had not got.</p> + +<p class="normal">The captain went on.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I had half a mind to have shot you then. If you had winked +your eye I think I should have done the trick. I have not quite +made up my mind what I shall do with you yet. We shall soon be +out at sea. Boys easily fall overboard at night. I shouldn't be +surprised if you fall overboard--by accident, you understand."</p> + +<p class="normal">The captain smiled; but Bertie's heart stood still.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now lie down upon that seat, put your head upon that bag, and +don't you move. I shan't go out of revolver range, you may rest +assured."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie lay down upon the seat. The captain began pacing to and +fro. Every second or two he passed the recumbent boy. Once +Bertie could see that he was examining the lock of the revolver +which he was holding in his hand. He shut his eyes, trying to +keep the sight away.</p> + +<p class="normal">What an unsatisfactory difference often exists between theory +and practice! If there was one point in which he had been quite +sure it was his courage. To use his own words, he had pluck +enough for anything. To "funk" a thing, no matter what; to show +the white feather under any set of conditions which could be +possibly conceived--these things were to him impossible.</p> + +<p class="normal">In such literature as he was acquainted with, the boy heroes +were always heroes with a vengeance. They were gifted beings +whose nerve was never known to fail. They fought, with a +complete unconsciousness of there being anything unusual in +such a line of conduct, against the most amazing odds. They +generally conquered; but if they failed their nerves were still +unshaken, and they would disengage themselves with perfect +coolness from the most astounding complication of disasters. +They never hesitated to take life or to risk it; blood was +freely shed; they thought nothing of receiving several shots in +the body and a sword-cut at the back of the head.</p> + +<p class="normal">As for Dick Turpin, and Robin Hood, and Robinson Crusoe, and +Jack the Giant-Killer--all the world knows that they went +through adventures which makes the hair stand up on end only to +read of, and through them all they never winced. Bertie was +modestly conscious that these gentlemen were perhaps a little +above his reach--just a little, perhaps; but what the +aforementioned boys had done he had thought that he himself +could do.</p> + +<p class="normal">Yet here he was, lying upon a seat and shutting his eyes to +prevent him from seeing a revolver. Why, one of those heroic +boys would have faced the whole six shots and never trembled!</p> + +<p class="normal">The steamer started, and so did Bertie. Taken by surprise by +the sudden movement, he raised himself a little on the seat.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Keep still!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The captain's voice came cool and clear. Bertie returned to his +former position, not pausing to consider what his heroes would +have done.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you want to move you must first ask my permission; but +don't you move without it, my young friend."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie offered no remonstrance. The seat was not a comfortable +one to lie upon. It was one of those which are found in +steamers, formed of rails, with a space between each rail. +Possibly when they reached the open sea it would be less +comfortable still. But Bertie lay quite quiet, and never said a +word. It was not exactly what his heroes would have done. They +would have faced the villain, and dared him to do his worst; +and when he had done his worst, and sent six shots inside them, +with a single bound they would have grasped him by the throat, +and with a laugh of triumph have flung him head foremost into +the gurgling sea.</p> + +<p class="normal">But Bertie did not do that.</p> + +<p class="normal">So long as they remained in the river one or two of the +passengers still continued to move about the decks. The night +was so glorious that they probably thought it a pity to confine +themselves in the stifling cabins. But by degrees, one after +the other, they disappeared, until finally the decks were left +in possession of the captain and Bertie, and those whose duty +it was to keep watch at night.</p> + +<p class="normal">Although they had passed Hurst Castle and reached the open sea, +the weather was so calm that hardly any difference was +perceptible in the motion of the vessel. Bertie still lay on +the seat, looking at the stars.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had no inclination to sleep, and even had he had such +inclination, not improbably the neighbourhood of "Uncle Tom" +and his revolver would have banished slumber from his eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was not a sentimental boy. Sentimental boys are oftener +found in books than life. But even unsentimental boys are +accessible to sentiment at times. He was not a religious boy. +Simple candour compels the statement that the average boy is +not religious. But that night, lying on the deck, looking up at +that wondrous canopy of stars, conscious of what had brought +him there, aware of his danger, ignorant of the fate which was +in store for him, knowing that for all he could tell just ahead +of him lay instant death, he would have been more or less than +boy if his thoughts had not strayed to unwonted themes.</p> + +<p class="normal">Through God's beautiful world, across His wondrous sea--the +companion of a thief. Bertie's thoughts travelled homewards. A +sudden flood of memories swept over him.</p> + +<p class="normal">All at once the captain paused in front of him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Shall I throw you overboard?"</p> + +<p class="normal">There was a glitter in his eyes. A faint smile played about his +lips. Bertie was not inclined to smile. His tongue clave to the +roof of his mouth.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I have been asking myself the question, Why should I not? I +shall have to dispose of you in one way or other in the end; +why not by drowning now? One plunge and all is over."</p> + +<p class="normal">This sort of conversation made Bertie believe in the +possibility of one's hair standing straight up on end. He felt +persuaded that none of his heroes had ever been spoken to like +this; nothing made of flesh and blood could listen to such +observations and remain unmoved, especially with the moonlit +waters disappearing into the night on every side. What crimes +would they not conceal?</p> + +<p class="normal">"It is this way. It is you, or--I. In the railway train you +would have proclaimed me had you dared. You did not dare; +sooner or later, perhaps, you will dare more. Why should I wait +for your courage to return? We are alone; the sea tells no +tales. Boys will lean overboard: what more natural than that +you should fall in? It is distressing to lose one's nephew, +especially so dear a one; but what is life but a great +battle-field which is covered with the slain? Sit up, my boy, +and let us talk together."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie sat up, not because he wished it, but because he could +not help it. He had lost all control over his own movements. +This man seemed to him to be some supernatural being against +whom it was vain to attempt to struggle.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was no one by to listen to the somewhat curious +conversation which occurred between these two.</p> + +<p class="normal">"So you have run away? I think you said you ran away for fun. +You have evidently a turn for humour. Does this sort of thing +enter into your ideas of fun--this little trip of ours?"</p> + +<p class="normal">It emphatically did not. Bertie stammered out a negative.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No--o!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You say your father is rich, you have a good home. Were you +not happy there?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ye--es!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Seriously, then, what did you propose to yourself to do when +you ran away?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I--I don't know."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did you propose to yourself a life like mine?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie shuddered. He shrank away from the man in front of him +with an air of invincible repugnance.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Answer me! Look me in the face and answer me. I have a taste +for learning the opinions of my fellow-men, and you are +something original in boys. Tell me, what is your candid +opinion of myself? What do you think of me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie looked up as he was bidden. There was in his face +something of his old bull-dog look. Something of his old +courage had come back again, and on his countenance was the +answer ready written. But the captain meant to have the answer +in plain words.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Speak! you're not moonstruck, are you? Tell me what you think +of me?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You'll kill me if I do."</p> + +<p class="normal">The words came out heavily, as though he had to rid himself of +an overpowering weight before he could get them out. There was +a momentary pause; then the captain laughed.</p> + +<p class="normal">"I shall kill you anyhow. What difference will it make? Tell me +what you think of me."</p> + +<p class="normal">"You are a coward and a thief!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The words were spoken; and in speaking them perhaps Bertie came +nearer to what is called a hero than ever in all his life +before. But their effect upon the captain was not agreeable. +Those who play at bowls must expect rubbers, and those who +insist upon receiving an answer which they know can scarcely be +agreeable should make the best of it when it comes. But the +captain did not seem to see it.</p> + +<p class="normal">Directly he had spoken Bertie saw that he had put his foot in +it. Instinctively he slipped his hands between the rails of the +seat and held on tight. Only just in time, for the captain, +stooping forward, tried to lift him in his arms.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Leave go, you young brute!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie did leave go, but only to throw his arms about the +captain's neck. Instantly the captain stood up straight, +holding Bertie in his arms, staggering beneath his weight, for +the convulsive clutch of the lad's arms about his neck +encumbered him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"If you don't take your arms away I'll kill you!"</p> + +<p class="normal">But Bertie only clutched the tighter.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Let me go! let me go!" he screamed with the full strength of +his lungs.</p> + +<p class="normal">The effect was startling. In the prevailing silence the boy's +voice was heard far out across the sea. Taken aback by such a +show of resistance where none had before been offered, the +captain promptly replaced the lad upon the seat.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What's the matter with you? It was only a joke."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie unclasped his arms. The expression of his face showed +that it had been no joke to him. He looked like one who was not +even yet quite sure that he had escaped from death.</p> + +<p class="normal">The man at the helm was unable to see the seat on which they +sat. The forward watch had been on the other side the ship. +This man now advanced.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What's the matter there?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The captain met him with his most placid air.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Did you hear my nephew's voice? He had no idea he spoke so +loud; he was forgetting where we were."</p> + +<p class="normal">The man advanced still closer.</p> + +<p class="normal">"What's the matter with you, boy?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Quite unconsciously the captain unbuttoned his overcoat, and +his hand strayed to the pocket at the top.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No--nothing," stammered Bertie.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Nothing! I don't know what you call nothing! I should think +you was being murdered, hollering out like that. Why don't you +go down to the cabin and go to sleep?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The captain drew the man aside.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My nephew is a little excitable at times," he said, and tapped +his forehead. "He is best away from the cabin. He is better +alone up here in the fresh air with me."</p> + +<p class="normal">The man, a weather-beaten sailor, with an unkempt grey beard, +looked him straight in the face.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you mean he's cracked?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, we don't call it by that name. He's excitable--not quite +himself at times. You had better pay no heed to him; he has one +of his fits on him to-night--the journey has excited him."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Poor young feller!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And the sailor turned to look at the boy. The captain slipped +something into his hand. The man touched his hat and went away, +looking at the piece of money as he went. And the man and the +boy were left alone again.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie, on the seat, clutched the rails as he had done before. +The captain, standing in front, looked down at him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"There's more in you than meets the eye; though, considering +you pretend to have a turn for humour, one would have thought +you would have been quicker to understand a joke. I say nothing +of the noise you made, but you were wise not to answer that +fellow's impertinent question. Your presence of mind saved you +from accidental contact with the waters, but nothing could have +saved you from my six-shooter. You can lie down again. You need +have no fear of another accident; your screeching has made that +fellow, and probably his comrades, too inquisitive to make it +worth one's while to venture that. But when it comes to the +question of letting your tongue wag too freely, nothing can +save you from my revolver--mark that. It will be then a case of +you or I. If you have made up your mind to spoil me, I will +spoil you, my little friend. I say you can lie down."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie lay down; and again the captain resumed his pacing to +and fro, keeping watch, as it were, over his young prisoner.</p> + +<p class="normal">The boy fell asleep. The reaction which followed the short +sharp struggle beguiled him, and he slept. And oddly enough he +slept the sleep of peace. And more than once the captain, +pausing in his solitary vigil, bent over the sleeping boy, and +looked down at him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The young beggar's actually smiling."</p> + +<p class="normal">And in fact a smile did flit across the sleeper's face. Perhaps +he was dreaming of his mother.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ran away for fun, did he? Yet the youngster isn't quite +a fool. Pity it should be a case of he or I, but +self-preservation is Nature's first law! That was a headline in +my copy-books unless I greatly err."</p> + +<p class="normal">The captain lit a fresh cigar, and continued his patrol. What +did he think of? A hopeless past and a hopeless future? God +forgive him! for such as he there is no forgiveness to be had +from men. That self-preservation, which is Nature's first law, +is a law which cuts both ways. Honest men must destroy the +Captain Loftuses, or they will be themselves destroyed.</p> + +<p class="normal">The morning dawned; the day returned to the world. Still the +boy slept on. At last the captain woke him. He got up, as if +bewildered, and rubbed his eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Well, nephew mine, are you going to sleep for ever? If so, I'm +sorry that I woke you. Jump up and come with me."</p> + +<p class="normal">His "uncle" led the way into the cabin. They were preparing +breakfast; the passengers were falling to. The night had been +so tranquil that not one had suffered from sea-sickness, and +appetite had come with the morning. A trained eye, looking at +the fleecy clouds which were peeping over the horizon, would +have prophesied a change, and that rough weather was at hand. +But the day had dawned in splendour, and so far the morning was +as tranquil as the night had been. So those passengers who were +going through to Jersey sat down with light hearts to +breakfast.</p> + +<p class="normal">The captain and Bertie joined them. That his "uncle" had no +present intention of starving him was plain, for he was allowed +a hearty meal of whatever took his fancy.</p> + +<p class="normal">And while they were at breakfast the <i>Ella</i> was brought up +alongside the jetty, St. Peter's Port, Guernsey.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>Chapter XX</h2> + +<h2><a name="div1_20" href="#div1Ref_20">EXIT CAPTAIN TOM</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">When they returned to the deck the boat was preparing to +continue her journey. The fruit vendors--and with what +delicious fruit the Guernsey men board the Jersey boats!--were +preparing to take their leave, and those passengers who had +gone to stretch their legs with a saunter on the jetty were +returning to the steamer.</p> + +<p class="normal">The rest of the voyage was uneventful. Jersey is not very far +away from Guernsey, and for a considerable part of the distance +the passengers were in sight of land. The breeze began to +freshen, and as they steamed round Jersey towards St. Heliers +it began to dawn upon not a few that enough of this sort of +thing was as good as a feast. There is such a very striking +difference between steaming over a tranquil sea and being +tossed and tumbled among boisterous waves. It was fortunate +they were so near their journey's end. Several of the +travellers were congratulating themselves that, when they +reached dry land, they would be able to boast that they had +voyaged from Southampton to Jersey without experiencing a +single qualm. Had the journey been prolonged much further, that +boast would have been cruelly knocked on the head. When they +drew up beside the pier at St. Heliers, coming events, as it +were, had already cast their shadows before. They were saved +just in the nick of time.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie and the captain were among the first on shore; and, not +unnaturally, the young gentleman supposed that their journeying +was at an end. But he was wrong.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Step out! We have no time to lose! We have to catch another +boat, which is due to start."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie stepped out. He wondered if the other boat was to take +them back to England. Did the captain mean to pass the rest of +his life in voyaging to and fro?</p> + +<p class="normal">The disappointed flymen, to whom the arrival of the mail-boat +is the great event of the St. Heliers day, let them pass. The +hotel and boarding-house touters touted, so far as they were +concerned, in vain. The captain gave no heed to their +solicitations. He evidently knew his way about, for he walked +quickly down the jetty, turned unhesitatingly to the left when +he reached the bottom, crossed the harbour, and down the jetty +again upon the other side. About half-way down was a fussy +little steamer which was making ready to start.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Here you are! Jump on board!"</p> + +<p class="normal">If Bertie did not exactly jump, he at any rate got on board.</p> + +<p class="normal">What the boat was Bertie knew not, nor whither it was going. +Compared to the <i>Ella</i>, which they had just quitted, it was so +small a craft that he scarcely thought it could be going back +the way the mail had come.</p> + +<p class="normal">As a matter of fact it was not.</p> + +<p class="normal">Two or three times a week a fussy little steamer passes to and +fro between Jersey and France. The two French ports at which it +touches are St. Malo and St. Brieuc. One journey it takes to +St. Malo, the next to St. Brieuc. On this occasion it was about +to voyage to St. Brieuc.</p> + +<p class="normal">St. Brieuc, as some people may not know, is the chief town of +the department of Cotes-du-Nord, in Brittany--about as +unpretending a chief town as one could find. That Captain +Loftus had some preconceived end in view, and had not started +on a wild-goose chase, not, as might have at first appeared, +going hither and thither as his fancy swayed him, seemed plain.</p> + +<p class="normal">A more roundabout route to France he could scarcely have +chosen. Had he simply desired to reach the Continent, fast +steamers which passed from Southampton to Havre in little less +than half the time which the journey had already occupied, were +at his disposal. Very many people, some of them constant +travellers, are ignorant of the fact that a little steamer is +constantly plying between Jersey and Brittany. It is dependent +on the tides for its time of departure. Only in the local +papers are the hours advertised. Captain Loftus must have been +pretty well posted on the matter to have been aware that on +this particular day the little steamer, <i>La Commerce</i>, would be +starting for St. Brieuc about the time the mail-boat entered +Jersey.</p> + +<p class="normal">He must have had some particular object in making for that +remote corner of Breton France. No sooner did the boat enter +the little harbour than he made a dash for the railway station.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie seemed to have passed into another world. He had not the +faintest notion where he was. He was not even sure that they +had reached Jersey. He heard strange tongues sounding in his +ears; saw strange costumes before his eyes. In his then state +of bewilderment he would have been quite ready to believe +anybody who might have chosen to tell him that he had arrived +in Timbuctoo.</p> + +<p class="normal">Some light was thrown upon the subject when they reached the +station. The captain took some money out of his pocket and held +it out to Bertie.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Go and ask for the tickets," he said.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie stared. If he had been told to go and ask the man in the +moon for a lock of his hair he could not have been more +puzzled.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you hear what I say? Go and ask for the tickets."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Tickets? Where for?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The captain hesitated a moment, then said:</p> + +<p class="normal">"Two first-class tickets for Constantinople."</p> + +<p class="normal">He handed Bertie some silver coins.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Two first-class tickets for Constantinople."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie stammeringly repeated the words. Could the captain be in +earnest?</p> + +<p class="normal">"I want to catch the train; look alive, or----"</p> + +<p class="normal">The captain touched the pocket where the revolver was.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie doubtfully advanced to the booking office, gazing behind +him as he went to make quite sure that the captain had meant +what he said. There was an old lady taking tickets, so he +waited his turn.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Two first-class tickets for Constantinople."</p> + +<p class="normal">"<i>Comment?</i>"</p> + +<p class="normal">He stared at the booking-clerk, and the booking-clerk stared at +him, each in complete ignorance of what the other meant.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you mean to say you can't speak French?"</p> + +<p class="normal">The captain came to the rescue, speaking so gently that his +words were only audible to Bertie's ears.</p> + +<p class="normal">"No--o."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Do you mean to say you don't know enough to be able to ask for +two first-class tickets for Constantinople?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No--o."</p> + +<p class="normal">"How much French do you know?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"No--one."</p> + +<p class="normal">The captain evidently knew a great deal, for he immediately +addressed the booking-clerk in fluent French--French which that +official understood, for two tickets were at once forthcoming. +But whether they were for Constantinople, or for Jericho, or +for Kamtchatka, was more than the boy could tell. He was in the +pleasant position of not being able to understand a word that +was said; of being without the faintest notion where he was, +and of not having the least idea where he was going to.</p> + +<p class="normal">It may be mentioned, however, that the captain had not asked +for tickets for Constantinople--which at St. Brieuc he would +have experienced some difficulty in getting--but for Brest.</p> + +<p class="normal">They had not long to wait before the through train from Paris +entered the station. They got into a first-class carriage, +which they had for themselves, and in due time they were off.</p> + +<p class="normal">The state of Bertie's mind was easier imagined than described. +He had been in a dream since he had started on his journey to +the Land of Golden Dreams; and dreams have a tendency to become +more and more incoherent.</p> + +<p class="normal">His adventures up to the time of leaving London had been +strange enough, but he had at least known in what part of the +world he was. Now he was not possessed of even that rudimentary +knowledge. The continued travelling towards an unknown +destination, the unresting onward rush, as though the captain +meant, like the brook, to "go on for ever"--and this in the +case of a boy who had never travelled more than twenty miles +from home in his life--had in itself been enough to confuse +him; but the sudden discovery that he was in an unknown +country, in which they spoke an unknown tongue, put the climax +to his mental muddle. Had the captain, revolver in hand, then +and there insisted on his informing him which part of his body +as a rule was uppermost, he would have been wholly at a loss to +state whether it was on his head or heels he was accustomed to +stand.</p> + +<p class="normal">Something strange, too, about the railway carriage, about the +country through which they passed, about the people and the +very houses he saw through the carriage window made his muddle +more.</p> + +<p class="normal">The names of the roadside stations at which they stopped, which +were shouted out with stentorian lungs, were such oddities. +They came to one where the word "Guingamp" was painted in huge +letters on a large white board. Guingamp! What was the +pronunciation of such a word as that? And fancy living at a +town with such a name! He was not aware that, like a conjurer's +trick, it was only a question of knowing how it was done, and +Guingamp would come as glibly to his tongue as Slough or Upton.</p> + +<p class="normal">And then Belle-Isle-en-Terre and Plouigneau--what names! The +educational system which flourished at Mecklemburg House had +tended to make French an even stranger tongue than it need have +done. He saw the letters on the boards, but he could no more +pronounce the words which they were supposed to form than he +could fly.</p> + +<p class="normal">Throughout the long journey--and it is a long journey from St. +Brieuc to Brest--not a word had been exchanged. The captain had +scarcely moved. He had stretched his legs out on the seat, and +had taken up the easiest position which was attainable under +the circumstances; but he had not closed his eyes. Bertie +wondered if he never slept; if those fierce black eyes remained +always on the watch.</p> + +<p class="normal">The captain looked straight in front of him; and, although he +seemed to pay no heed to what the boy was doing, Bertie was +conscious that he never moved without the captain knowing it. +What a life this man must lead, to be ever on the watch; to be +ever fearful that the time of the avenger had come at last; +that the prison gates were about to close on him, and, perhaps, +this time for ever.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Uncle Tom" seemed to be as much at home in Brest as he had +been everywhere. The station was filled with the usual crowd. +Porters advanced to offer their services to carry the Gladstone +bag and place it on a cab, outside the cabmen hailed them in +the hope of a fare; but the captain, paying no heed to any of +them, marched quickly on.</p> + +<p class="normal">Were they at their journey's end? Bertie wondered. Was this +Constantinople, or had they another stage to go? If not +Constantinople, and he had a vague idea that Constantinople +could not be reached quite so quickly as they had come--what +place was it?</p> + +<p class="normal">What struck him chiefly as they passed into the town was the +number of men in uniform there seemed to be about. Every third +person they met seemed to wear a uniform. He supposed they were +soldiers, though he had never seen soldiers dressed like these +before; and then what a number of them there were! Geography is +not a strong point of the English education system, and he had +never been taught at Mecklemburg House that Brest was to France +much more than Portsmouth is to England, and that its +population consists of four classes, soldiers, sailors, +dockyard labourers--looking at all those, of whatever grade, +who labour in the dockyard in the light of labourers--and, +a long way behind the other three, civilians: "civilians" +being a generic name for that--regarded from a Brest point of +view--absolutely insignificant class who have no direct +connection with war or making ready for war.</p> + +<p class="normal">On their arrival the day was well advanced, and as they went +down the Rue de Siam they met the men returning from the yards. +Bertie had never seen such a sight before, not even in the +course of his present adventures. The Rue de Siam runs down +the hill. The dockyards are at the foot. From where they +stood, as far as the eye could reach, advanced a dense mass of +dirt-grimed men. They were the Government employés, employed by +France to make engines and ships of war, and as the seemingly +never-ending stream went past he actually moved closer to the +captain with a vague idea that he might--think of it, ye +heroes!--need <i>his</i> protection; for it seemed to the lad that, +taken in the mass, he had never seen a more repulsive-looking +set of gentlemen even in his dreams.</p> + +<p class="normal">The captain went straight down to the bridge; then he paused, +seeming to hesitate a moment, then turned to the right, +striking into what seemed very much like a nest of rookeries. +They came to an ancient, disreputable-looking inn. This they +entered; and as they did so Bertie's memory suddenly travelled +back to the Kingston inn, into which he had been enticed by the +Original Badger. The two houses were about on a par.</p> + +<p class="normal">Apparently the establishment was not accustomed to receive +guests of their distinguished appearance--though Bertie was +shabby enough--for the aged crone who received them was +evidently bent double by her sense of the honour which was paid +to the house.</p> + +<p class="normal">She and the captain carried on a voluble conversation, though, +for all that Bertie understood of what they said, they might as +well have held their peace. He remained standing in the centre +of the brick floor, shuffling from foot to foot, feeling and +looking as much out of place as though he had been suddenly +dropped into the middle of China. Gabble, gabble went the old +crone's tongue, wiggle-waggle went her picturesque white +cap--the only picturesque thing there was about her--up and +down went her arms and hands. She was the personification of +volubility, but unfortunately she might have been dumb for any +meaning which her words conveyed to Bertie.</p> + +<p class="normal">Yet, incomprehensible as her speech might be and was, he could +not rid himself of an impression, derived from her manner to +the captain, and the captain's manner to her, that they two had +met before, and that, in fact, they knew each other very well +indeed. But neither then nor at any other time did he get +beyond impression.</p> + +<p class="normal">Certainly her after-conduct was not of a kind to show that, +even if she knew the gentleman, she had much faith in his +integrity, unless, as was possible, the understanding between +the two was of a very deep and subtle kind indeed.</p> + +<p class="normal">She showed the new arrivals up a flight of rickety stairs, into +a room in which there were two beds of a somewhat better sort +than might have been expected. Some attempt had also been made +to fit the room up after the French fashion, so that it might +serve as sitting-room as well as bedroom. There was a table in +the centre, and the apartment also contained two or three +rush-bottomed chairs.</p> + +<p class="normal">The old crone, having shown them in, said something to the +captain and disappeared. The man and the boy were left alone. +They had not spoken to each other since they had left St. +Brieuc, and there was not much spoken now.</p> + +<p class="normal">"You can take your hat off and sit down. We shall sleep here +to-night."</p> + +<p class="normal">So at any rate they had reached a temporary resting-place at +last; their journey was not to be quite unceasing. It was only +the night before they had left London, but it seemed to Bertie +that it was a year ago.</p> + +<p class="normal">He did as he was bid--took his hat off and sat on a chair. The +captain sat down also, seating himself on one chair and putting +his feet upon another. Not a word was spoken; they simply sat +and waited, perhaps twenty minutes.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie wondered what they were waiting for, but the +reappearance of the crone with a coarse white tablecloth shed +light upon the matter. They had been waiting while a meal was +being prepared.</p> + +<p class="normal">The prospect revived his spirits. He had not tasted food since +they had left the <i>Ella</i>, and his appetite was always hale and +hearty. But he was thrown into the deepest agitation by a +remark which the crone addressed to him. He had not the +faintest notion what it was she said; but the mere fact of +being addressed in a foreign and therefore unknown tongue made +him feel quite ill.</p> + +<p class="normal">The captain did not improve the matter.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Why don't you answer the woman?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't know what she says."</p> + +<p class="normal">"Are you acting, or is it real?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie only wished that he had been acting, and that his +ignorance had not been real. At Mecklemburg House the idea of +learning French had seemed to him absurd, an altogether +frivolous waste of time. What would he not have given then--and +still more, what would he not have given a little later on--to +have made better use of his opportunities when he had them? +Circumstances alter cases.</p> + +<p class="normal">The captain looked at him for a moment or two with his fierce +black eyes; then he said something to the old woman which made +her laugh. Not a pleasant laugh by any means, and it did not +add to Bertie's sense of comfort that such a laugh was being +laughed at him.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Sit up to the table!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The old woman had laid the table, and had then disappeared to +fetch the food to put before her guests. Bertie sat up. The +meal appeared. Not by any means a bad one--better, like the +room itself, than might have been expected.</p> + +<p class="normal">When they had finished, and the old crone had cleared the +things away, the captain stood up and lighted a cigar.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Now, my lad, you'd better tumble into bed. I've a strong +belief in the virtue of early hours. There's nothing like sleep +for boys, even for those with a turn for humour."</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie had not himself a taste for early hours as a rule--it +may be even questioned if the captain had--but he was ready +enough for bed just then, and he had scarcely got between the +sheets before he was asleep. But what surprised him was to see +the captain prepare himself for bed as well. Bertie had one +bed, the captain the other. The lights were put out; and at an +unusually early hour silence reigned.</p> + +<p class="normal">Perhaps the journey had fatigued the man as much as the boy. It +is beyond question that the captain was asleep almost as soon +as Bertie was.</p> + +<p class="normal">But he did not sleep quite so long.</p> + +<p class="normal">While it was yet dark he got up, and, having lit a candle, +looked at his watch. Then he dressed very quietly, making not +the slightest noise. He took his revolver from underneath his +pillow, and replaced it in the top pocket of his overcoat. He +also took from underneath his pillow a leathern case. He opened +it. It contained a necklace of wondrous beauty, formed of +diamonds of uncommon brilliancy and size. His great black eyes +sparkled at the precious stones, and the precious stones +sparkled back at him.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was that necklace which had once belonged to the Countess of +Ferndale, and which, according to Mr. Rosenheim, had cost more +than twenty thousand pounds. The captain reclosed the leathern +case, and put it in the same pocket which contained his +revolver.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then, being fully dressed, even to his hat and boots, he +crossed the room and looked at Bertie. The boy was fast asleep.</p> + +<p class="normal">"The young beggar's smiling again."</p> + +<p class="normal">The young beggar was; perhaps he was again dreaming of his +mother.</p> + +<p class="normal">The captain took his Gladstone bag and crept on tiptoe down the +stairs. Curiously enough the front door was unbarred, so that +it was not long before he was standing in the street. Then, +having lighted, not a cigar this time, but a pipe, he started +at a pace considerably over four miles an hour, straight off +through the country lanes, to Landerneau. He must have had a +complete knowledge of the country to have performed that feat, +for Landerneau is at a distance of not less than fifteen miles +from Brest; and in spite of the darkness which prevailed, at +any rate when he started, he turned aside from the high road, +and selected those by-paths which only a native of the country +as a rule knows well.</p> + +<p class="normal">Landerneau is a junction on the line which runs to Nantes. He +caught the first train to that great seaport, and that +afternoon he boarded, at St. Nazaire, a steamer which was bound +for the United States of America, and by night he was far away +on the high seas.</p> + +<p class="normal">Henceforward he disappears from the pages of this story. He had +laid his plans well. He had destroyed the trail, and the only +witness of his crime whom he had any cause to fear he had left +penniless in the most rabid town in France, where any +Englishman who is penniless, and unable to speak any language +but his own, was not likely to receive much consideration from +the inhabitants.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>Chapter XXI</h2> + +<h2><a name="div1_21" href="#div1Ref_21">THE DISADVANTAGES OF NOT BEING ABLE TO SPEAK FRENCH</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">In the meantime Bertie slept, perhaps still continuing to dream +of his mother. When he woke he thought the captain was still +taking his rest. He remained for a time motionless in bed. But +it began to dawn upon him that the room was very quiet, that +there was no sound even of gentle breathing. If the captain +slept, he slept with uncommon soundness.</p> + +<p class="normal">So he sat up to see if the captain really was asleep, and saw +that the opposite bed was empty. Still the truth did not at +once occur to him. It was quite possible that the captain had +not chosen to wait till his companion awoke before he himself +got up.</p> + +<p class="normal">For the better part of an hour Bertie lay and wondered. By +degrees he could not but perceive that the captain's absence +was peculiar. Considering the close watch and ward which he had +kept upon the lad, it was surprising that he should leave him +so long to the enjoyment of his own society.</p> + +<p class="normal">An idea occurred to Bertie. Supposing the captain was guarding +him even in his absence? Then the door would be locked. He got +up to see. No; he had only to turn the handle, and the door was +open. What could it mean? Bertie returned to his bed to ponder.</p> + +<p class="normal">Another half-hour passed, and still no signs of the captain. +Bertie would have liked to get up, but did not dare. Supposing +when the captain returned he chose to be indignant because the +lad had taken upon himself to move without his advice?</p> + +<p class="normal">There came a tapping at the door. Was it the captain? He would +scarcely knock at the door to ask if he might be allowed to +enter. The tapping again.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Come in," cried Bertie.</p> + +<p class="normal">Still the tapping continued. Then some one spoke in French. It +was the old crone's voice.</p> + +<p class="normal">"M'sieu veut se lever? C'est midi!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Not in the least understanding what was said, Bertie cried +again, "Come in!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The door was opened a few inches, and the old crone looked in. +She stared at Bertie sitting up in bed, and Bertie stared at +her.</p> + +<p class="normal">"M'sieu, vot' oncle! Il dort?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"I don't know what you mean," said Bertie.</p> + +<p class="normal">They were in the agreeable position of not having either of +them the faintest conception of what the other said. She came +further into the room and looked about her. Then she saw that +the captain's bed was empty.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Vot' oncle! Où est-il donc?"</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie stared, as though by dint of staring he could get at +what she meant. The Mecklemburg House curriculum had included +French, but not the sort of French which the old lady talked. +"Mon père" and "ma mère," that was about the extent of Bertie's +knowledge of foreign tongues; and even those simple words he +would not have recognised coming from the peculiarly voluble +lips of this ancient dame.</p> + +<p class="normal">While he was still endeavouring to understand, from the +expression of her face, what it was she said, all at once she +began to scold him. Of course he had still not the slightest +knowledge as to what were the actual words she used; but her +voice, her gestures, and the expression of her countenance +needed no interpreter. Never very much to look at, she suddenly +became as though possessed with an evil spirit, seeming to rain +down anathemas on his non-understanding head with all the +virulence of the legendary witch of old.</p> + +<p class="normal">What was the matter Bertie had not the least conception, but +that something was the matter was plain enough. Her shrill +voice rose to a piercing screech. She seemed half choked with +the velocity of her speech. Her wrinkled face assumed a dozen +different hideous shapes. She shook her yellow claws as though +she would have liked to have attacked him then and there.</p> + +<p class="normal">Suddenly she went to the door and called to some one down +below. A man in sabots came stamping up the stairs. He was a +great hulking fellow in a blouse and a great wide-brimmed felt +hat. He listened to what the woman said, or rather screamed, +looking at Bertie all the time from under his overhanging +brows. Then he took up the lad's clothes which lay upon the +bed, and very coolly turned out all the pockets. Finding +nothing in the shape of money to reward his search, he put them +down again and glowered at Bertie.</p> + +<p class="normal">Some perception of the truth began to dawn upon the lad. Could +the captain have gone--absconded, in fact--and forgotten to pay +his bill? From the proceedings of the man and woman in front of +him it would seem he had. The man had apparently searched the +youngster's pockets in quest of money to pay what the captain +owed, and searched in vain.</p> + +<p class="normal">All at once he caught Bertie by the shoulders and lifted him +bodily on to the floor. Then he pointed to his clothing, saying +something at the same time. Bertie did not understand what he +said, but the meaning of his gesture was plain enough.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie was to put on his clothes and dress. So Bertie dressed. +All the time the woman kept up a series of exclamations. More +than once it was all that the man could do to prevent her +laying hands upon the boy. He himself stood looking grimly on, +every now and then seeming to grunt out a recommendation to the +woman to restrain her indignation.</p> + +<p class="normal">When the boy was dressed he unceremoniously took him by the +collar of the coat and marched him from the room. The old crone +brought up the rear, shrieking out reproaches as they went.</p> + +<p class="normal">In this way they climbed down the rickety stairs, Bertie +first--a most uncomfortable first; the man next, holding his +coat collar, giving him little monitory jerks, in the way the +policeman had done down Piccadilly; the woman last, raining +abuse upon the unfortunate youngster's head. This was another +stage on the journey to the Land of Golden Dreams.</p> + +<p class="normal">Across the room below to the front door. There was a temporary +pause. The old crone gave the boy two sounding smacks, one on +each side of the head, given with surprising vigour considering +her apparent age. Then the man raised his foot, sabot and all, +and kicked the young gentleman into the street!</p> + +<p class="normal">Then Bertie felt sure that the captain had forgotten to pay his +bill.</p> + +<p class="normal">He stood for a moment in the narrow street, not unnaturally +surprised at this peremptory method of bidding a guest +farewell. But it would have been quite as well if he had stood +a little less upon the order of his going; for the crone, +taking advantage of his momentary pause, caught off her slipper +and flung it at his head. This, too, was delivered with vigour +worthy of a younger arm, and as it struck Bertie fairly on the +cheek he received the full benefit of the lady's strength. The +other slipper followed, but that Bertie just dodged in time. +Still, he thought that under the circumstances, perhaps, he had +better go. So he went.</p> + +<p class="normal">But not unaccompanied.</p> + +<p class="normal">A couple of urchins had witnessed his unceremonious exit, and +they had also seen the slippers aimed. The whole proceeding +seemed to strike them in a much more humorous light than it did +Bertie, and to mark their enjoyment of the fun they danced +about and shrieked with laughter.</p> + +<p class="normal">As Bertie began to slink away the man said to them something +which seemed to make them prick up their ears. They followed +Bertie, pointing with their fingers.</p> + +<p class="normal">"V'là un Anglais! C'est un larron! au voleur! au voleur!"</p> + +<p class="normal">What it was they shrieked in their shrill voices Bertie had not +the least idea, but he knew it was unpleasant to be pointed and +shouted at, for their words were caught up by other urchins of +their class, and soon he had a force of ragamuffins shrieking +close at his heels.</p> + +<p class="normal">"V'là un Anglais! un Anglais! C'est un lar--r--ron!"</p> + +<p class="normal">The stress which they laid upon the <i>larron</i> was ear-splitting.</p> + +<p class="normal">As he went, his following gathered force. They were a ragged +regiment. Some hatless, some shoeless, all stockingless; for +even those who wore sabots showed an inch or two of naked flesh +between the ends of their breeches and the tops of their wooden +shoes.</p> + +<p class="normal">As Bertie found his way into the better portions of the town +the procession created a sensation. Shopkeepers came to their +doors to stare, the loungers in the cafés stood to look. Some +of the foot-passengers joined the rapidly-swelling crowd.</p> + +<p class="normal">The boy with his sullen face passed on, his lips compressed, +his eyes with their dogged look. What the hubbub was about, why +they followed him, what it was they kept on shouting, he did +not understand. He knew that the captain had left him, and left +him penniless. What he was himself to do, or where he was +going, he had not the least idea. He only knew that the crowd +was hunting him on.</p> + +<p class="normal">There was not one friendly face among those around him--not one +who could understand. The boys seemed like demons, shrieking, +dancing, giving him occasional shoves. Separately he would have +tackled any one of them, for they could not despise him for +being English more heartily than he despised them for being +French. But what could he do against that lot?--a host, too, +which was being reinforced by men. For the cry "Un Anglais!" +seemed to be infectious, and citizens of the grimier and more +popular type began to swell the throng and shriek "Un Anglais!" +with the boys.</p> + +<p class="normal">One man, a very dirty and evil-looking gentleman, laying his +two hands on Bertie's shoulders, started running, and began +pushing him on in front of him. This added to the sport. The +cavalcade broke into a trot. The shrieks became more vigorous. +Suddenly Bertie, being pushed too vigorously from behind, and +perhaps a little bewildered by the din, lost his footing and +fell forward on his face. The man, taken unawares, fell down on +top of him. The crowd shrieked with laughter.</p> + +<p class="normal">A functionary interfered, in the shape of a <i>sergent de ville</i>. +He wanted to know what the disturbance was about. Two or three +dozen people, who knew absolutely nothing at all about it, +began explaining all at once. They did not render the matter +clearer. Nor did the man who had pushed Bertie over. He was +indignant; not because he had pushed Bertie over, but because +he had fallen on him afterwards. He evidently considered +himself outraged because Bertie had not managed to enjoy a +monopoly of tumbling down.</p> + +<p class="normal">The policeman, not much enlightened by the explanations which +were poured upon him, marched Bertie off to the <i>bureau de +police</i>. They manage things differently in France, and the +difference is about as much marked in a police station as +anywhere else. Bertie found himself confronted by an official +who pelted him with questions he did not understand, and who +was equally at a loss to understand the observations he made in +reply. Then he found himself locked up. It is probable that +while he was held in durance vile an attempt was made to +discover an interpreter; it would appear from what followed +that if such an attempt were made, it was made in vain.</p> + +<p class="normal">The afternoon passed away. Still the boy was left to enjoy his +own society. He had plenty of leisure to think; to wonder what +was going to happen to him--what was the next page which was to +be unfolded in the history of his adventures. He had leisure to +learn that he was getting hungry. But no one brought him +anything to eat.</p> + +<p class="normal">At last, just as he was beginning to think that he surely was +forgotten, an official appeared, who, without a word, took him +by the collar of his coat--he had been taken a good many times +by the collar of his coat of late--led him straight out of the +station-house, through some by-streets to the outskirts of the +town.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then, when he had taken him some little distance outside the +walls, and a long country road stretched away in front, he +released the lad's collar, and with a very expressive gesture, +which even Bertie was not at a loss to understand, he bade him +take himself away.</p> + +<p class="normal">And Bertie took himself away, walking smartly off in the +direction in which the sergeant pointed--away from the town. +The policeman watched him for some time, standing with his +hands in his pockets; and then, when a curve in the road took +the lad out of sight, he returned within the walls.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was already evening. The uncertain weather which had +prevailed during the last few days still proved its +uncertainty. The day had been fine, the evening was clouded. +The wind was high, and, blowing from the north-west, blew the +clouds tumultuously in scurrying masses across the sky.</p> + +<p class="normal">The country was bare, nearly treeless. It was very flat. +The scant fields of Finistère offered no protection from +the weather, and but little pleasure to the eye. It was a +bleak, almost barren country, with but little natural +vegetation--harsh, stony, and inhospitable.</p> + +<p class="normal">Along the wind-swept road he steadily trudged. He knew not +whither he was going, not even whence he came. He was a +stranger in a strange land. The captain had asked him whether +he spoke French; he supposed, therefore, that this land was +France. But the captain had confused him--bidden him ask for +tickets for Constantinople. Even Bertie's scanty geographical +knowledge told him that Constantinople was not France. On the +other hand, the same scant store suggested that it needed a +longer flight than they had taken to bring him into Turkey.</p> + +<p class="normal">A very slight knowledge of French would have enabled him to +solve the question. If he had only been able to ask, Where am +I? The person asked might have taken him to be an English +lunatic in a juvenile stage of his existence, but would +probably have replied. Unfortunately this knowledge was +wanting. If sometimes a little knowledge is a dangerous thing, +it is also, and not seldom, very much the other way.</p> + +<p class="normal">Nearly all that night Bertie went wandering on. The darkness +gathered. The wind seemed to whistle more loudly when the +darkness came, but there was no escape from it for him. Seen in +the light of clustering shadows the country seemed but scantily +peopled. He scarcely met a soul. A few peasants, a cart or +two--these were the only moving things he saw. And when the +darkness deepened he seemed to be alone in all the world.</p> + +<p class="normal">A house or two he passed, even some villages, in which there +were no signs of life except an occasional light gleaming +through a wayside window. He made no attempt to ask for food, +or drink, or shelter. How could he have asked? As he went +further and further from the town he began to come among the +Breton aborigines; and in Brittany, as in Wales, you find whole +hamlets in which scarcely one of the inhabitants has a +comprehensible knowledge of the language of the country which +claims them as her children. Even French would have been of +problematic service in the parts into which he had found, or +rather lost his way, and he was not even aware that there was a +place called Brittany, and a tongue called Breton. He was a +stranger in a strange land indeed!</p> + +<p class="normal">It was a horrible night, that first one he spent wandering +among the wilds of Finistère. After he had gone on and on and +on, and never seemed to come to anything, and the winds +shrieked louder, and he was hungry and thirsty and weary and +worn, and there was nothing but blackness all around and the +terror-stricken clouds whirling above his head, somewhere about +midnight he thought it was time he should find some shelter and +rest.</p> + +<p class="normal">So he clambered over a stone wall which bound the road on +either side, and on the other side of this stone wall he +ventured to lie down. It was not comfortable lying; there +was no grass, there were thistles, nettles, weeds, and +stones--plenty of stones. On this bed he tried to take some +rest, trusting to the wall to shelter him.</p> + +<p class="normal">In vain. It requires education to become accustomed to a bed of +stones. All things come by custom, but those who are used to +sheets find stony soil disagreeable ground. Bertie gave it up. +The wind seemed to come through the chinks in the wall with +even greater bitterness than if there had been no wall at all. +The stones were torture. There was nothing on which he could +lay his head. So he got up and struck across the field, seeking +for a sheltered place in which to lie. For another hour or so +he wandered on, now sitting down for a moment or two, now +kneeling, and feeling about with his hand for comfortable +ground. In an open country, on a dark and windy night, it is +weary searching for one's bed, especially in a country where +stones are more plentiful than grass.</p> + +<p class="normal">In his fruitless wanderings, confused by the darkness and the +strangeness of the place, Bertie went over the same ground more +than once. Without knowing it, meaning to go forwards, he went +back. When he suspected that this was the case, his +helplessness came home to him more forcibly than it had done +before. What was he to do if he could not tell the way he had +come from the way he was going?</p> + +<p class="normal">At last he blundered on some trees. He welcomed them as though +they had been friends. He sat down at the foot of one, and +found that the ground was coated by what was either moss or +grass. Compared to his bed of stones it was like a bed of +eider-down. It was quite a big tree, and he found that he could +so lean against it that it would serve as a very tolerable +barrier against the wind at his back.</p> + +<p class="normal">At the foot of this tree he sat down, and pillowing his head +against the trunk he sought for sleep. But sleep was coy, and +would not come on being wooed. The utter solitude of his +position kept him wakeful. Robinson Crusoe's desolation was +scarcely more complete; his helplessness was not so great. It +came upon Bertie, as it came upon Crusoe in his lonely island, +that he was wholly in the hands of God. The teachings which he +had been taught at his mother's knee, and which seemed to go +into one ear and out of the other, proved to be the bread which +is cast upon the waters, returning after many days. He +remembered with startling vividness how his mother had told him +that God holds us all in the hollow of His hand: he understood +the meaning of that saying now.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was so sleepy, so tired out and out, that from very +weariness he forgot that he was hungry and athirst. Yet, in +some strange fantastic way, the thought, despite his weariness, +prevented him from sleeping--that the winds which whistled +through the night were the winds of God. The winds of God! And +it seemed to him that all things were of God, the darkness and +the solitude, and the mysterious place. Who shall judge him? +Who shall say that it was only because he was in trouble that +he had such thoughts? It is something even if in times of +trouble we think of God. "God is a very present help in times +of trouble," has been written on some page of some old book.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie was so curiously impressed by a sense of the presence of +the Almighty God that he did what he had not done for a very +long time--he got up, and kneeling at the foot of the friendly +tree, he prayed. And it is not altogether beyond the range of +possibility that, when he again sought rest, it was because of +his prayer that God sent sleep unto his eyes.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>Chapter XXII</h2> + +<h2><a name="div1_22" href="#div1Ref_22">THE END OF THE JOURNEY</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">Throughout the day which followed, and throughout the night, +and throughout the succeeding days and nights, Bertie wandered +among the wilds of Finistère, and among its lanes and villages. +How he lived he himself could have scarcely told. The +misfortunes which had befallen him since he had set out on his +journey to the Land of Golden Dreams had told upon him. He +became ill in body and in mind. He needed rest and care, good +food and careful nursing. What he got was no food, or scarcely +any, strange skies to shelter him, a strange land to serve him +as his bed.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was fortunate that summer was at hand. Had it been winter he +would have lain down at night, and in the morning they would +have found him dead. But he was at least spared excessive cold. +The winds were not invariably genial. The occasional rain was +not at all times welcome--to him at least, whatever it might +have been to the thirsty earth--but there was no frost. If +frost had come he would certainly have died.</p> + +<p class="normal">What he ate he scarcely knew. Throughout the whole of his +wanderings he never received food from any human being. He +found his breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper in the fields and +on the hedges. A patch of turnips was a godsend. There was one +field in particular in which grew both swedes and turnips. It +was within a stone's-throw of a village; to reach it from the +road you had to scramble down a bank. To this he returned again +and again. He began to look upon it almost as his own.</p> + +<p class="normal">Once, towards evening, the farmer saw him getting his supper. +The farmer saw the lad before the lad saw him. He stole upon +him unawares, bent upon capturing the thief. He had almost +achieved his purpose, and was within half a dozen yards of the +miscreant, when, not looking where he was going in his anxiety +to keep his eyes upon the pilferer, he caught his sabot in a +hole, and came down upon his knees. As he came he gave vent to +a deep Breton execration.</p> + +<p class="normal">Startled, Bertie looked behind and saw the foe. He was off +like the wind. When the farmer had regained, if not his temper, +at least his perpendicular, he saw, fifty yards ahead, a +wild-looking, ragged figure tearing for his life. The Breton +was not built for speed. He perceived that he might as well +attempt to rival the swallow in its flight as outrun the boy. +So he contented himself with shaking his fists and shouting +curses after the robber of his turnip field.</p> + +<p class="normal">Never washing, never taking his clothes from his back nor his +shoes from his feet, in appearance Bertie soon presented a +figure which would have discredited a scarecrow. Scrambling +through hedges, constant walking over stony ways, beds on +dampish soil--these things told upon his garments; they soon +began to drop away from him in shreds. His face went well with +his clothing. Very white and drawn, very thin and dirty, his +ravenous eyes looked out from under a tangled shock of hair. +One night he had been startled in his sleep, as he often was, +and he had sprung up, as a wild creature springs, and run for +his life, not waiting to inquire what it was that had startled +him, whether it was the snapping of a twig or the movement of a +rabbit or a bird. In his haste he left his hat behind him, and +as he never returned to get it, afterwards he went with his +head uncovered.</p> + +<p class="normal">It began to be rumoured about those parts that some strange +thing had taken up its residence in the surrounding country. +The Breton peasants and small farmers are ignorant, credulous, +superstitious. The slightest incident of an unusual character +they magnify into a mystery.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was told in the hamlets that some wild creature had made its +appearance in their neighbourhood. Some said it was a boy, some +said it was a man, some said it was a woman; some said it was +neither one thing nor the other, but a monster which had taken +human shape.</p> + +<p class="normal">Bertie lent an air of veracity to the different versions by his +own proceedings. He was not in his own right mind. Had care +been taken, and friends been near, all might have been well; as +it was, fever was taking more and more possession of his brain. +He shunned his fellow-creatures. At the sight of a little child +he would take to his heels and run. He saw an enemy in every +bush, in every tree; in a man or a woman he saw his worst enemy +of all.</p> + +<p class="normal">In consequence the tales gained ground and grew. A lout, +returning from his labour in the fields, saw on a distant slope +in the gathering twilight a wild-looking figure, who, at sight +of him, turned and ran like the wind. The lout ran too. The +tale did not lose by being told. Bertie was magnified into a +giant, his speed into speed of the swiftest bird. The lout +declared that he uttered mysterious sounds as he ran. He became +a mysterious personage altogether--and a horrible one.</p> + +<p class="normal">Others saw this thing of evil, for that it was a thing of evil +all were agreed. The farmer who saw him in his turnip field had +a wondrous tale to tell.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had not tripped through his own stupidity and clumsiness. On +the contrary, it was all owing to the influence of the evil +eye. Bertie, being a thing of evil, had seen him--as things of +evil have doubtless the power of doing--although his approach +was made from the rear; and, seeing him, had glanced at him +with his evil eye through the back of his head, as things +possessing that fatal gift have, we may take it for granted, +the power of doing. Nay, who shall decide that the evil eye is +not itself located in the back of the head?</p> + +<p class="normal">Anyhow, under its influence the farmer tripped. This became +clearer to his mind the more he thought of it, and, it may be +also added, the farther off the accident became. The next +morning he remembered that he had been conscious of a +mysterious something in his joints as he approached the turnip +stealer--a something not to be described, but altogether +mysterious and horrible. In the afternoon he declared that he +had not followed the plunderer because he had been rooted to +the ground, he knew not how nor why--rooted in the manner of +his own turnips, which he had seen disappearing from underneath +his eyes.</p> + +<p class="normal">That night the tale grew still more horrible. He had a couple +of glasses of brandy, at two sous a glass, with a select circle +of his friends, and under the influence of conviviality the +farmer made his neighbours' hair stand on end. He went to bed +with the belief impressed firmly on his mind that he had +encountered Old Nick in person, engaged in the nefarious and +characteristic action of stealing turnips from his turnip +field.</p> + +<p class="normal">Thus it came about that while Bertie avoided aboriginals, the +aboriginals were equally careful in avoiding him. One day some +one heard him speak. That was the climax. The tongue he spoke +was neither Breton nor French. Delirium was overtaking the lad, +and under its influence he was beginning to spout all sorts of +nonsense in his feverish wanderings here and there.</p> + +<p class="normal">The aboriginal in question had seen him running across the +field and shouting as he ran. He declared, probably with truth, +that never had he heard the like before. It was undoubtedly the +language which was in common use among things of evil. This +conclusion was not flattering to English-speaking people, but +there are occasions on which ignorance is not bliss, and it is +not folly to be wise. Being a Breton peasant of average +education, this aboriginal decided that Bertie's English was +the language in common use among things of evil.</p> + +<p class="normal">That settled the question. There are possibly Beings--Beings in +this case should be written with a capital letter--of +indifferent, and worse than indifferent character, who have at +least some elementary acquaintance with the Breton tongue. Let +so much be granted. But it cannot be doubted--at any rate no +one did doubt it--that the fact of this stranger speaking in a +strange tongue made it as plain as a pike-staff that he was the +sort of character which is better left alone.</p> + +<p class="normal">So, as a rule, they left him alone in the severest manner.</p> + +<p class="normal">Of course this could not endure for ever. Bertie was +approaching the Land of Golden Dreams in a sense of which he +had not dreamed even in his wildest dreams. One cannot subsist +on roots alone. Nor can a young gentleman, used to cosy beds +and well-warmed rooms and regular meals, exist for long on such +a diet, under ever-changing skies, in an inhospitable country, +in the open air. Bertie was worn to a shadow. He was wasted not +only physically, but mentally and morally. He was a ghost of +what he once had been, enfeebled in mind and body.</p> + +<p class="normal">If something did not happen soon to change his course of +living, he would soon bring his journeying to an untimely end, +and reach the Land of Dreams indeed.</p> + +<p class="normal">Something did happen, but it was not by any means the sort of +thing which was required.</p> + +<p class="normal">One day a great hunt took place in that district. It was +first-rate sport. They occasionally hunt wolves, and even wild +boars in Finistère, but this time what was hunted was a boy. +And the boy was Bertie.</p> + +<p class="normal">The mayor of St. Thégonnec was a wise man. All mayors are of +necessity, and from the nature of their office, wise, +especially the mayors of rural France; and this mayor was the +wisest of wise mayors. He was a miller by trade, honest as +millers go, and as pig-headed a rustic as was ever found in +Finistère. His name was Baudry--Jean Baudry.</p> + +<p class="normal">It was reported to M. Baudry by his colleague, the mayor of the +commune of Plouigneau, which lies on the other side of Morlaix, +that there was a Being--with a capital B--which had come no one +knew from whence, and which was plundering the fields in a way +calculated to make the blood of all honest men turn cold--or +hot, as might accord best with the natural disposition of the +blood of the man in question.</p> + +<p class="normal">The mayor of St. Thégonnec had told this story to the mayor of +Morlaix; and the mayor of Morlaix, being the mayor of the +<i>arrondissement</i>, had thought it an excellent opportunity to +snub the mayor of a mere commune, and had snubbed the mayor of +St. Thégonnec accordingly; who, coming fresh from the snubbing, +had encountered his colleague in the market-place, and then and +there told his wrongs.</p> + +<p class="normal">The two worthies agreed that, at the first opportunity, they +would lay violent hands upon this plunderer of the fields of +honest men, and make him wish that he had left such fields +alone.</p> + +<p class="normal">Such an opportunity, or what looked like such an one, was not +long in offering itself to M. Baudry.</p> + +<p class="normal">One afternoon he was engaged in his occupation of grinding +flour, standing in an atmosphere which would have rendered life +disagreeable, if not altogether unsupportable, to any one but a +miller, when Robert, Madame Perchon's eldest born, put his head +inside the open door of the mill.</p> + +<p class="normal">"This creature, M. le Maire; this creature!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Robert Perchon was an undersized youth of some twenty years of +age, who had escaped military service not only as being the +eldest son of a widow, but as being in possession of an +unrivalled squint, which would have excluded him in any case, +and which would have rendered it really difficult for a drill +sergeant to have ascertained to his own satisfaction whether, +at any given moment, the recruit had his "eyes front" or +behind.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, at last! Where is this vagabond? We will settle his +business in a trice!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Having shouted instructions to his assistant to keep his eyes +upon the stones, M. le Maire came forth.</p> + +<p class="normal">"He is in the buck-wheat field! I was going to the little field +by the river, when, behold! what should I see in the buck-wheat +field, lying close to the hedge, and yet among the wheat, what +but this creature, fast asleep! It is so, I give you my word. +At this time of day, when all honest people are at work, in the +middle of my field there was this creature, fast asleep. I knew +him at once, although I have not seen the wretch before; but I +have heard him described, and there is indeed something +absolutely diabolical in his aspect even as he lies among my +buck-wheat fast asleep!"</p> + +<p class="normal">"You did not wake him?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Ah, no! Why should I wake him? Who knows what injury the +creature might have done me when he found himself disturbed?"</p> + +<p class="normal">"Then we will wake him, I give you my word. We will capture +this vagabond. We will discover what there is about him +diabolical."</p> + +<p class="normal">The mayor's courage was applauded. There was Robert Perchon, +his mother--in tears, at the thought of the peril which her son +had only just escaped--a select assembly of the villagers, and +the two gorgeous gendarmes from the St. Thégonnec gendarmerie. +All these people perceived that the mayor was brave.</p> + +<p class="normal">The assembly started, with the intention of making an example +of the plunderer of the fields of honest men.</p> + +<p class="normal">In front was the mayor, not looking particularly dignified, for +he was white with flour, though void of fear.</p> + +<p class="normal">In his hand he carried a mighty stick. Behind him came the +gendarmes, as was befitting. They had forgotten to buckle on +their swords, but in their case dignity was everything, and it +was just possible that the stick of the mayor would render +more deadly weapons needless. Behind--a pretty good distance +behind--came the villagers. Some of them carried pitchforks, +others spades. One gallant lady carried a kettle full of +boiling water. It did not occur to her, perhaps, that the water +would have time to cool before they reached their quarry. +Madame Perchon brought up the rear, and behind her sneaked the +gallant Robert.</p> + +<p class="normal">It occurred to the mayor that this was not exactly as it ought +to be. He suggested to M. Robert that as he alone knew exactly +where the vagabond lay, it befitted him to lead the van. This, +however, M. Robert did not see; he preferred to shout out his +directions from the rear.</p> + +<p class="normal">They entered the buck-wheat field. No persuasions would induce +him to enter with the rest. He insisted on remaining outside, +guiding them from a post of safety. His mother stayed to keep +him company.</p> + +<p class="normal">"By there! a little to the left! Keep straight on! If he has +not gone, M. le Maire, which is always possible, you can touch +him with your stick from where you are now standing!"</p> + +<p class="normal">He had not gone.</p> + +<p class="normal">The journey was almost done. The end was drawing near. +Delirious, beside himself, fever-racked, hunger-stricken, not +knowing what he was doing, the boy had sunk down in Madame +Perchon's buck-wheat field to sleep. And he had slept--a +mockery of sleep! A thousand hideous imaginations passed +through his fevered mind. M. Robert Perchon, who had been +contented with a single glance at the sleeping lad, had some +warranty for his declaration that in his aspect there was +something diabolical, for his limbs writhed and his countenance +was distorted by the paroxysms of his fever.</p> + +<p class="normal">Dreaming some horrible dream, the noise made by the advancing +brave fell upon his fevered ear. Starting upright at M. +Baudry's feet, with a shriek which horrified all who heard him, +he rushed across the field, and flew as if all the powers of +evil were treading on his heels. And, indeed, in a sense the +powers of evil were, for he was delirious with fever.</p> + +<p class="normal">The first impulse of the champions of the fields of honest men +was to do, with one accord, what the boy had done, to turn and +flee--the other way. Some, believing Bertie's delirious shriek +to be the veritable voice of Satan, acted on this first impulse +and fled. Notable among them were M. Robert and his mother. +That gallant pair raced each other homewards, shrieking with so +much vigour that it almost seemed that in that direction they +had made up their minds to outdo the plunderer of the fields of +honest men. But there were braver spirits abroad that day. +Among them was the mayor. Besides, the public eye was upon him, +and behind him were the two gendarmes. In France the +representative of authority never runs--at least, he never runs +away.</p> + +<p class="normal">It is true that when Bertie sprang with such startling +suddenness from right underneath his feet, and gave utterance +to that ear-alarming shriek, M. Baudry thought of running. But +he only thought; it went no further. He would certainly have +denied that he had even allowed himself to think of such an +ignominious contingency a moment afterwards.</p> + +<p class="normal">The creature was running away. That was evident. It would be +absurd for the champions of those fields to run away from him, +when the rascal had been sensible enough to run away from them. +M. Baudry perceived this fact at once.</p> + +<p class="normal">"After him!" he cried. "I give you my word we shall catch him +yet!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Off went the assembly, helter-skelter, after the delirious boy.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Forward! forward! We will teach this rogue a lesson! We will +teach him to rob the fields of honest men! We will learn the +stuff that he is made of--this vagabond!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Courage revived. They all shouted, and they all ran.</p> + +<p class="normal">If the mayor was in the habit of giving his word as lightly as +he gave it then, it could not have been worth having. It was +soon evident that they had about as much chance of catching the +fugitive as they had of catching the clouds which wandered +above their heads.</p> + +<p class="normal">M. Baudry was not built for violent exercise. He had probably +not run thirty yards in the last thirty years. He was in his +sabots, and sabots are not good things for running. Fifty paces +in Madame Perchon's buck-wheat field was quite enough for him. +He perceived that it is not a proper thing for mayors to run; +so he ran no more. Instead of running he sat down to think, and +to encourage, of course, his friends.</p> + +<p class="normal">The gendarmes kept on. It was evidently their duty to keep on. +But they were not much fonder of running than the mayor, and a +gendarme's boots, when it comes to running, are not much more +satisfactory, regarded as aids to progress, than sabots. +Especially are gendarmes not built to run across ploughed +fields.</p> + +<p class="normal">In fact the chase was prolonged for almost, if not quite, a +hundred yards. Then it ceased. Most of the champions of the +fields of honest men sat down upon the fields they championed; +those who didn't gasped for breath upon their feet.</p> + +<p class="normal">The affair was, perhaps, something of a fiasco, but they +consoled themselves with the reflection that they would catch +the vagabond next time, when they could run a little better and +a little further, and he could run a little worse--or a good +deal worse, in fact.</p> + +<p class="normal">But for Bertie the chase was very far from done. He fled, not +from things of flesh and blood, but from things of air--the +wild imaginings of fever. On and on and on--over fields and +hedges, dykes and ditches--on and on and on, until the day +waned and the night had come.</p> + +<p class="normal">And in the night his journey ended. Even delirium would no +longer give strength unto his limbs. His style of going +changed. Instead of running, like a maddened animal, straight +forward, he went reeling, reeling, reeling, staggering from +side to side.</p> + +<p class="normal">Then he staggered down.</p> + +<p class="normal">He rose no more. It was the end of the journey.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<h2>Chapter XXIII</h2> + +<h2><a name="div1_23" href="#div1Ref_23">THE LAND OF GOLDEN DREAMS</a></h2> +<br> + +<p class="normal">When he returned to life he was in his mother's arms. There +were familiar faces round him, and, as out of a mist, familiar +voices sounded in his ear.</p> + +<p class="normal">He turned in his bed--for it was on a bed he was lying, and no +longer on the stony ground--and opened his eyes, waking as from +a delicious slumber.</p> + +<p class="normal">Some one bent over him; some one laid a hand softly on his +brow; some one's burning tears fell on his cheek. There was his +mother standing by his side.</p> + +<p class="normal">"My boy! my boy! Thank God for this, my darling boy!"</p> + +<p class="normal">Then she kissed him; and she wept.</p> + +<p class="normal">Out of the mist there came another familiar form. It was his +father.</p> + +<p class="normal">"Bertie! at last! Thank God for this, indeed, my son!"</p> + +<p class="normal">And he, too, stooped and kissed the lad. And the mother rose to +her feet, and became encircled in her husband's arms; and they +two rejoiced together over the son who was lost and was found.</p> + +<p class="normal">He had been ill six weeks. Six weeks delirious with fever; six +weeks hovering between life and death; six weeks' sorrow; six +weeks' pain. That was the end of his journey.</p> + +<p class="normal">And it would have had another ending had it not been for the +providence of God. He would have journeyed into that strange, +unknown country, whose name is Death, but that he was found by +the roadside, where he had fallen, and by a friend. It would be +unwise to say that that friend was not sent to him direct from +God.</p> + +<p class="normal">Among his father's patients was a certain Mr. Yates. Mr. Yates +was a county magistrate, a man of position and of wealth. Under +God he owed his life to Dr. Bailey's skill. It was to him +reference has been made as having given Bertie half a sovereign +once upon a time--half a sovereign which, to Bertie's disgust, +he had had to divide with his brothers and sisters.</p> + +<p class="normal">Mr. Yates had known the youngster well. He was a bachelor, and +had allowed the boy to run in and out almost as he pleased. On +the eve of starting on a tour to Brittany he had heard that the +young gentleman had disappeared from school, no one knew why, +no one knew whither. There was a pretty to-do when it was +known. It was almost the last straw for Mr. Fletcher, that last +straw which, according to the proverb, breaks the camel's back.</p> + +<p class="normal">In his bewilderment--in the general bewilderment, indeed--Dr. +Bailey had not hesitated to lay his son's disappearance at Mr. +Fletcher's door. He declared that he was alone to blame, that +some act of remissness, some act of even positive cruelty must +have goaded the lad into taking such a step.</p> + +<p class="normal">The boy had left no trace behind. The distracted father +advertised for him right and left, placed the matter in the +hands of the police, seeking for him on every side without +finding the slightest clue to tell him if his son were alive or +dead.</p> + +<p class="normal">Matters were in this state when Mr. Yates had left for +Brittany. He had been there some days, when, wandering somewhat +out of the beaten track, he had chartered a carriage at Morlaix +to take him up among those wind-swept slopes which are +grandiloquently termed the Montagnes d'Arree, and land him at +the little town of Huelgoet. There are one or two things which +people go to see at Huelgoet, but the place became memorable to +Mr. Yates for what he saw upon the road.</p> + +<p class="normal">He was about half-way to his destination when he observed, +lying among the furze at the roadside, a lad. He might not have +noticed him had not the boy been emitting cries of so peculiar +a kind that they could scarcely have failed to catch a +traveller's ear. Going to see what was the matter, he perceived +at once that the lad was delirious with fever.</p> + +<p class="normal">With some difficulty he persuaded the driver of the vehicle to +convey so dubious a passenger. The same difficulty occurred at +the Huelgoet hotel before they would let him in. It was only +when he had undertaken to recoup them for any losses they might +sustain, and had got the lad comfortably in bed, that he +discovered that the waif who had found in him such a good +Samaritan was none other than Bertie Bailey.</p> +<br> + +<p style="text-align:center; letter-spacing: 40px">* * * * * *</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">So soon as they could move him they took him home. And, as he +entered the old familiar home, he knew in his heart that this +place which he was entering was in fact the Land of Golden +Dreams. He had been in search of it afar off, and he had been a +native of the country all the time. And there are many natives +of that country who throw away the substance to grasp the +shadow, not realizing their folly till the thing is done.</p> +<br> + +<p style="text-align:center; letter-spacing: 40px">* * * * * *</p> +<br> + +<p class="normal">They never found the "captain" nor "Mr. Rosenheim." In due time +Bertie told his story, and the doctor thought it so strange an +one that he felt in duty bound to communicate with the police. +A detective came and heard all that Bertie had to say. He asked +a hundred puzzling questions; but, although not always able to +answer them to the detective's satisfaction, Bertie stuck to +his tale. They took him to point out the house which had +contained the "captain's room," but he had been a stranger in +the great city, at night, hungry and worn. He had gone blindly +where he had been taken, not noticing a single landmark by the +way, and now when they asked him to retrace his steps, and lead +them where Freddy had led him, he found it impossible to +discover the house again.</p> + +<p class="normal">So it came to pass that the police looked at his story with +doubtful eyes. And for that cause--or some other--nothing has +been heard of the Countess of Ferndale's jewels unto this day.</p> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<hr class="W20"> +<h5>Butler & Tanner, The Selwood Printing Works, Frome, and London.</h5> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> +<br> + + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of A Hero of Romance, by Richard Marsh + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HERO OF ROMANCE *** + +***** This file should be named 38160-h.htm or 38160-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/8/1/6/38160/ + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by Google Books + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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