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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Pothunters, by P. G. Wodehouse
+
+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: The Pothunters
+
+Author: P. G. Wodehouse
+
+Posting Date: May 30, 2011 [EBook #6984]
+Release Date: November, 2004 [EBook #6984]
+[This file was first posted on February 20, 2003]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POTHUNTERS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Suzanne L. Shell, Charles Franks and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+THE POTHUNTERS
+
+
+
+
+by P. G. Wodehouse
+
+1902
+
+
+
+
+
+[Dedication]
+TO JOAN, EFFIE AND
+ERNESTINE BOWES-LYON
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+
+1 Patient Perseverance Produces Pugilistic Prodigies
+
+2 Thieves Break in and Steal
+
+3 An Unimportant By-product
+
+4 Certain Revelations
+
+5 Concerning the Mutual Friend
+
+6 A Literary Banquet
+
+7 Barrett Explores
+
+8 Barrett Ceases to Explore
+
+9 Enter the Sleuth-hound
+
+10 Mr Thompson Investigates
+
+11 The Sports
+
+12 An Interesting Interview
+
+13 Sir Alfred Scores
+
+14 The Long Run
+
+15 Mr Roberts Explains
+
+16 The Disappearance of J. Thomson
+
+17 'We'll Proceed to Search for Thomson if He Be Above the Ground'
+
+18 In Which the Affairs of Various Persons Are Wound Up
+
+
+
+
+[1]
+
+PATIENT PERSEVERANCE PRODUCES PUGILISTIC PRODIGIES
+
+
+'Where _have_ I seen that face before?' said a voice. Tony Graham
+looked up from his bag.
+
+'Hullo, Allen,' he said, 'what the dickens are you up here for?'
+
+'I was rather thinking of doing a little boxing. If you've no
+objection, of course.'
+
+'But you ought to be on a bed of sickness, and that sort of thing. I
+heard you'd crocked yourself.'
+
+'So I did. Nothing much, though. Trod on myself during a game of fives,
+and twisted my ankle a bit.'
+
+'In for the middles, of course?'
+
+'Yes.'
+
+'So am I.'
+
+'Yes, so I saw in the Sportsman. It says you weigh eleven-three.'
+
+'Bit more, really, I believe. Shan't be able to have any lunch, or I
+shall have to go in for the heavies. What are you?'
+
+'Just eleven. Well, let's hope we meet in the final.'
+
+'Rather,' said Tony.
+
+It was at Aldershot--to be more exact, in the dressing-room of the
+Queen's Avenue Gymnasium at Aldershot--that the conversation took
+place. From east and west, and north and south, from Dan even unto
+Beersheba, the representatives of the public schools had assembled to
+box, fence, and perform gymnastic prodigies for fame and silver medals.
+The room was full of all sorts and sizes of them, heavy-weights looking
+ponderous and muscular, feather-weights diminutive but wiry,
+light-weights, middle-weights, fencers, and gymnasts in scores, some
+wearing the unmistakable air of the veteran, for whom Aldershot has no
+mysteries, others nervous, and wishing themselves back again at school.
+
+Tony Graham had chosen a corner near the door. This was his first
+appearance at Aldershot. St Austin's was his School, and he was by far
+the best middle-weight there. But his doubts as to his ability to hold
+his own against all-comers were extreme, nor were they lessened by the
+knowledge that his cousin, Allen Thomson, was to be one of his
+opponents. Indeed, if he had not been a man of mettle, he might well
+have thought that with Allen's advent his chances were at an end.
+
+Allen was at Rugby. He was the son of a baronet who owned many acres in
+Wiltshire, and held fixed opinions on the subject of the whole duty of
+man, who, he held, should be before anything else a sportsman. Both the
+Thomsons--Allen's brother Jim was at St Austin's in the same House as
+Tony--were good at most forms of sport. Jim, however, had never taken
+to the art of boxing very kindly, but, by way of compensation, Allen
+had skill enough for two. He was a splendid boxer, quick, neat,
+scientific. He had been up to Aldershot three times, once as a
+feather-weight and twice as a light-weight, and each time he had
+returned with the silver medal.
+
+As for Tony, he was more a fighter than a sparrer. When he paid a visit
+to his uncle's house he boxed with Allen daily, and invariably got the
+worst of it. Allen was too quick for him. But he was clever with his
+hands. His supply of pluck was inexhaustible, and physically he was as
+hard as nails.
+
+'Is your ankle all right again, now?' he asked.
+
+'Pretty well. It wasn't much of a sprain. Interfered with my training a
+good bit, though. I ought by rights to be well under eleven stone.
+You're all right, I suppose?'
+
+'Not bad. Boxing takes it out of you more than footer or a race. I was
+in good footer training long before I started to get fit for Aldershot.
+But I think I ought to get along fairly well. Any idea who's in against
+us?'
+
+'Harrow, Felsted, Wellington. That's all, I think.'
+
+'St Paul's?'
+
+'No.'
+
+'Good. Well, I hope your first man mops you up. I've a conscientious
+objection to scrapping with you.'
+
+Allen laughed. 'You'd be all right,' he said, 'if you weren't so
+beastly slow with your guard. Why don't you wake up? You hit like
+blazes.'
+
+'I think I shall start guarding two seconds before you lead. By the
+way, don't have any false delicacy about spoiling my aristocratic
+features. On the ground of relationship, you know.'
+
+'Rather not. Let auld acquaintance be forgot. I'm not Thomson for the
+present. I'm Rugby.'
+
+'Just so, and I'm St Austin's. Personally, I'm going for the knock-out.
+You won't feel hurt?'
+
+This was in the days before the Headmasters' Conference had abolished
+the knock-out blow, and a boxer might still pay attentions to the point
+of his opponent's jaw with an easy conscience.
+
+'I probably shall if it comes off,' said Allen. 'I say, it occurs to me
+that we shall be weighing-in in a couple of minutes, and I haven't
+started to change yet. Good, I've not brought evening dress or somebody
+else's footer clothes, as usually happens on these festive occasions.'
+
+He was just pulling on his last boot when a Gymnasium official appeared
+in the doorway.
+
+'Will all those who are entering for the boxing get ready for the
+weighing-in, please?' he said, and a general exodus ensued.
+
+The weighing-in at the Public Schools' Boxing Competition is something
+in the nature of a religious ceremony, but even religious ceremonies
+come to an end, and after a quarter of an hour or so Tony was weighed
+in the balance and found correct. He strolled off on a tour of
+inspection.
+
+After a time he lighted upon the St Austin's Gym Instructor, whom he
+had not seen since they had parted that morning, the one on his way to
+the dressing-room, the other to the refreshment-bar for a modest
+quencher.
+
+'Well, Mr Graham?'
+
+'Hullo, Dawkins. What time does this show start? Do you know when the
+middle-weights come on?'
+
+'Well, you can't say for certain. They may keep 'em back a bit or they
+may make a start with 'em first thing. No, the light-weights are going
+to start. What number did you draw, sir?'
+
+'One.'
+
+'Then you'll be in the first middle-weight pair. That'll be after these
+two gentlemen.'
+
+'These two gentlemen', the first of the light-weights, were by this
+time in the middle of a warmish opening round. Tony watched them with
+interest and envy. 'How beastly nippy they are,' he said.
+
+'Wish I could duck like that,' he added.
+
+'Well, the 'ole thing there is you 'ave to watch the other man's eyes.
+But light-weights is always quicker at the duck than what heavier men
+are. You get the best boxing in the light-weights, though the feathers
+spar quicker.'
+
+Soon afterwards the contest finished, amidst volleys of applause. It
+had been a spirited battle, and an exceedingly close thing. The umpires
+disagreed. After a short consultation, the referee gave it as his
+opinion that on the whole R. Cloverdale, of Bedford, had had a shade
+the worse of the exchanges, and that in consequence J. Robinson, of St
+Paul's, was the victor. This was what he meant. What he said was,
+'Robinson wins,' in a sharp voice, as if somebody were arguing about
+it. The pair then shook hands and retired.
+
+'First bout, middle-weights,' shrilled the M.C. 'W.P. Ross (Wellington)
+and A.C.R. Graham (St Austin's).'
+
+Tony and his opponent retired for a moment to the changing-room, and
+then made their way amidst applause on to the raised stage on which the
+ring was pitched. Mr W.P. Ross proceeded to the farther corner of the
+ring, where he sat down and was vigorously massaged by his two seconds.
+Tony took the opposite corner and submitted himself to the same
+process. It is a very cheering thing at any time to have one's arms and
+legs kneaded like bread, and it is especially pleasant if one is at all
+nervous. It sends a glow through the entire frame. Like somebody's
+something it is both grateful and comforting.
+
+Tony's seconds were curious specimens of humanity. One was a gigantic
+soldier, very gruff and taciturn, and with decided leanings towards
+pessimism. The other was also a soldier. He was in every way his
+colleague's opposite. He was half his size, had red hair, and was
+bubbling over with conversation. The other could not interfere with his
+hair or his size, but he could with his conversation, and whenever he
+attempted a remark, he was promptly silenced, much to his disgust.
+
+'Plenty o' moosle 'ere, Fred,' he began, as he rubbed Tony's left arm.
+
+'Moosle ain't everything,' said the other, gloomily, and there was
+silence again.
+
+'Are you ready? Seconds away,' said the referee.
+
+'Time!'
+
+The two stood up to one another.
+
+The Wellington representative was a plucky boxer, but he was not in the
+same class as Tony. After a few exchanges, the latter got to work, and
+after that there was only one man in the ring. In the middle of the
+second round the referee stopped the fight, and gave it to Tony, who
+came away as fresh as he had started, and a great deal happier and more
+confident.
+
+'Did us proud, Fred,' began the garrulous man.
+
+'Yes, but that 'un ain't nothing. You wait till he meets young Thomson.
+I've seen 'im box 'ere three years, and never bin beat yet. Three
+bloomin' years. Yus.'
+
+This might have depressed anybody else, but as Tony already knew all
+there was to be known about Allen's skill with the gloves, it had no
+effect upon him.
+
+A sanguinary heavy-weight encounter was followed by the first bout of
+the feathers and the second of the light-weights, and then it was
+Allen's turn to fight the Harrow representative.
+
+It was not a very exciting bout. Allen took things very easily. He knew
+his training was by no means all it should have been, and it was not
+his game to take it out of himself with any firework business in the
+trial heats. He would reserve that for the final. So he sparred three
+gentle rounds with the Harrow sportsman, just doing sufficient to keep
+the lead and obtain the verdict after the last round. He finished
+without having turned a hair. He had only received one really hard
+blow, and that had done no damage. After this came a long series of
+fights. The heavy-weights shed their blood in gallons for name and
+fame. The feather-weights gave excellent exhibitions of science, and
+the light-weight pairs were fought off until there remained only the
+final to be decided, Robinson, of St Paul's, against a Charterhouse
+boxer.
+
+In the middle-weights there were three competitors still in the
+running, Allen, Tony, and a Felsted man. They drew lots, and the bye
+fell to Tony, who put up an uninteresting three rounds with one of the
+soldiers, neither fatiguing himself very much. Henderson, of Felsted,
+proved a much tougher nut to crack than Allen's first opponent. He was
+a rushing boxer, and in the first round had, if anything, the best of
+it. In the last two, however, Allen gradually forged ahead, gaining
+many points by his perfect style alone. He was declared the winner, but
+he felt much more tired than he had done after his first fight.
+
+By the time he was required again, however, he had had plenty of
+breathing space. The final of the light-weights had been decided, and
+Robinson, of St Paul's, after the custom of Paulines, had set the crown
+upon his afternoon's work by fighting the Carthusian to a standstill in
+the first round. There only remained now the finals of the heavies and
+middles.
+
+It was decided to take the latter first.
+
+Tony had his former seconds, and Dawkins had come to his corner to see
+him through the ordeal.
+
+'The 'ole thing 'ere,' he kept repeating, 'is to keep goin' 'ard all
+the time and wear 'im out. He's too quick for you to try any sparrin'
+with.'
+
+'Yes,' said Tony.
+
+'The 'ole thing,' continued the expert, 'is to feint with your left and
+'it with your right.' This was excellent in theory, no doubt, but Tony
+felt that when he came to put it into practice Allen might have other
+schemes on hand and bring them off first.
+
+'Are you ready? Seconds out of the ring.... Time!'
+
+'Go in, sir, 'ard,' whispered the red-haired man as Tony rose from his
+place.
+
+Allen came up looking pleased with matters in general. He gave Tony a
+cousinly grin as they shook hands. Tony did not respond. He was feeling
+serious, and wondering if he could bring off his knock-out before the
+three rounds were over. He had his doubts.
+
+The fight opened slowly. Both were cautious, for each knew the other's
+powers. Suddenly, just as Tony was thinking of leading, Allen came in
+like a flash. A straight left between the eyes, a right on the side of
+the head, and a second left on the exact tip of the nose, and he was
+out again, leaving Tony with a helpless feeling of impotence and
+disgust.
+
+Then followed more sparring. Tony could never get in exactly the right
+position for a rush. Allen circled round him with an occasional feint.
+Then he hit out with the left. Tony ducked. Again he hit, and again
+Tony ducked, but this time the left stopped halfway, and his right
+caught Tony on the cheek just as he swayed to one side. It staggered
+him, and before he could recover himself, in darted Allen again with
+another trio of blows, ducked a belated left counter, got in two
+stinging hits on the ribs, and finished with a left drive which took
+Tony clean off his feet and deposited him on the floor beside the
+ropes.
+
+'Silence, _please_,' said the referee, as a burst of applause
+greeted this feat.
+
+Tony was up again in a moment. He began to feel savage. He had expected
+something like this, but that gave him no consolation. He made up his
+mind that he really would rush this time, but just as he was coming in,
+Allen came in instead. It seemed to Tony for the next half-minute that
+his cousin's fists were never out of his face. He looked on the world
+through a brown haze of boxing-glove. Occasionally his hand met
+something solid which he took to be Allen, but this was seldom, and,
+whenever it happened, it only seemed to bring him back again like a
+boomerang. Just at the most exciting point, 'Time' was called.
+
+The pessimist shook his head gloomily as he sponged Tony's face.
+
+'You must lead if you want to 'it 'im,' said the garrulous man. 'You're
+too slow. Go in at 'im, sir, wiv both 'ands, an' you'll be all right.
+Won't 'e, Fred?'
+
+'I said 'ow it 'ud be,' was the only reply Fred would vouchsafe.
+
+Tony was half afraid the referee would give the fight against him
+without another round, but to his joy 'Time' was duly called. He came
+up to the scratch as game as ever, though his head was singing. He
+meant to go in for all he was worth this round.
+
+And go in he did. Allen had managed, in performing a complicated
+manoeuvre, to place himself in a corner, and Tony rushed. He was sent
+out again with a flush hit on the face. He rushed again, and again met
+Allen's left. Then he got past, and in the confined space had it all
+his own way. Science did not tell here. Strength was the thing that
+scored, hard half-arm smashes, left and right, at face and body, and
+the guard could look after itself.
+
+Allen upper-cut him twice, but after that he was nowhere. Tony went in
+with both hands. There was a prolonged rally, and it was not until
+'Time' had been called that Allen was able to extricate himself. Tony's
+blows had been mostly body blows, and very warm ones at that.
+
+'That's right, sir,' was the comment of the red-headed second. 'Keep
+'em both goin' hard, and you'll win yet. You 'ad 'im proper then.
+'Adn't 'e, Fred?'
+
+And even the pessimist was obliged to admit that Tony could fight, even
+if he was not quick with his guard.
+
+Allen took the ring slowly. His want of training had begun to tell on
+him, and some of Tony's blows had landed in very tender spots. He knew
+that he could win if his wind held out, but he had misgivings. The
+gloves seemed to weigh down his hands. Tony opened the ball with a
+tremendous rush. Allen stopped him neatly. There was an interval while
+the two sparred for an opening. Then Allen feinted and dashed in. Tony
+did not hit him once. It was the first round over again. Left right,
+left right, and, finally, as had happened before, a tremendously hot
+shot which sent him under the ropes. He got up, and again Allen darted
+in. Tony met him with a straight left. A rapid exchange of blows, and
+the end came. Allen lashed out with his left. Tony ducked sharply, and
+brought his right across with every ounce of his weight behind it,
+fairly on to the point of the jaw. The right cross-counter is
+distinctly one of those things which it is more blessed to give than to
+receive. Allen collapsed.
+
+'... nine ... ten.'
+
+The time-keeper closed his watch.
+
+'Graham wins,' said the referee, 'look after that man there.'
+
+
+
+
+[2]
+
+THIEVES BREAK IN AND STEAL
+
+
+It was always the custom for such Austinians as went up to represent
+the School at the annual competition to stop the night in the town. It
+was not, therefore, till just before breakfast on the following day
+that Tony arrived back at his House. The boarding Houses at St Austin's
+formed a fringe to the School grounds. The two largest were the School
+House and Merevale's. Tony was at Merevale's. He was walking up from
+the station with Welch, another member of Merevale's, who had been up
+to Aldershot as a fencer, when, at the entrance to the School grounds,
+he fell in with Robinson, his fag. Robinson was supposed by many
+(including himself) to be a very warm man for the Junior Quarter, which
+was a handicap race, especially as an injudicious Sports Committee had
+given him ten yards' start on Simpson, whom he would have backed
+himself to beat, even if the positions had been reversed. Being a wise
+youth, however, and knowing that the best of runners may fail through
+under-training, he had for the last week or so been going in for a
+steady course of over-training, getting up in the small hours and going
+for before-breakfast spins round the track on a glass of milk and a
+piece of bread. Master R. Robinson was nothing if not thorough in
+matters of this kind.
+
+But today things of greater moment than the Sports occupied his mind.
+He had news. He had great news. He was bursting with news, and he
+hailed the approach of Tony and Welch with pleasure. With any other
+leading light of the School he might have felt less at ease, but with
+Tony it was different. When you have underdone a fellow's eggs and
+overdone his toast and eaten the remainder for a term or two, you begin
+to feel that mere social distinctions and differences of age no longer
+form a barrier.
+
+Besides, he had news which was absolutely fresh, news to which no one
+could say pityingly: 'What! Have you only just heard _that_!'
+
+'Hullo, Graham,' he said. 'Have you come back?' Tony admitted that he
+had. 'Jolly good for getting the Middles.' (A telegram had, of course,
+preceded Tony.) 'I say, Graham, do you know what's happened? There'll
+be an awful row about it. Someone's been and broken into the Pav.'
+
+'Rot! How do you know?'
+
+'There's a pane taken clean out. I booked it in a second as I was going
+past to the track.'
+
+'Which room?'
+
+'First Fifteen. The window facing away from the Houses.'
+
+'That's rum,' said Welch. 'Wonder what a burglar wanted in the First
+room. Isn't even a hair-brush there generally.'
+
+Robinson's eyes dilated with honest pride. This was good. This was
+better than he had looked for. Not only were they unaware of the
+burglary, but they had not even an idea as to the recent event which
+had made the First room so fit a hunting-ground for the burgling
+industry. There are few pleasures keener than the pleasure of telling
+somebody something he didn't know before.
+
+'Great Scott,' he remarked, 'haven't you heard? No, of course you went
+up to Aldershot before they did it. By Jove.'
+
+'Did what?'
+
+'Why, they shunted all the Sports prizes from the Board Room to the
+Pav. and shot 'em into the First room. I don't suppose there's one left
+now. I should like to see the Old Man's face when he hears about it.
+Good mind to go and tell him now, only he'd have a fit. Jolly exciting,
+though, isn't it?'
+
+'Well,' said Tony, 'of all the absolutely idiotic things to do! Fancy
+putting--there must have been at least fifty pounds' worth of silver
+and things. Fancy going and leaving all that overnight in the Pav!'
+
+'Rotten!' agreed Welch. 'Wonder whose idea it was.'
+
+'Look here, Robinson,' said Tony, 'you'd better buck up and change, or
+you'll be late for brekker. Come on, Welch, we'll go and inspect the
+scene of battle.'
+
+Robinson trotted off, and Welch and Tony made their way to the
+Pavilion. There, sure enough, was the window, or rather the absence of
+window. A pane had been neatly removed, evidently in the orthodox way
+by means of a diamond.
+
+'May as well climb up and see if there's anything to be seen,' said
+Welch.
+
+'All right,' said Tony, 'give us a leg up. Right-ho. By Jove, I'm
+stiff.'
+
+'See anything?'
+
+'No. There's a cloth sort of thing covering what I suppose are the
+prizes. I see how the chap, whoever he was, got in. You've only got to
+break the window, draw a couple of bolts, and there you are. Shall I go
+in and investigate?'
+
+'Better not. It's rather the thing, I fancy, in these sorts of cases,
+to leave everything just as it is.'
+
+'Rum business,' said Tony, as he rejoined Welch on terra firma. 'Wonder
+if they'll catch the chap. We'd better be getting back to the House
+now. It struck the quarter years ago.'
+
+When Tony, some twenty minutes later, shook off the admiring crowd who
+wanted a full description of yesterday's proceedings, and reached his
+study, he found there James Thomson, brother to Allen Thomson, as the
+playbills say. Jim was looking worried. Tony had noticed it during
+breakfast, and had wondered at the cause. He was soon enlightened.
+
+'Hullo, Jim,' said he. 'What's up with you this morning? Feeling
+chippy?'
+
+'No. No, I'm all right. I'm in a beastly hole though. I wanted to talk
+to you about it.'
+
+'Weigh in, then. We've got plenty of time before school.'
+
+'It's about this Aldershot business. How on earth did you manage to
+lick Allen like that? I thought he was a cert.'
+
+'Yes, so did I. The 'ole thing there, as Dawkins 'ud say, was, I
+knocked him out. It's the sort of thing that's always happening. I
+wasn't in it at all except during the second round, when I gave him
+beans rather in one of the corners. My aunt, it was warm while it
+lasted. First round, I didn't hit him once. He was better than I
+thought he'd be, and I knew from experience he was pretty good.'
+
+'Yes, you look a bit bashed.'
+
+'Yes. Feel it too. But what's the row with you?'
+
+'Just this. I had a couple of quid on Allen, and the rotter goes and
+gets licked.'
+
+'Good Lord. Whom did you bet with?'
+
+'With Allen himself.'
+
+'Mean to say Allen was crock enough to bet against himself? He must
+have known he was miles better than anyone else in. He's got three
+medals there already.'
+
+'No, you see his bet with me was only a hedge. He'd got five to four or
+something in quids on with a chap in his House at Rugby on himself. He
+wanted a hedge because he wasn't sure about his ankle being all right.
+You know he hurt it. So I gave him four to one in half-sovereigns. I
+thought he was a cert, with apologies to you.'
+
+'Don't mention it. So he was a cert. It was only the merest fluke I
+managed to out him when I did. If he'd hung on to the end, he'd have
+won easy. He'd been scoring points all through.'
+
+'I know. So _The Sportsman_ says. Just like my luck.'
+
+'I can't see what you want to bet at all for. You're bound to come a
+mucker sooner or later. Can't you raise the two quid?'
+
+'I'm broke except for half a crown.'
+
+'I'd lend it to you like a shot if I had it, of course. But you don't
+find me with two quid to my name at the end of term. Won't Allen wait?'
+
+'He would if it was only him. But this other chap wants his oof badly
+for something and he's leaving and going abroad or something at the end
+of term. Anyhow, I know he's keen on getting it. Allen told me.'
+
+Tony pondered for a moment. 'Look here,' he said at last, 'can't you
+ask your pater? He usually heaves his money about pretty readily,
+doesn't he?'
+
+'Well, you see, he wouldn't send me two quid off the reel without
+wanting to know all about it, and why I couldn't get on to the holidays
+with five bob, and I'd either have to fake up a lot of lies, which I'm
+not going to do--'
+
+'Of course not.'
+
+'Or else I must tell him I've been betting.'
+
+'Well, he bets himself, doesn't he?'
+
+'That's just where the whole business slips up,' replied Jim, prodding
+the table with a pen in a misanthropic manner. 'Betting's the one thing
+he's absolutely down on. He got done rather badly once a few years ago.
+Believe he betted on Orme that year he got poisoned. Anyhow he's always
+sworn to lynch us if we made fools of ourselves that way. So if I asked
+him, I'd not only get beans myself, besides not getting any money out
+of him, but Allen would get scalped too, which he wouldn't see at all.'
+
+'Yes, it's no good doing that. Haven't you any other source of
+revenue?'
+
+'Yes, there's just one chance. If that doesn't come off, I'm done. My
+pater said he'd give me a quid for every race I won at the sports. I
+got the half yesterday all right when you were up at Aldershot.'
+
+'Good man. I didn't hear about that. What time? Anything good?'
+
+'Nothing special. 2-7 and three-fifths.'
+
+'That's awfully good. You ought to pull off the mile, too, I should
+think.'
+
+'Yes, with luck. Drake's the man I'm afraid of. He's done it in 4-48
+twice during training. He was second in the half yesterday by about
+three yards, but you can't tell anything from that. He sprinted too
+late.'
+
+'What's your best for the mile?'
+
+'I have done 4-47, but only once. 4-48's my average, so there's nothing
+to choose between us on paper.'
+
+'Well, you've got more to make you buck up than he has. There must be
+something in that.'
+
+'Yes, by Jove. I'll win if I expire on the tape. I shan't spare myself
+with that quid on the horizon.'
+
+'No. Hullo, there's the bell. We must buck up. Going to Charteris'
+gorge tonight?'
+
+'Yes, but I shan't eat anything. No risks for me.'
+
+'Rusks are more in your line now. Come on.'
+
+And, in the excitement of these more personal matters, Tony entirely
+forgot to impart the news of the Pavilion burglary to him.
+
+
+
+
+[3]
+
+AN UNIMPORTANT BY-PRODUCT
+
+
+The news, however, was not long in spreading. Robinson took care of
+that. On the way to school he overtook his friend Morrison, a young
+gentleman who had the unique distinction of being the rowdiest fag in
+Ward's House, which, as any Austinian could have told you, was the
+rowdiest house in the School.
+
+'I say, Morrison, heard the latest?'
+
+'No, what?'
+
+'Chap broke into the Pav. last night.'
+
+'Who, you?'
+
+'No, you ass, a regular burglar. After the Sports prizes.'
+
+'Look here, Robinson, try that on the kids.'
+
+'Just what I am doing,' said Robinson.
+
+This delicate reference to Morrison's tender years had the effect of
+creating a disturbance. Two School House juniors, who happened to be
+passing, naturally forsook all their other aims and objects and joined
+the battle.
+
+'What's up?' asked one of them, dusting himself hastily as they stopped
+to take breath. It was always his habit to take up any business that
+might attract his attention, and ask for explanations afterwards.
+
+'This kid--' began Morrison.
+
+'Kid yourself, Morrison.'
+
+'This lunatic, then.' Robinson allowed the emendation to pass. 'This
+lunatic's got some yarn on about the Pav. being burgled.'
+
+'So it is. Tell you I saw it myself.'
+
+'Did it yourself, probably.'
+
+'How do you know, anyway? You seem so jolly certain about it.'
+
+'Why, there's a pane of glass cut out of the window in the First room.'
+
+'Shouldn't wonder, you know,' said Dimsdale, one of the two School
+House fags, judicially, 'if the kid wasn't telling the truth for once
+in his life. Those pots must be worth something. Don't you think so,
+Scott?'
+
+Scott admitted that there might be something in the idea, and that,
+however foreign to his usual habits, Robinson might on this occasion be
+confining himself more or less to strict fact.
+
+'There you are, then,' said Robinson, vengefully. 'Shows what a fat lot
+you know what you're talking about, Morrison.'
+
+'Morrison's a fool,' said Scott. 'Ever since he got off the bottom
+bench in form there's been no holding him.'
+
+'All the same,' said Morrison, feeling that matters were going against
+him, 'I shan't believe it till I see it.'
+
+'What'll you bet?' said Robinson.
+
+'I never bet,' replied Morrison with scorn.
+
+'You daren't. You know you'd lose.'
+
+'All right, then, I'll bet a penny I'm right.' He drew a deep breath,
+as who should say, 'It's a lot of money, but it's worth risking it.'
+
+'You'll lose that penny, old chap,' said Robinson. 'That's to say,' he
+added thoughtfully, 'if you ever pay up.'
+
+'You've got us as witnesses,' said Dimsdale. 'We'll see that he shells
+out. Scott, remember you're a witness.
+
+'Right-ho,' said Scott.
+
+At this moment the clock struck nine, and as each of the principals in
+this financial transaction, and both the witnesses, were expected to be
+in their places to answer their names at 8.58, they were late. And as
+they had all been late the day before and the day before that, they
+were presented with two hundred lines apiece. Which shows more than
+ever how wrong it is to bet.
+
+The news continuing to circulate, by the end of morning school it was
+generally known that a gang of desperadoes, numbering at least a
+hundred, had taken the Pavilion down, brick by brick, till only the
+foundations were left standing, and had gone off with every jot and
+tittle of the unfortunately placed Sports prizes.
+
+At the quarter-to-eleven interval, the School had gone _en masse_
+to see what it could see, and had stared at the window with much the
+same interest as they were wont to use in inspecting the First Eleven
+pitch on the morning of a match--a curious custom, by the way, but one
+very generally observed.
+
+Then the official news of the extent of the robbery was spread abroad.
+It appeared that the burglar had by no means done the profession
+credit, for out of a vast collection of prizes ranging from the vast
+and silver Mile Challenge Cup to the pair of fives-gloves with which
+the 'under twelve' disciple of Deerfoot was to be rewarded, he had
+selected only three. Two of these were worth having, being the
+challenge cup for the quarter and the non-challenge cup for the hundred
+yards, both silver, but the third was a valueless flask, and the
+general voice of the School was loud in condemning the business
+abilities of one who could select his swag in so haphazard a manner. It
+was felt to detract from the merit of the performance. The knowing
+ones, however, gave it as their opinion that the man must have been
+frightened by something, and so was unable to give the matter his best
+attention and do himself justice as a connoisseur.
+
+'We had a burglary at my place once,' began Reade, of Philpott's House.
+'The man--'
+
+'That rotter, Reade,' said Barrett, also of Philpott's, 'has been
+telling us that burglary chestnut of his all the morning. I wish you
+chaps wouldn't encourage him.'
+
+'Why, what was it? First I've heard of it, at any rate.' Dallas and
+Vaughan, of Ward's, added themselves to the group. 'Out with it,
+Reade,' said Vaughan.
+
+'It's only a beastly reminiscence of Reade's childhood,' said Barrett.
+'A burglar got into the wine-cellar and collared all the coals.'
+
+'He didn't. He was in the hall, and my pater got his revolver--'
+
+'While you hid under the bed.'
+
+'--and potted at him over the banisters.'
+
+'The last time but three you told the story, your pater fired through
+the keyhole of the dining-room.'
+
+'You idiot, that was afterwards.'
+
+'Oh, well, what does it matter? Tell us something fresh.'
+
+'It's my opinion,' said Dallas, 'that Ward did it. A man of the vilest
+antecedents. He's capable of anything from burglary--'
+
+'To attempted poisoning. You should see what we get to eat in Ward's
+House,' said Vaughan.
+
+'Ward's the worst type of beak. He simply lives for the sake of booking
+chaps. If he books a chap out of bounds it keeps him happy for a week.'
+
+'A man like that's bound to be a criminal of sorts in his spare time.
+It's action and reaction,' said Vaughan.
+
+Mr Ward happening to pass at this moment, the speaker went on to ask
+Dallas audibly if life was worth living, and Dallas replied that under
+certain conditions and in some Houses it was not.
+
+Dallas and Vaughan did not like Mr Ward. Mr Ward was not the sort of
+man who inspires affection. He had an unpleasant habit of 'jarring', as
+it was called. That is to say, his conversation was shaped to one
+single end, that of trying to make the person to whom he talked feel
+uncomfortable. Many of his jars had become part of the School history.
+There was a legend that on one occasion he had invited his prefects to
+supper, and regaled them with sausages. There was still one prefect
+unhelped. To him he addressed himself.
+
+'A sausage, Jones?'
+
+'If you please, sir.'
+
+'No, you won't, then, because I'm going to have half myself.'
+
+This story may or may not be true. Suffice it to say, that Mr Ward was
+not popular.
+
+The discussion was interrupted by the sound of the bell ringing for
+second lesson. The problem was left unsolved. It was evident that the
+burglar had been interrupted, but how or why nobody knew. The
+suggestion that he had heard Master R. Robinson training for his
+quarter-mile, and had thought it was an earthquake, found much favour
+with the junior portion of the assembly. Simpson, on whom Robinson had
+been given start in the race, expressed an opinion that he, Robinson,
+ran like a cow. At which Robinson smiled darkly, and advised the other
+to wait till Sports Day and then he'd see, remarking that, meanwhile,
+if he gave him any of his cheek he might not be well enough to run at
+all.
+
+'This sort of thing,' said Barrett to Reade, as they walked to their
+form-room, 'always makes me feel beastly. Once start a row like this,
+and all the beaks turn into regular detectives and go ferreting about
+all over the place, and it's ten to one they knock up against something
+one doesn't want them to know about.'
+
+Reade was feeling hurt. He had objected to the way in which Barrett had
+spoiled a story that might easily have been true, and really was true
+in parts. His dignity was offended. He said 'Yes' to Barrett's
+observation in a tone of reserved _hauteur_. Barrett did not
+notice.
+
+'It's an awful nuisance. For one thing it makes them so jolly strict
+about bounds.'
+
+'Yes.'
+
+'I wanted to go for a bike ride this afternoon. There's nothing on at
+the School.'
+
+'Why don't you?'
+
+'What's the good if you can't break bounds? A ride of about a quarter
+of a mile's no good. There's a ripping place about ten miles down the
+Stapleton Road. Big wood, with a ripping little hollow in the middle,
+all ferns and moss. I was thinking of taking a book out there for the
+afternoon. Only there's roll-call.'
+
+He paused. Ordinarily, this would have been the cue for Reade to say,
+'Oh, I'll answer your name at roll-call.' But Reade said nothing.
+Barrett looked surprised and disappointed.
+
+'I say, Reade,' he said.
+
+'Well?'
+
+'Would you like to answer my name at roll-call?' It was the first time
+he had ever had occasion to make the request.
+
+'No,' said Reade.
+
+Barrett could hardly believe his ears. Did he sleep? Did he dream? Or
+were visions about?
+
+'What!' he said.
+
+No answer.
+
+'Do you mean to say you won't?'
+
+'Of course I won't. Why the deuce should I do your beastly dirty work
+for you?'
+
+Barrett did not know what to make of this. Curiosity urged him to ask
+for explanations. Dignity threw cold water on such a scheme. In the end
+dignity had the best of it.
+
+'Oh, very well,' he said, and they went on in silence. In all the three
+years of their acquaintance they had never before happened upon such a
+crisis.
+
+The silence lasted until they reached the form-room. Then Barrett
+determined, in the interests of the common good--he and Reade shared a
+study, and icy coolness in a small study is unpleasant--to chain up
+Dignity for the moment, and give Curiosity a trial.
+
+'What's up with you today?' he asked.
+
+He could hardly have chosen a worse formula. The question has on most
+people precisely the same effect as that which the query, 'Do you know
+where you lost it?' has on one who is engaged in looking for mislaid
+property.
+
+'Nothing,' said Reade. Probably at the same moment hundreds of other
+people were making the same reply, in the same tone of voice, to the
+same question.
+
+'Oh,' said Barrett.
+
+There was another silence.
+
+'You might as well answer my name this afternoon,' said Barrett,
+tentatively.
+
+Reade walked off without replying, and Barrett went to his place
+feeling that curiosity was a fraud, and resolving to confine his
+attentions for the future to dignity. This was by-product number one of
+the Pavilion burglary.
+
+
+
+
+[4]
+
+CERTAIN REVELATIONS
+
+
+During the last hour of morning school, Tony got a note from Jim.
+
+'Graham,' said Mr Thompson, the master of the Sixth, sadly, just as
+Tony was about to open it.
+
+'Yes, sir?'
+
+'Kindly tear that note up, Graham.'
+
+'Note, sir?'
+
+'Kindly tear that note up, Graham. Come, you are keeping us waiting.'
+
+As the hero of the novel says, further concealment was useless. Tony
+tore the note up unread.
+
+'Hope it didn't want an answer,' he said to Jim after school. 'Constant
+practice has made Thompson a sort of amateur lynx.'
+
+'No. It was only to ask you to be in the study directly after lunch.
+There's a most unholy row going to occur shortly, as far as I can see.'
+
+'What, about this burglary business?'
+
+'Yes. Haven't time to tell you now. See you after lunch.'
+
+After lunch, having closed the study door, Jim embarked on the
+following statement.
+
+It appeared that on the previous night he had left a book of notes,
+which were of absolutely vital importance for the examination which the
+Sixth had been doing in the earlier part of the morning, in the
+identical room in which the prizes had been placed. Or rather, he had
+left it there several days before, and had not needed it till that
+night. At half-past six the Pavilion had been locked up, and Biffen,
+the ground-man, had taken the key away with him, and it was only after
+tea had been consumed and the evening paper read, that Jim, thinking it
+about time to begin work, had discovered his loss. This was about
+half-past seven.
+
+Being a House-prefect, Jim did not attend preparation in the Great Hall
+with the common herd of the Houses, but was part-owner with Tony of a
+study.
+
+The difficulties of the situation soon presented themselves to
+him. It was only possible to obtain the notes in three ways--firstly,
+by going to the rooms of the Sixth Form master, who lived out of
+College; secondly, by borrowing from one of the other Sixth Form
+members of the House; and thirdly, by the desperate expedient of
+burgling the Pavilion. The objections to the first course were two. In
+the first place Merevale was taking prep. over in the Hall, and it was
+strictly forbidden for anyone to quit the House after lock-up without
+leave. And, besides, it was long odds that Thompson, the Sixth Form
+master, would not have the notes, as he had dictated them partly out of
+his head and partly from the works of various eminent scholars. The
+second course was out of the question. The only other Sixth Form boy in
+the House, Tony and Welch being away at Aldershot, was Charteris, and
+Charteris, who never worked much except the night before an exam, but
+worked then under forced draught, was appalled at the mere suggestion
+of letting his note-book out of his hands. Jim had sounded him on the
+subject and had met with the reply, 'Kill my father and burn my
+ancestral home, and I will look on and smile. But touch these notes and
+you rouse the British Lion.' After which he had given up the borrowing
+idea.
+
+There remained the third course, and there was an excitement and
+sporting interest about it that took him immensely. But how was he to
+get out to start with? He opened his study-window and calculated the
+risks of a drop to the ground. No, it was too far. Not worth risking a
+sprained ankle on the eve of the mile. Then he thought of the Matron's
+sitting-room. This was on the ground-floor, and if its owner happened
+to be out, exit would be easy. As luck would have it she was out, and
+in another minute Jim had crossed the Rubicon and was standing on the
+gravel drive which led to the front gate.
+
+A sharp sprint took him to the Pavilion. Now the difficulty was not how
+to get out, but how to get in. Theoretically, it should have been the
+easiest of tasks, but in practice there were plenty of obstacles to
+success. He tried the lower windows, but they were firmly fixed. There
+had been a time when one of them would yield to a hard kick and fly
+bodily out of its frame, but somebody had been caught playing that game
+not long before, and Jim remembered with a pang that not only had the
+window been securely fastened up, but the culprit had had a spell of
+extra tuition and other punishments which had turned him for the time
+into a hater of his species. His own fate, he knew, would be even
+worse, for a prefect is supposed to have something better to do in his
+spare time than breaking into pavilions. It would mean expulsion
+perhaps, or, at the least, the loss of his prefect's cap, and Jim did
+not want to lose that. Still the thing had to be done if he meant to
+score any marks at all in the forthcoming exam. He wavered a while
+between a choice of methods, and finally fixed on the crudest of all.
+No one was likely to be within earshot, thought he, so he picked up the
+largest stone he could find, took as careful aim as the dim light would
+allow, and hove it. There was a sickening crash, loud enough, he
+thought, to bring the whole School down on him, followed by a prolonged
+rattle as the broken pieces of glass fell to the ground.
+
+He held his breath and listened. For a moment all was still, uncannily
+still. He could hear the tops of the trees groaning in the slight
+breeze that had sprung up, and far away the distant roar of a train.
+Then a queer thing happened. He heard a quiet thud, as if somebody had
+jumped from a height on to grass, and then quick footsteps.
+
+He waited breathless and rigid, expecting every moment to see a form
+loom up beside him in the darkness. It was useless to run. His only
+chance was to stay perfectly quiet.
+
+Then it dawned upon him that the man was running away from him, not
+towards him. His first impulse was to give chase, but prudence
+restrained him. Catching burglars is an exhilarating sport, but it is
+best to indulge in it when one is not on a burgling expedition oneself.
+
+Besides he had come out to get his book, and business is business.
+
+There was no time to be lost now, for someone might have heard one or
+both of the noises and given the alarm.
+
+Once the window was broken the rest was fairly easy, the only danger
+being the pieces of glass. He took off his coat and flung it on to the
+sill of the upper window. In a few seconds he was up himself without
+injury. He found it a trifle hard to keep his balance, as there was
+nothing to hold on to, but he managed it long enough to enable him to
+thrust an arm through the gap and turn the handle. After this there was
+a bolt to draw, which he managed without difficulty.
+
+The window swung open. Jim jumped in, and groped his way round the room
+till he found his book. The other window of the room was wide open. He
+shut it for no definite reason, and noticed that a pane had been cut
+out entire. The professional cracksman had done his work more neatly
+than the amateur.
+
+'Poor chap,' thought Jim, with a chuckle, as he effected a retreat, 'I
+must have given him a bit of a start with my half-brick.' After bolting
+the window behind him, he climbed down.
+
+As he reached earth again the clock struck a quarter to nine. In
+another quarter of an hour prep, would be over and the House door
+unlocked, and he would be able to get in again. Nor would the fact of
+his being out excite remark, for it was the custom of the
+House-Prefects to take the air for the few minutes which elapsed
+between the opening of the door and the final locking-up for the night.
+
+The rest of his adventures ran too smoothly to require a detailed
+description. Everything succeeded excellently. The only reminiscences
+of his escapade were a few cuts in his coat, which went unnoticed, and
+the precious book of notes, to which he applied himself with such
+vigour in the watches of the night, with a surreptitious candle and a
+hamper of apples as aids to study, that, though tired next day, he
+managed to do quite well enough in the exam, to pass muster. And, as he
+had never had the least prospect of coming out top, or even in the
+first five, this satisfied him completely.
+
+Tony listened with breathless interest to Jim's recital of his
+adventures, and at the conclusion laughed.
+
+'What a mad thing to go and do,' he said. 'Jolly sporting, though.'
+
+Jim did not join in his laughter.
+
+'Yes, but don't you see,' he said, ruefully, 'what a mess I'm in? If
+they find out that I was in the Pav. at the time when the cups were
+bagged, how on earth am I to prove I didn't take them myself?'
+
+'By Jove, I never thought of that. But, hang it all, they'd never dream
+of accusing a Coll. chap of stealing Sports prizes. This isn't a
+reformatory for juvenile hooligans.'
+
+'No, perhaps not.'
+
+'Of course not.'
+
+'Well, even if they didn't, the Old Man would be frightfully sick if he
+got to know about it. I'd lose my prefect's cap for a cert.'
+
+'You might, certainly.'
+
+'I should. There wouldn't be any question about it. Why, don't you
+remember that business last summer about Cairns? He used to stay out
+after lock-up. That was absolutely all he did. Well, the Old 'Un
+dropped on him like a hundredweight of bricks. Multiply that by about
+ten and you get what he'll do to me if he books me over this job.'
+
+Tony looked thoughtful. The case of Cairns _versus_ The Powers
+that were, was too recent to have escaped his memory. Even now Cairns
+was to be seen on the grounds with a common School House cap at the
+back of his head in place of the prefect's cap which had once adorned
+it.
+
+'Yes,' he said, 'you'd lose your cap all right, I'm afraid.'
+
+'Rather. And the sickening part of the business is that this real,
+copper-bottomed burglary'll make them hunt about all over the shop for
+clues and things, and the odds are they'll find me out, even if they
+don't book the real man. Shouldn't wonder if they had a detective down
+for a big thing of this sort.'
+
+'They are having one, I heard.'
+
+'There you are, then,' said Jim, dejectedly. 'I'm done, you see.'
+
+'I don't know. I don't believe detectives are much class.'
+
+'Anyhow, he'll probably have gumption enough to spot me.'
+
+Jim's respect for the abilities of our national sleuth-hounds was
+greater than Tony's, and a good deal greater than that of most people.
+
+
+
+
+[5]
+
+CONCERNING THE MUTUAL FRIEND
+
+
+'I wonder where the dear Mutual gets to these afternoons,' said Dallas.
+
+'The who?' asked MacArthur. MacArthur, commonly known as the Babe, was
+a day boy. Dallas and Vaughan had invited him to tea in their study.
+
+'Plunkett, you know.'
+
+'Why the Mutual?'
+
+'Mutual Friend, Vaughan's and mine. Shares this study with us. I call
+him dear partly because he's head of the House, and therefore, of
+course, we respect and admire him.'
+
+'And partly,' put in Vaughan, beaming at the Babe over a frying-pan
+full of sausages, 'partly because we love him so. Oh, he's a beauty.'
+
+'No, but rotting apart,' said the Babe, 'what sort of a chap is he? I
+hardly know him by sight, even.'
+
+'Should describe him roughly,' said Dallas, 'as a hopeless, forsaken
+unspeakable worm.'
+
+'Understates it considerably,' remarked Vaughan. 'His manners are
+patronizing, and his customs beastly.'
+
+'He wears spectacles, and reads Herodotus in the original Greek for
+pleasure.'
+
+'He sneers at footer, and jeers at cricket. Croquet is his form, I
+should say. Should doubt, though, if he even plays that.'
+
+'But why on earth,' said the Babe, 'do you have him in your study?'
+
+Vaughan looked wildly and speechlessly at Dallas, who looked helplessly
+back at Vaughan.
+
+'Don't, Babe, please!' said Dallas. 'You've no idea how a remark of
+that sort infuriates us. You surely don't suppose we'd have the man in
+the study if we could help it?'
+
+'It's another instance of Ward at his worst,' said Vaughan. 'Have you
+never heard the story of the Mutual Friend's arrival?'
+
+'No.'
+
+'It was like this. At the beginning of this term I came back expecting
+to be head of this show. You see, Richards left at Christmas and I was
+next man in. Dallas and I had made all sorts of arrangements for having
+a good time. Well, I got back on the last evening of the holidays. When
+I got into this study, there was the man Plunkett sitting in the best
+chair, reading.'
+
+'Probably reading Herodotus in the original Greek,' snorted Dallas.
+
+'He didn't take the slightest notice of me. I stood in the doorway like
+Patience on a monument for about a quarter of an hour. Then I coughed.
+He took absolutely no notice. I coughed again, loud enough to crack the
+windows. Then I got tired of it, and said "Hullo". He did look up at
+that. "Hullo," he said, "you've got rather a nasty cough." I said
+"Yes", and waited for him to throw himself on my bosom and explain
+everything, you know.'
+
+'Did he?' asked the Babe, deeply interested.
+
+'Not a bit,' said Dallas, 'he--sorry, Vaughan, fire ahead.'
+
+'He went on reading. After a bit I said I hoped he was fairly
+comfortable. He said he was. Conversation languished again. I made
+another shot. "Looking for anybody?" I said. "No," he said, "are you?"
+"No." "Then why the dickens should I be?" he said. I didn't quite
+follow his argument. In fact, I don't even now. "Look here," I said,
+"tell me one thing. Have you or have you not bought this place? If you
+have, all right. If you haven't, I'm going to sling you out, and jolly
+soon, too." He looked at me in his superior sort of way, and observed
+without blenching that he was head of the House.'
+
+'Just another of Ward's jars,' said Dallas. 'Knowing that Vaughan was
+keen on being head of the House he actually went to the Old Man and
+persuaded him that it would be better to bring in some day boy who was
+a School-prefect than let Vaughan boss the show. What do you think of
+that?'
+
+'Pretty low,' said the Babe.
+
+'Said I was thoughtless and headstrong,' cut in Vaughan, spearing a
+sausage as if it were Mr Ward's body. 'Muffins up, Dallas, old man.
+When the sausages are done to a turn. "Thoughtless and headstrong."
+Those were his very words.'
+
+'Can't you imagine the old beast?' said Dallas, pathetically, 'Can't
+you see him getting round the Old Man? A capital lad at heart, I am
+sure, distinctly a capital lad, but thoughtless and headstrong, far too
+thoughtless for a position so important as that of head of my House.
+The abandoned old wreck!'
+
+Tea put an end for the moment to conversation, but when the last
+sausage had gone the way of all flesh, Vaughan returned to the sore
+subject like a moth to a candle.
+
+'It isn't only the not being head of the House that I bar. It's the man
+himself. You say you haven't studied Plunkett much. When you get to
+know him better, you'll appreciate his finer qualities more. There are
+so few of them.'
+
+'The only fine quality I've ever seen in him,' said Dallas, 'is his
+habit of slinking off in the afternoons when he ought to be playing
+games, and not coming back till lock-up.'
+
+'Which brings us back to where we started,' put in the Babe. 'You were
+wondering what he did with himself.'
+
+'Yes, it can't be anything good so we'll put beetles and butterflies
+out of the question right away. He might go and poach. There's heaps of
+opportunity round here for a chap who wants to try his hand at that. I
+remember, when I was a kid, Morton Smith, who used to be in this
+House--remember him?--took me to old what's-his-name's place. Who's
+that frantic blood who owns all that land along the Badgwick road? The
+M.P. man.'
+
+'Milord Sir Alfred Venner, M.P., of Badgwick Hall.'
+
+'That's the man. Generally very much of Badgwick Hall. Came down last
+summer on Prize Day. One would have thought from the side on him that
+he was all sorts of dooks. Anyhow, Morton-Smith took me rabbiting
+there. I didn't know it was against the rules or anything. Had a grand
+time. A few days afterwards, Milord Sir Venner copped him on the hop
+and he got sacked. There was an awful row. I thought my hair would have
+turned white.'
+
+'I shouldn't think the Mutual poaches,' said Vaughan. 'He hasn't got
+the enterprise to poach an egg even. No, it can't be that.'
+
+'Perhaps he bikes?' said the Babe.
+
+'No, he's not got a bike. He's the sort of chap, though, to borrow
+somebody else's without asking. Possibly he does bike.'
+
+'If he does,' said Dallas, 'it's only so as to get well away from the
+Coll., before starting on his career of crime. I'll swear he does break
+rules like an ordinary human being when he thinks it's safe. Those
+aggressively pious fellows generally do.'
+
+'I didn't know he was that sort,' said the Babe. 'Don't you find it
+rather a jar?'
+
+'Just a bit. He jaws us sometimes till we turn and rend him.'
+
+'Yes, he's an awful man,' said Vaughan.
+
+'Don't stop,' said the Babe, encouragingly, after the silence had
+lasted some time. 'It's a treat picking a fellow to pieces like this.'
+
+'I don't know if that's your beastly sarcasm, Babe,' said Vaughan,
+'but, speaking for self and partner, I don't know how we should get on
+if we didn't blow off steam occasionally in this style.'
+
+'We should probably last out for a week, and then there would be a
+sharp shriek, a hollow groan, and all that would be left of the Mutual
+Friend would be a slight discolouration on the study carpet.'
+
+'Coupled with an aroma of fresh gore.'
+
+'Perhaps that's why he goes off in the afternoons,' suggested the Babe.
+'Doesn't want to run any risks.'
+
+'Shouldn't wonder.'
+
+'He's such a rotten head of the House, too,' said Vaughan. 'Ward may
+gas about my being headstrong and thoughtless, but I'm dashed if I
+would make a bally exhibition of myself like the Mutual.'
+
+'What's he do?' enquired the Babe.
+
+'It's not so much what he does. It's what he doesn't do that sickens
+me,' said Dallas. 'I may be a bit of a crock in some ways--for further
+details apply to Ward--but I can stop a couple of fags ragging if I
+try.'
+
+'Can't Plunkett?'
+
+'Not for nuts. He's simply helpless when there's anything going on that
+he ought to stop. Why, the other day there was a row in the fags' room
+that you could almost have heard at your place, Babe. We were up here
+working. The Mutual was jawing as usual on the subject of cramming tips
+for the Aeschylus exam. Said it wasn't scholarship, or some rot. What
+business is it of his how a chap works, I should like to know. Just as
+he had got under way, the fags began kicking up more row than ever.'
+
+'I said', cut in Vaughan, 'that instead of minding other people's
+business, he'd better mind his own for a change, and go down and stop
+the row.'
+
+'He looked a bit green at that,' said Dallas. 'Said the row didn't
+interfere with him. "Does with us," I said. "It's all very well for
+you. You aren't doing a stroke of work. No amount of row matters to a
+chap who's only delivering a rotten sermon on scholarship. Vaughan and
+I happen to be trying to do some work." "All right," he said, "if you
+want the row stopped, why don't you go and stop it? What's it got to do
+with me?"'
+
+'Rotter!' interpolated the Babe.
+
+'Wasn't he? Well, of course we couldn't stand that.'
+
+'We crushed him,' said Vaughan.
+
+'I said: "In my young days the head of the House used to keep order for
+himself." I asked him what he thought he was here for. Because he isn't
+ornamental. So he went down after that.'
+
+'Well?' said the Babe. Being a miserable day boy he had had no
+experience of the inner life of a boarding House, which is the real
+life of a public school. His experience of life at St Austin's was
+limited to doing his work and playing centre-three-quarter for the
+fifteen. Which, it may be remarked in passing, he did extremely well.
+
+Dallas took up the narrative. 'Well, after he'd been gone about five
+minutes, and the row seemed to be getting worse than ever, we thought
+we'd better go down and investigate. So we did.'
+
+'And when we got to the fags' room,' said Vaughan, pointing the
+toasting-fork at the Babe by way of emphasis, 'there was the Mutual
+standing in the middle of the room gassing away with an expression on
+his face a cross between a village idiot and an unintelligent fried
+egg. And all round him was a seething mass of fags, half of them
+playing soccer with a top-hat and the other half cheering wildly
+whenever the Mutual opened his mouth.'
+
+'What did you do?'
+
+'We made an aggressive movement in force. Collared the hat, brained
+every fag within reach, and swore we'd report them to the beak and so
+on. They quieted down in about three and a quarter seconds by
+stopwatch, and we retired, taking the hat as a prize of war, and
+followed by the Mutual Friend.'
+
+'He looked worried, rather,' said Vaughan. 'And, thank goodness, he let
+us alone for the rest of the evening.'
+
+'That's only a sample, though,' explained Dallas. 'That sort of thing
+has been going on the whole term. If the head of a House is an abject
+lunatic, there's bound to be ructions. Fags simply live for the sake of
+kicking up rows. It's meat and drink to them.'
+
+'I wish the Mutual would leave,' said Vaughan. 'Only that sort of chap
+always lingers on until he dies or gets sacked.'
+
+'He's not the sort of fellow to get sacked, I should say,' said the
+Babe.
+
+''Fraid not. I wish I could shunt into some other House. Between Ward
+and the Mutual life here isn't worth living.'
+
+'There's Merevale's, now,' said Vaughan. 'I wish I was in there. In the
+first place you've got Merevale. He gets as near perfection as a beak
+ever does. Coaches the House footer and cricket, and takes an
+intelligent interest in things generally. Then there are some decent
+fellows in Merevale's. Charteris, Welch, Graham, Thomson, heaps of
+them.'
+
+'Pity you came to Ward's,' said the Babe. 'Why did you?'
+
+'My pater knew Ward a bit. If he'd known him well, he'd have sent me
+somewhere else.'
+
+'My pater knew Vaughan's pater well, who knew Ward slightly and there
+you are. _Voila comme des accidents arrivent_.'
+
+'If Ward wanted to lug in a day boy to be head of the House,' said
+Vaughan, harping once more on the old string, 'he might at least have
+got somebody decent.'
+
+'There's the great Babe himself. Babe, why don't you come in next
+term?'
+
+'Not much,' said the Babe, with a shudder.
+
+'Well, even barring present company, there are lots of chaps who would
+have jumped at the chance of being head of a House. But nothing would
+satisfy Ward but lugging the Mutual from the bosom of his beastly
+family.'
+
+'We haven't decided that point about where he goes to,' said the Babe.
+
+At this moment the door of the study opened, and the gentleman in
+question appeared in person. He stood in the doorway for a few seconds,
+gasping and throwing his arms about as if he found a difficulty in
+making his way in.
+
+'I wish you two wouldn't make such an awful froust in the study
+_every_ afternoon,' he observed, pleasantly. 'Have you been having
+a little tea-party? How nice!'
+
+'We've been brewing, if that's what you mean,' said Vaughan, shortly.
+
+'Oh,' said Plunkett, 'I hope you enjoyed yourselves. It's nearly
+lock-up, MacArthur.'
+
+'That's Plunkett's delicate way of telling you you're not wanted,
+Babe.'
+
+'Well, I suppose I ought to be going,' said the Babe. 'So long.'
+
+And he went, feeling grateful to Providence for not having made his
+father, like the fathers of Vaughan and Dallas, a casual acquaintance
+of Mr Ward.
+
+The Mutual Friend really was a trial to Vaughan and Dallas. Only those
+whose fate it is or has been to share a study with an uncongenial
+companion can appreciate their feelings to the full. Three in a study
+is always something of a tight fit, and when the three are in a state
+of perpetual warfare, or, at the best, of armed truce, things become
+very bad indeed.
+
+'Do you find it necessary to have tea-parties every evening?' enquired
+Plunkett, after he had collected his books for the night's work. 'The
+smell of burnt meat--'
+
+'Fried sausages,' said Vaughan. 'Perfectly healthy smell. Do you good.'
+
+'It's quite disgusting. Really, the air in here is hardly fit to
+breathe.'
+
+'You'll find an excellent brand of air down in the senior study,' said
+Dallas, pointedly. 'Don't stay and poison yourself here on _our_
+account,' he added. 'Think of your family.'
+
+'I shall work where I choose,' said the Mutual Friend, with dignity.
+
+'Of course, so long as you do work. You mustn't talk. Vaughan and I
+have got some Livy to do.'
+
+Plunkett snorted, and the passage of arms ended, as it usually did, in
+his retiring with his books to the senior study, leaving Dallas and
+Vaughan to discuss his character once more in case there might be any
+points of it left upon which they had not touched in previous
+conversations.
+
+'This robbery of the pots is a rum thing,' said Vaughan, thoughtfully,
+when the last shreds of Plunkett's character had been put through the
+mincing-machine to the satisfaction of all concerned.
+
+'Yes. It's the sort of thing one doesn't think possible till it
+actually happens.'
+
+'What the dickens made them put the things in the Pav. at all? They
+must have known it wouldn't be safe.'
+
+'Well, you see, they usually cart them into the Board Room, I believe,
+only this time the governors were going to have a meeting there. They
+couldn't very well meet in a room with the table all covered with
+silver pots.'
+
+'Don't see why.'
+
+'Well, I suppose they could, really, but some of the governors are
+fairly nuts on strict form. There's that crock who makes the two-hour
+vote of thanks speeches on Prize Day. You can see him rising to a point
+of order, and fixing the Old 'Un with a fishy eye.'
+
+'Well, anyhow, I don't see that they can blame a burglar for taking the
+pots if they simply chuck them in his way like that.'
+
+'No. I say, we'd better weigh in with the Livy. The man Ward'll be
+round directly. Where's the dic? _And_ our invaluable friend, Mr
+Bohn? Right. Now, you reel it off, and I'll keep an eye on the notes.'
+And they settled down to the business of the day.
+
+After a while Vaughan looked up.
+
+'Who's going to win the mile?' he asked.
+
+'What's the matter with Thomson?'
+
+'How about Drake then?'
+
+'Thomson won the half.'
+
+'I knew you'd say that. The half isn't a test of a chap's mile form.
+Besides, did you happen to see Drake's sprint?'
+
+'Jolly good one.'
+
+'I know, but look how late he started for it. Thomson crammed on the
+pace directly he got into the straight. Drake only began to put it on
+when he got to the Pav. Even then he wasn't far behind at the tape.'
+
+'No. Well, I'm not plunging either way. Ought to be a good race.'
+
+'Rather. I say, I wonder Welch doesn't try his hand at the mile. I
+believe he would do some rattling times if he'd only try.'
+
+'Why, Welch is a sprinter.'
+
+'I know. But I believe for all that that the mile's his distance. He's
+always well up in the cross-country runs.'
+
+'Anyhow, he's not in for it this year. Thomson's my man. It'll be a
+near thing, though.'
+
+'Jolly near thing. With Drake in front.'
+
+'Thomson.'
+
+'Drake.'
+
+'All right, we'll see. Wonder why the beak doesn't come up. I can't sit
+here doing Livy all the evening. And yet if we stop he's bound to look
+in.'
+
+'Oh Lord, is that what you've been worrying about? I thought you'd
+developed the work habit or something. Ward's all right. He's out on
+the tiles tonight. Gone to a dinner at Philpott's.'
+
+'Good man, how do you know? Are you certain?'
+
+'Heard him telling Prater this morning. Half the staff have gone. Good
+opportunity for a chap to go for a stroll if he wanted to. Shall we, by
+the way?'
+
+'Not for me, thanks. I'm in the middle of a rather special book. Ever
+read _Great Expectations_? Dickens, you know.'
+
+'I know. Haven't read it, though. Always rather funk starting on a
+classic, somehow. Good?'
+
+'My dear chap! Good's not the word.'
+
+'Well, after you. Exit Livy, then. And a good job, too. You might pass
+us the great Sherlock. Thanks.'
+
+He plunged with the great detective into the mystery of the speckled
+band, while Vaughan opened _Great Expectations_ at the place where
+he had left off the night before. And a silence fell upon the study.
+
+Curiously enough, Dallas was not the only member of Ward's House to
+whom it occurred that evening that the absence of the House-master
+supplied a good opportunity for a stroll. The idea had also struck
+Plunkett favourably. He was not feeling very comfortable down-stairs.
+On entering the senior study he found Galloway, an Upper Fourth member
+of the House, already in possession. Galloway had managed that evening
+to insinuate himself with such success into the good graces of the
+matron, that he had been allowed to stay in the House instead of
+proceeding with the rest of the study to the Great Hall for
+preparation. The palpable failure of his attempt to hide the book he
+was reading under the table when he was disturbed led him to cast at
+the Mutual Friend, the cause of his panic, so severe and forbidding a
+look, that that gentleman retired, and made for the junior study.
+
+The atmosphere in the junior study was close, and heavy with a blend of
+several strange odours. Plunkett went to the window. Then he noticed
+what he had never noticed before, that there were no bars to the
+window. Only the glass stood between him and the outer world. He threw
+up the sash as far as it would go. There was plenty of room to get out.
+So he got out. He stood for a moment inhaling the fresh air. Then,
+taking something from his coat-pocket, he dived into the shadows. An
+hour passed. In the study above, Dallas, surfeited with mysteries and
+villainy, put down his book and stretched himself.
+
+'I say, Vaughan,' he said. 'Have you settled the House gym. team yet?
+It's about time the list went up.'
+
+'Eh? What?' said Vaughan, coming slowly out of his book.
+
+Dallas repeated his question.
+
+'Yes,' said Vaughan, 'got it somewhere on me. Haynes, Jarvis, and
+myself are going in. Only, the Mutual has to stick up the list.'
+
+It was the unwritten rule in Ward's, as in most of the other Houses at
+the School, that none but the head of the House had the right of
+placing notices on the House board.
+
+'I know,' said Dallas. 'I'll go and buck him up now.'
+
+'Don't trouble. After prayers'll do.'
+
+'It's all right. No trouble. Whom did you say? Yourself, Haynes--'
+
+'And Jarvis. Not that he's any good. But the third string never matters
+much, and it'll do him good to represent the House.'
+
+'Right. I'll go and unearth the Mutual.'
+
+The result was that Galloway received another shock to his system.
+
+'Don't glare, Galloway. It's rude,' said Dallas.
+
+'Where's Plunkett got to?' he added.
+
+'Junior study,' said Galloway.
+
+Dallas went to the junior study. There were Plunkett's books on the
+table, but of their owner no signs were to be seen. The Mutual Friend
+had had the good sense to close the window after he had climbed through
+it, and Dallas did not suspect what had actually happened. He returned
+to Vaughan.
+
+'The Mutual isn't in either of the studies,' he said. 'I didn't want to
+spend the evening playing hide-and-seek with him, so I've come back.'
+
+'It doesn't matter, thanks all the same. Later on'll do just as well.'
+
+'Do you object to the window going up?' asked Dallas. 'There's a bit of
+a froust on in here.'
+
+'Rather not. Heave it up.'
+
+Dallas hove it. He stood leaning out, looking towards the College
+buildings, which stood out black and clear against the April sky. From
+out of the darkness in the direction of Stapleton sounded the
+monotonous note of a corn-crake.
+
+'Jove,' he said, 'it's a grand night. If I was at home now I shouldn't
+be cooped up indoors like this.'
+
+'Holidays in another week,' said Vaughan, joining him. 'It is ripping,
+isn't it? There's something not half bad in the Coll. buildings on a
+night like this. I shall be jolly sorry to leave, in spite of Ward and
+the Mutual.'
+
+'Same here, by Jove. We've each got a couple more years, though, if it
+comes to that. Hullo, prep.'s over.'
+
+The sound of footsteps began to be heard from the direction of the
+College. Nine had struck from the School clock, and the Great Hall was
+emptying.
+
+'Your turn to read at prayers, Vaughan. Hullo, there's the Mutual.
+Didn't hear him unlock the door. Glad he has, though. Saves us
+trouble.'
+
+'I must be going down to look up a bit to read. Do you remember when
+Harper read the same bit six days running? I shall never forget Ward's
+pained expression. Harper explained that he thought the passage so
+beautiful that he couldn't leave it.'
+
+'Why don't you try that tip?'
+
+'Hardly. My reputation hasn't quite the stamina for the test.'
+
+Vaughan left the room. At the foot of the stairs he was met by the
+matron.
+
+'Will you unlock the door, please, Vaughan,' she said, handing him a
+bunch of keys. 'The boys will be coming in in a minute.'
+
+'Unlock the door?' repeated Vaughan. 'I thought it was unlocked. All
+right.'
+
+'By Jove,' he thought, 'the plot thickens. What is our only Plunkett
+doing out of the House when the door is locked, I wonder.'
+
+Plunkett strolled in with the last batch of the returning crowd,
+wearing on his face the virtuous look of one who has been snatching a
+whiff of fresh air after a hard evening's preparation.
+
+'Oh, I say, Plunkett,' said Vaughan, when they met in the study after
+prayers, 'I wanted to see you. Where have you been?'
+
+'I have been in the junior study. Where did you think I had been?'
+
+'Oh.'
+
+'Do you doubt my word?'
+
+'I've the most exaggerated respect for your word, but you weren't in
+the junior study at five to nine.'
+
+'No, I went up to my dormitory about that time. You seem remarkably
+interested in my movements.'
+
+'Only wanted to see you about the House gym. team. You might shove up
+the list tonight. Haynes, Jarvis, and myself.'
+
+'Very well.'
+
+'I didn't say anything to him,' said Vaughan to Dallas as they were
+going to their dormitories, 'but, you know, there's something jolly
+fishy about the Mutual. That door wasn't unlocked when we saw him
+outside. I unlocked it myself. Seems to me the Mutual's been having a
+little private bust of his own on the quiet.'
+
+'That's rum. He might have been out by the front way to see one of the
+beaks, though.'
+
+'Well, even then he would be breaking rules. You aren't allowed to go
+out after lock-up without House beak's leave. No, I find him guilty.'
+
+'If only he'd go and get booked!' said Vaughan. 'Then he might have to
+leave. But he won't. No such luck.'
+
+'No,' said Dallas. 'Good-night.'
+
+'Good-night.'
+
+Certainly there was something mysterious about the matter.
+
+
+
+
+[6]
+
+A LITERARY BANQUET
+
+
+Charteris and Welch were conversing in the study of which they were the
+joint proprietors. That is to say, Charteris was talking and playing
+the banjo alternately, while Welch was deep in a book and refused to be
+drawn out of it under any pretext. Charteris' banjo was the joy of his
+fellows and the bane of his House-master. Being of a musical turn and
+owning a good deal of pocket-money, he had, at the end of the summer
+holidays, introduced the delights of a phonograph into the House. This
+being vetoed by the House-master, he had returned at the beginning of
+the following term with a penny whistle, which had suffered a similar
+fate. Upon this he had invested in a banjo, and the dazed Merevale,
+feeling that matters were getting beyond his grip, had effected a
+compromise with him. Having ascertained that there was no specific rule
+at St Austin's against the use of musical instruments, he had informed
+Charteris that if he saw fit to play the banjo before prep, only, and
+regarded the hours between seven and eleven as a close time, all should
+be forgiven, and he might play, if so disposed, till the crack of doom.
+To this reasonable request Charteris had promptly acceded, and peace
+had been restored. Charteris and Welch were a curious pair. Welch spoke
+very little. Charteris was seldom silent. They were both in the
+Sixth--Welch high up, Charteris rather low down. In games, Welch was
+one of those fortunate individuals who are good at everything. He was
+captain of cricket, and not only captain, but also the best all-round
+man in the team, which is often a very different matter. He was the
+best wing three-quarter the School possessed; played fives and racquets
+like a professor, and only the day before had shared Tony's glory by
+winning the silver medal for fencing in the Aldershot competition.
+
+The abilities of Charteris were more ordinary. He was a sound bat, and
+went in first for the Eleven, and played half for the Fifteen. As
+regards work, he might have been brilliant if he had chosen, but his
+energies were mainly devoted to the compilation of a monthly magazine
+(strictly unofficial) entitled _The Glow Worm_. This he edited,
+and for the most part wrote himself. It was a clever periodical, and
+rarely failed to bring him in at least ten shillings per number, after
+deducting the expenses which the College bookseller, who acted as sole
+agent, did his best to make as big as possible. Only a very few of the
+elect knew the identity of the editor, and they were bound to strict
+secrecy. On the day before the publication of each number, a notice was
+placed in the desk of the captain of each form, notifying him of what
+the morrow would bring forth, and asking him to pass it round the form.
+That was all. The School did the rest. _The Glow Worm_ always sold
+well, principally because of the personal nature of its contents. If
+the average mortal is told that there is something about him in a
+paper, he will buy that paper at your own price.
+
+Today he was giving his monthly tea in honour of the new number. Only
+contributors were invited, and the menu was always of the best. It was
+a _Punch_ dinner, only more so, for these teas were celebrated
+with musical honours, and Charteris on the banjo was worth hearing. His
+rendering of extracts from the works of Messrs Gilbert and Sullivan was
+an intellectual treat.
+
+'When I take the chair at our harmonic club!' he chanted, fixing the
+unconscious Welch with a fiery glance. 'Welch!'
+
+'Yes.'
+
+'If this is your idea of a harmonic club, it isn't mine. Put down that
+book, and try and be sociable.'
+
+'One second,' said Welch, burrowing still deeper.
+
+'That's what you always say,' said Charteris. 'Look here--Come in.'
+
+There had been a knock at the door as he was speaking. Tony entered,
+accompanied by Jim. They were regular attendants at these banquets, for
+between them they wrote most of what was left of the magazine when
+Charteris had done with it. There was only one other contributor,
+Jackson, of Dawson's House, and he came in a few minutes later. Welch
+was the athletics expert of the paper, and did most of the match
+reports.
+
+'Now we're complete,' said Charteris, as Jackson presented himself.
+'Gentlemen--your seats. There are only four chairs, and we, as
+Wordsworth might have said, but didn't, are five. All right, I'll sit
+on the table. Welch, you worm, away with melancholy. Take away his
+book, somebody. That's right. Who says what? Tea already made. Coffee
+published shortly. If anybody wants cocoa, I've got some, only you'll
+have to boil more water. I regret the absence of menu-cards, but as the
+entire feast is visible to the naked eye, our loss is immaterial. The
+offertory will be for the Church expenses fund. Biscuits, please.'
+
+'I wish you'd given this tea after next Saturday, Alderman,' said Jim.
+Charteris was called the Alderman on account of his figure, which was
+inclined to stoutness, and his general capacity for consuming food.
+
+'Never put off till tomorrow--Why?'
+
+'I simply must keep fit for the mile. How's Welch to run, too, if he
+eats this sort of thing?' He pointed to the well-spread board.
+
+'Yes, there's something in that,' said Tony. 'Thank goodness, my little
+entertainment's over. I think I _will_ try one of those chocolate
+things. Thanks.'
+
+'Welch is all right,' said Jackson. 'He could win the hundred and the
+quarter on sausage-rolls. But think of the times.'
+
+'And there,' observed Charteris, 'there, my young friend, you have
+touched upon a sore subject. Before you came in I was administering a
+few wholesome words of censure to that miserable object on your right.
+What is a fifth of a second more or less that it should make a man
+insult his digestion as Welch does? You'll hardly credit it, but for
+the last three weeks or more I have been forced to look on a
+fellow-being refusing pastry and drinking beastly extracts of meat, all
+for the sake of winning a couple of races. It quite put me off my feed.
+Cake, please. Good robust slice. Thanks.'
+
+'It's rather funny when you come to think of it,' said Tony. 'Welch
+lives on Bovril for, a month, and then, just as he thinks he's going to
+score, a burglar with a sense of humour strolls into the Pav.,
+carefully selects the only two cups he had a chance of winning, and so
+to bed.'
+
+'Leaving Master J. G. Welch an awful example of what comes of
+training,' said Jim. 'Welch, you're a rotter.'
+
+'It isn't my fault,' observed Welch, plaintively. 'You chaps seem to
+think I've committed some sort of crime, just because a man I didn't
+know from Adam has bagged a cup or two.'
+
+'It looks to me,' said Charteris, 'as if Welch, thinking his chances of
+the quarter rather rocky, hired one of his low acquaintances to steal
+the cup for him.'
+
+'Shouldn't wonder. Welch knows some jolly low characters in Stapleton.'
+
+'Welch is a jolly low character himself,' said Tony, judicially. 'I
+wonder you associate with him, Alderman.'
+
+'Stand _in loco parentis_. Aunt of his asked me to keep an eye on
+him. "Dear George is so wild,"' she said.
+
+Before Welch could find words to refute this hideous slander, Tony cut
+in once more.
+
+'The only reason he doesn't drink gin and play billiards at the "Blue
+Lion" is that gin makes him ill and his best break at pills is six,
+including two flukes.'
+
+'As a matter of fact,' said Welch, changing the conversation with a
+jerk, 'I don't much care if the cups are stolen. One doesn't only run
+for the sake of the pot.'
+
+Charteris groaned. 'Oh, well,' said he, 'if you're going to take the
+high moral standpoint, and descend to brazen platitudes like that, I
+give you up.'
+
+'It's a rum thing about those pots,' said Welch, meditatively.
+
+'Seems to me,' Jim rejoined, 'the rum thing is that a man who considers
+the Pav. a safe place to keep a lot of valuable prizes in should be
+allowed at large. Why couldn't they keep them in the Board Room as they
+used to?'
+
+'Thought it 'ud save trouble, I suppose. Save them carting the things
+over to the Pav. on Sports Day,' hazarded Tony.
+
+'Saved the burglar a lot of trouble, I should say,' observed Jackson,
+'I could break into the Pav. myself in five minutes.'
+
+'Good old Jackson,' said Charteris, 'have a shot tonight. I'll hold the
+watch. I'm doing a leader on the melancholy incident for next month's
+_Glow Worm_. It appears that Master Reginald Robinson, a member of
+Mr Merevale's celebrated boarding-establishment, was passing by the
+Pavilion at an early hour on the morning of the second of April--that's
+today--when his eye was attracted by an excavation or incision in one
+of the windows of that imposing edifice. His narrative appears on
+another page. Interviewed by a _Glow Worm_ representative, Master
+Robinson, who is a fine, healthy, bronzed young Englishman of some
+thirteen summers, with a delightful, boyish flow of speech, not wholly
+free from a suspicion of cheek, gave it as his opinion that the outrage
+was the work of a burglar--a remarkable display of sagacity in one so
+young. A portrait of Master Robinson appears on another page.'
+
+'Everything seems to appear on another page,' said Jim. 'Am I to do the
+portrait?'
+
+'I think it would be best. You can never trust a photo to caricature a
+person enough. Your facial H.B.'s the thing.'
+
+'Have you heard whether anything else was bagged besides the cups?'
+asked Welch.
+
+'Not that I know of,' said Jim.
+
+'Yes there was,' said Jackson. 'It further appears that that lunatic,
+Adamson, had left some money in the pocket of his blazer, which he had
+left in the Pav. overnight. On enquiry it was found that the money had
+also left.'
+
+Adamson was in the same House as Jackson, and had talked of nothing
+else throughout the whole of lunch. He was an abnormally wealthy
+individual, however, and it was generally felt, though he himself
+thought otherwise, that he could afford to lose some of the surplus.
+
+'How much?' asked Jim.
+
+'Two pounds.'
+
+At this Jim gave vent to the exclamation which Mr Barry Pain calls the
+Englishman's shortest prayer.
+
+'My dear sir,' said Charteris. 'My very dear sir. We blush for you.
+Might I ask _why_ you take the matter to heart so?'
+
+Jim hesitated.
+
+'Better have it out, Jim,' said Tony. 'These chaps'll keep it dark all
+right.' And Jim entered once again upon the recital of his doings on
+the previous night.
+
+'So you see,' he concluded, 'this two pound business makes it all the
+worse.'
+
+'I don't see why,' said Welch.
+
+'Well, you see, money's a thing everybody wants, whereas cups wouldn't
+be any good to a fellow at school. So that I should find it much harder
+to prove that I didn't take the two pounds, than I should have done to
+prove that I didn't take the cups.'
+
+'But there's no earthly need for you to prove anything,' said Tony.
+'There's not the slightest chance of your being found out.'
+
+'Exactly,' observed Charteris. 'We will certainly respect your incog.
+if you wish it. Wild horses shall draw no evidence from us. It is, of
+course, very distressing, but what is man after all? Are we not as the
+beasts that perish, and is not our little life rounded by a sleep?
+Indeed, yes. And now--with full chorus, please.
+
+   '"We-e take him from the city or the plough.
+   We-e dress him up in uniform so ne-e-e-at."'
+
+And at the third line some plaster came down from the ceiling, and
+Merevale came up, and the meeting dispersed without the customary
+cheers.
+
+
+
+
+[7]
+
+BARRETT EXPLORES
+
+
+Barrett stood at the window of his study with his hands in his pockets,
+looking thoughtfully at the football field. Now and then he whistled.
+That was to show that he was very much at his ease. He whistled a
+popular melody of the day three times as slowly as its talented
+composer had originally intended it to be whistled, and in a strange
+minor key. Some people, when offended, invariably whistle in this
+manner, and these are just the people with whom, if you happen to share
+a study with them, it is rash to have differences of opinion. Reade,
+who was deep in a book--though not so deep as he would have liked the
+casual observer to fancy him to be--would have given much to stop
+Barrett's musical experiments. To ask him to stop in so many words was,
+of course, impossible. Offended dignity must draw the line somewhere.
+That is one of the curious results of a polite education. When two
+gentlemen of Hoxton or the Borough have a misunderstanding, they
+address one another with even more freedom than is their usual custom.
+When one member of a public school falls out with another member, his
+politeness in dealing with him becomes so Chesterfieldian, that one
+cannot help being afraid that he will sustain a strain from which he
+will never recover.
+
+After a time the tension became too much for Barrett. He picked up his
+cap and left the room. Reade continued to be absorbed in his book.
+
+It was a splendid day outside, warm for April, and with just that
+freshness in the air which gets into the blood and makes Spring the
+best time of the whole year. Barrett had not the aesthetic soul to any
+appreciable extent, but he did know a fine day when he saw one, and
+even he realized that a day like this was not to be wasted in pottering
+about the School grounds watching the 'under thirteen' hundred yards
+(trial heats) and the 'under fourteen' broad jump, or doing occasional
+exercises in the gymnasium. It was a day for going far afield and not
+returning till lock-up. He had an object, too. Everything seemed to
+shout 'eggs' at him, to remind him that he was an enthusiast on the
+subject and had a collection to which he ought to seize this excellent
+opportunity of adding. The only question was, where to go. The
+surrounding country was a Paradise for the naturalist who had no absurd
+scruples on the subject of trespassing. To the west, in the direction
+of Stapleton, the woods and hedges were thick with nests. But then, so
+they were to the east along the Badgwick road. He wavered, but a
+recollection that there was water in the Badgwick direction, and that
+he might with luck beard a water-wagtail in its lair, decided him. What
+is life without a water-wagtail's egg? A mere mockery. He turned east.
+
+'Hullo, Barrett, where are you off to?' Grey, of Prater's House,
+intercepted him as he was passing.
+
+'Going to see if I can get some eggs. Are you coming?'
+
+Grey hesitated. He was a keen naturalist, too.
+
+'No, I don't think I will, thanks. Got an uncle coming down to see me.'
+
+'Well, cut off before he comes.'
+
+'No, he'd be too sick. Besides,' he added, ingenuously, 'there's a
+possible tip. Don't want to miss that. I'm simply stony. Always am at
+end of term.'
+
+'Oh,' said Barrett, realizing that further argument would be thrown
+away. 'Well, so long, then.'
+
+'So long. Hope you have luck.'
+
+'Thanks. I say.'
+
+'Well?'
+
+'Roll-call, you know. If you don't see me anywhere about, you might
+answer my name.'
+
+'All right. And if you find anything decent, you might remember me. You
+know pretty well what I've got already.'
+
+'Right, I will.'
+
+'Magpie's what I want particularly. Where are you going, by the way?'
+
+'Thought of having a shot at old Venner's woods. I'm after a
+water-wagtail myself. Ought to be one or two in the Dingle.'
+
+'Heaps, probably. But I should advise you to look out, you know.
+Venner's awfully down on trespassing.'
+
+'Yes, the bounder. But I don't think he'll get me. One gets the knack
+of keeping fairly quiet with practice.'
+
+'He's got thousands of keepers.'
+
+'Millions.'
+
+'Dogs, too.'
+
+'Dash his beastly dogs. I like dogs. Why are you such a croaker today,
+Grey?'
+
+'Well, you know he's had two chaps sacked for going in his woods to my
+certain knowledge, Morton-Smith and Ainsworth. That's only since I've
+been at the Coll., too. Probably lots more before that.'
+
+'Ainsworth was booked smoking there. That's why he was sacked. And
+Venner caught Morton-Smith himself simply staggering under dead
+rabbits. They sack any chap for poaching.'
+
+'Well, I don't see how you're going to show you've not been poaching.
+Besides, it's miles out of bounds.'
+
+'Grey,' said Barrett, severely, 'I'm surprised at you. Go away and meet
+your beastly uncle. Fancy talking about bounds at your time of life.'
+
+'Well, don't forget me when you're hauling in the eggs.'
+
+'Right you are. So long.'
+
+Barrett proceeded on his way, his last difficulty safely removed. He
+could rely on Grey not to bungle that matter of roll-call. Grey had
+been there before.
+
+A long white ribbon of dusty road separated St Austin's from the lodge
+gates of Badgwick Hall, the country seat of Sir Alfred Venner, M.P.,
+also of 49A Lancaster Gate, London. Barrett walked rapidly for over
+half-an-hour before he came in sight of the great iron gates, flanked
+on the one side by a trim little lodge and green meadows, and on the
+other by woods of a darker green. Having got so far, he went on up the
+hill till at last he arrived at his destination. A small hedge, a
+sloping strip of green, and then the famous Dingle. I am loath to
+inflict any scenic rhapsodies on the reader, but really the Dingle
+deserves a line or two. It was the most beautiful spot in a country
+noted for its fine scenery. Dense woods were its chief feature. And by
+dense I mean well-supplied not only with trees (excellent things in
+themselves, but for the most part useless to the nest hunter), but also
+with a fascinating tangle of undergrowth, where every bush seemed to
+harbour eggs. All carefully preserved, too. That was the chief charm of
+the place. Since the sad episodes of Morton-Smith and Ainsworth, the
+School for the most part had looked askance at the Dingle. Once a
+select party from Dacre's House, headed by Babington, who always got
+himself into hot water when possible, had ventured into the forbidden
+land, and had returned hurriedly later in the afternoon with every sign
+of exhaustion, hinting breathlessly at keepers, dogs, and a pursuit
+that had lasted fifty minutes without a check. Since then no one had
+been daring enough to brave the terrors so carefully prepared for them
+by Milord Sir Venner and his minions, and the proud owner of the Dingle
+walked his woods in solitary state. Occasionally he would personally
+conduct some favoured guest thither and show him the wonders of the
+place. But this was not a frequent occurrence. On still-less frequent
+occasions, there were large shooting parties in the Dingle. But, as a
+rule, the word was 'Keepers only. No others need apply'.
+
+A futile iron railing, some three feet in height, shut in the Dingle.
+Barrett jumped this lightly, and entered forthwith into Paradise. The
+place was full of nests. As Barrett took a step forward there was a
+sudden whirring of wings, and a bird rose from a bush close beside him.
+He went to inspect, and found a nest with seven eggs in it. Only a
+thrush, of course. As no one ever wants thrushes' eggs the world is
+over-stocked with them. Still, it gave promise of good things to come.
+Barrett pushed on through the bushes and the promise was fulfilled. He
+came upon another nest. Five eggs this time, of a variety he was unable
+with his moderate knowledge to classify. At any rate, he had not got
+them in his collection. Nor, to the best of his belief, had Grey. He
+took one for each of them.
+
+Now this was all very well, thought Barrett, but what he had come for
+was the ovular deposit of the water-wagtail. Through the trees he could
+see the silver gleam of the brook at the foot of the hill. The woods
+sloped down to the very edge. Then came the brook, widening out here
+into the size of a small river. Then woods again all up the side of the
+opposite hill. Barrett hurried down the slope.
+
+He had put on flannels for this emergency. He was prepared to wade, to
+swim if necessary. He hoped that it would not be necessary, for in
+April water is generally inclined to be chilly. Of keepers he had up
+till now seen no sign. Once he had heard the distant bark of a dog. It
+seemed to come from far across the stream and he had not troubled about
+it.
+
+In the midst of the bushes on the bank stood a tree. It was not tall
+compared to the other trees of the Dingle, but standing alone as it did
+amongst the undergrowth it attracted the eye at once. Barrett, looking
+at it, saw something which made him forget water-wagtails for the
+moment. In a fork in one of the upper branches was a nest, an enormous
+nest, roughly constructed of sticks. It was a very jerry-built
+residence, evidently run up for the season by some prudent bird who
+knew by experience that no nest could last through the winter, and so
+had declined to waste his time in useless decorative work. But what
+bird was it? No doubt there are experts to whom a wood-pigeon's nest is
+something apart and distinct from the nest of the magpie, but to your
+unsophisticated amateur a nest that is large may be anything--rook's,
+magpie's, pigeon's, or great auk's. To such an one the only true test
+lies in the eggs. _Solvitur ambulando_. Barrett laid the pill-boxes,
+containing the precious specimens he had found in the nest at the top
+of the hill, at the foot of the tree, and began to climb.
+
+It was to be a day of surprises for him. When he had got half way up he
+found himself on a kind of ledge, which appeared to be a kind of
+junction at which the tree branched off into two parts. To the left was
+the nest, high up in its fork. To the right was another shoot. He
+realized at once, with keen disappointment, that it would be useless to
+go further. The branches were obviously not strong enough to bear his
+weight. He looked down, preparatory to commencing the descent, and to
+his astonishment found himself looking into a black cavern. In his
+eagerness to reach the nest he had not noticed before that the tree was
+hollow.
+
+This made up for a great many things. His disappointment became less
+keen. Few things are more interesting than a hollow tree.
+
+'Wonder how deep it goes down,' he said to himself. He broke off a
+piece of wood and dropped it down the hollow. It seemed to reach the
+ground uncommonly soon. He tried another piece. The sound of its fall
+came up to him almost simultaneously. Evidently the hole was not deep.
+He placed his hands on the edge, and let himself gently down into the
+darkness. His feet touched something solid almost immediately. As far
+as he could judge, the depth of the cavity was not more than five feet.
+Standing up at his full height he could just rest his chin on the edge.
+
+He seemed to be standing on some sort of a floor, roughly made, but too
+regular to be the work of nature. Evidently someone had been here
+before. He bent down to make certain. There was more room to move about
+in than he suspected. A man sitting down would find it not
+uncomfortable.
+
+He brushed his hand along the floor. Certainly it seemed to be
+constructed of boards. Then his hand hit something small and hard. He
+groped about until his fingers closed on it. It was--what was it? He
+could hardly make out for the moment. Suddenly, as he moved it,
+something inside it rattled. Now he knew what it was. It was the very
+thing he most needed, a box of matches.
+
+The first match he struck promptly and naturally went out. No first
+match ever stays alight for more than three-fifths of a second. The
+second was more successful. The sudden light dazzled him for a moment.
+When his eyes had grown accustomed to it, the match went out. He lit a
+third, and this time he saw all round the little chamber. 'Great
+Scott,' he said, 'the place is a regular poultry shop.' All round the
+sides were hung pheasants and partridges in various stages of maturity.
+Here and there the fur of a rabbit or a hare showed up amongst the
+feathers. Barrett hit on the solution of the problem directly. He had
+been shown a similar collection once in a tree on his father's land.
+The place was the headquarters of some poacher. Barrett was full of
+admiration for the ingenuity of the man in finding so safe a
+hiding-place.
+
+He continued his search. In one angle of the tree was a piece of
+sacking. Barrett lifted it. He caught a glimpse of something bright,
+but before he could confirm the vague suspicion that flashed upon him,
+his match burnt down and lay smouldering on the floor. His hand
+trembled with excitement as he started to light another. It broke off
+in his hand. At last he succeeded. The light flashed up, and there
+beside the piece of sacking which had covered them were two cups. He
+recognized them instantly.
+
+'Jove,' he gasped. 'The Sports pots! Now, how on earth--'
+
+At this moment something happened which took his attention away from
+his discovery with painful suddenness. From beneath him came the
+muffled whine of a dog. He listened, holding his breath. No, he was not
+mistaken. The dog whined again, and broke into an excited bark.
+Somebody at the foot of the tree began to speak.
+
+
+
+
+[8]
+
+BARRETT CEASES TO EXPLORE
+
+
+'Fetchimout!' said the voice, all in one word.
+
+'Nice cheery remark to make!' thought Barrett. 'He'll have to do a good
+bit of digging before he fetches _me_ out. I'm a fixture for the
+present.'
+
+There was a sound of scratching as if the dog, in his eagerness to
+oblige, were trying to uproot the tree. Barrett, realizing that unless
+the keeper took it into his head to climb, which was unlikely, he was
+as safe as if he had been in his study at Philpott's, chuckled within
+himself, and listened intently.
+
+'What is it, then?' said the keeper. 'Good dog, at 'em! Fetch him out,
+Jack.'
+
+Jack barked excitedly, and redoubled his efforts.
+
+The sound of scratching proceeded.
+
+'R-r-r-ats-s-s!' said the mendacious keeper. Jack had evidently paused
+for breath. Barrett began quite to sympathize with him. The thought
+that the animal was getting farther away from the object of his search
+with every ounce of earth he removed, tickled him hugely. He would have
+liked to have been able to see the operations, though. At present it
+was like listening to a conversation through a telephone. He could only
+guess at what was going on.
+
+Then he heard somebody whistling 'The Lincolnshire Poacher', a
+strangely inappropriate air in the mouth of a keeper. The sound was too
+far away to be the work of Jack's owner, unless he had gone for a
+stroll since his last remark. No, it was another keeper. A new voice
+came up to him.
+
+''Ullo, Ned, what's the dog after?'
+
+'Thinks 'e's smelt a rabbit, seems to me.'
+
+''Ain't a rabbit hole 'ere.'
+
+'Thinks there is, anyhow. Look at the pore beast!'
+
+They both laughed. Jack meanwhile, unaware that he was turning himself
+into an exhibition to make a keeper's holiday, dug assiduously. 'Come
+away, Jack,' said the first keeper at length. 'Ain't nothin' there.
+Ought to know that, clever dog like you.'
+
+There was a sound as if he had pulled Jack bodily from his hole.
+
+'Wait! 'Ere, Ned, what's that on the ground there?' Barrett gasped. His
+pill-boxes had been discovered. Surely they would put two and two
+together now, and climb the tree after him.
+
+'Eggs. Two of 'em. 'Ow did they get 'ere, then?'
+
+'It's one of them young devils from the School. Master says to me this
+morning, "Look out," 'e says, "Saunders, for them boys as come in 'ere
+after eggs, and frighten all the birds out of the dratted place. You
+keep your eyes open, Saunders," 'e says.'
+
+'Well, if 'e's still in the woods, we'll 'ave 'im safe.'
+
+'_If_ he's still in the woods!' thought Barrett with a shiver.
+
+After this there was silence. Barrett waited for what he thought was a
+quarter of an hour--it was really five minutes or less--then he peeped
+cautiously over the edge of his hiding-place. Yes, they had certainly
+gone, unless--horrible thought--they were waiting so close to the trunk
+of the tree as to be invisible from where he stood. He decided that the
+possibility must be risked. He was down on the ground in record time.
+Nothing happened. No hand shot out from its ambush to clutch him. He
+breathed more freely, and began to debate within himself which way to
+go. Up the hill it must be, of course, but should he go straight up, or
+to the left or to the right? He would have given much to know which way
+the keepers had gone, particularly he of the dog. They had separated,
+he knew. He began to reason the thing out. In the first place if they
+had separated, they must have gone different ways. It did not take him
+long to arrive at that conclusion. The odds, therefore, were that one
+had gone to the right up-stream, the other down-stream to the left. His
+knowledge of human nature told him that nobody would willingly walk
+up-hill if it was possible for him to walk on the flat. Therefore,
+assuming the two keepers to be human, they had gone along the valley.
+Therefore, his best plan would be to make straight for the top of the
+hill, as straight as he could steer, and risk it. Just as he was about
+to start, his eye caught the two pill-boxes, lying on the turf a few
+yards from where he had placed them.
+
+'May as well take what I can get,' he thought. He placed them carefully
+in his pocket. As he did so a faint bark came to him on the breeze from
+down-stream. That must be friend Jack. He waited no longer, but dived
+into the bushes in the direction of the summit. He was congratulating
+himself on being out of danger--already he was more than half way up
+the hill--when suddenly he received a terrible shock. From the bushes
+to his left, not ten yards from where he stood, came the clear, sharp
+sound of a whistle. The sound was repeated, and this time an answer
+came from far out to his right. Before he could move another whistle
+joined in, again from the left, but farther off and higher up the hill
+than the first he had heard. He recalled what Grey had said about
+'millions' of keepers. The expression, he thought, had understated the
+true facts, if anything. He remembered the case of Babington. It was a
+moment for action. No guile could save him now. It must be a stern
+chase for the rest of the distance. He drew a breath, and was off like
+an arrow. The noise he made was appalling. No one in the wood could
+help hearing it.
+
+'Stop, there!' shouted someone. The voice came from behind, a fact
+which he noted almost automatically and rejoiced at. He had a start at
+any rate.
+
+'Stop!' shouted the voice once again. The whistle blew like a steam
+siren, and once more the other two answered it. They were all behind
+him now. Surely a man of the public schools in flannels and gymnasium
+shoes, and trained to the last ounce for just such a sprint as this,
+could beat a handful of keepers in their leggings and heavy boots.
+Barrett raced on. Close behind him a crashing in the undergrowth and
+the sound of heavy breathing told him that keeper number one was doing
+his best. To left and right similar sounds were to be heard. But
+Barrett had placed these competitors out of the running at once. The
+race was between him and the man behind.
+
+Fifty yards of difficult country, bushes which caught his clothes as if
+they were trying to stop him in the interests of law and order,
+branches which lashed him across the face, and rabbit-holes half hidden
+in the bracken, and still he kept his lead. He was increasing it. He
+must win now. The man behind was panting in deep gasps, for the pace
+had been warm and he was not in training. Barrett cast a glance over
+his shoulder, and as he looked the keeper's foot caught in a hole and
+he fell heavily. Barrett uttered a shout of triumph. Victory was his.
+
+In front of him was a small hollow fringed with bushes. Collecting his
+strength he cleared these with a bound. Then another of the events of
+this eventful afternoon happened. Instead of the hard turf, his foot
+struck something soft, something which sat up suddenly with a yell.
+Barrett rolled down the slope and halfway up the other side like a shot
+rabbit. Dimly he recognized that he had jumped on to a human being. The
+figure did not wear the official velveteens. Therefore he had no
+business in the Dingle. And close behind thundered the keeper, now on
+his feet once more, dust on his clothes and wrath in his heart in equal
+proportions. 'Look out, man!' shouted Barrett, as the injured person
+rose to his feet. 'Run! Cut, quick! Keeper!' There was no time to say
+more. He ran. Another second and he was at the top, over the railing,
+and in the good, honest, public high-road again, safe. A hoarse shout
+of 'Got yer!' from below told a harrowing tale of capture. The stranger
+had fallen into the hands of the enemy. Very cautiously Barrett left
+the road and crept to the railing again. It was a rash thing to do, but
+curiosity overcame him. He had to see, or, if that was impossible, to
+hear what had happened.
+
+For a moment the only sound to be heard was the gasping of the keeper.
+After a few seconds a rapidly nearing series of crashes announced the
+arrival of the man from the right flank of the pursuing forces, while
+almost simultaneously his colleague on the left came up.
+
+Barrett could see nothing, but it was easy to understand what was going
+on. Keeper number one was exhibiting his prisoner. His narrative,
+punctuated with gasps, was told mostly in hoarse whispers, and Barrett
+missed most of it.
+
+'Foot (gasp) rabbit-'ole.' More gasps. 'Up agen ... minute ...
+(indistinct mutterings) ... and (triumphantly) COTCHED IM!'
+
+Exclamations of approval from the other two. 'I assure you,' said
+another voice. The prisoner was having his say. 'I assure you that I
+was doing no harm whatever in this wood. I....'
+
+'Better tell that tale to Sir Alfred,' cut in one of his captors.
+
+''E'll learn yer,' said the keeper previously referred to as number
+one, vindictively. He was feeling shaken up with his run and his heavy
+fall, and his temper was proportionately short.
+
+'I swear I've heard that voice before somewhere,' thought Barrett.
+'Wonder if it's a Coll. chap.'
+
+Keeper number one added something here, which was inaudible to Barrett.
+
+'I tell you I'm not a poacher,' said the prisoner, indignantly. 'And I
+object to your language. I tell you I was lying here doing nothing and
+some fool or other came and jumped on me. I....'
+
+The rest was inaudible. But Barrett had heard enough.
+
+'I knew I'd heard that voice before. Plunkett, by Jove! Golly, what is
+the world coming to, when heads of Houses and School-prefects go on the
+poach! Fancy! Plunkett of all people, too! This is a knock-out, I'm
+hanged if it isn't.'
+
+From below came the sound of movement. The keepers were going down the
+hill again. To Barrett's guilty conscience it seemed that they were
+coming up. He turned and fled.
+
+The hedge separating Sir Alfred Venner's land from the road was not a
+high one, though the drop the other side was considerable. Barrett had
+not reckoned on this. He leapt the hedge, and staggered across the
+road. At the same moment a grey-clad cyclist, who was pedalling in a
+leisurely manner in the direction of the School, arrived at the spot. A
+collision seemed imminent, but the stranger in a perfectly composed
+manner, as if he had suddenly made up his mind to take a sharp turning,
+rode his machine up the bank, whence he fell with easy grace to the
+road, just in time to act as a cushion for Barrett. The two lay there
+in a tangled heap. Barrett was the first to rise.
+
+
+
+
+[9]
+
+ENTER THE SLEUTH-HOUND
+
+
+'I'm awfully sorry,' he said, disentangling himself carefully from the
+heap. 'I hope you're not hurt.'
+
+The man did not reply for a moment. He appeared to be laying the
+question before himself as an impartial judge, as who should say: 'Now
+tell me candidly, _are_ you hurt? Speak freely and without bias.'
+
+'No,' he said at last, feeling his left leg as if he were not
+absolutely easy in his mind about that, 'no, not hurt, thank you. Not
+much, that is,' he added with the air of one who thinks it best to
+qualify too positive a statement. 'Left leg. Shin. Slight bruise.
+Nothing to signify.'
+
+'It was a rotten thing to do, jumping over into the road like that,'
+said Barrett. 'Didn't remember there'd be such a big drop.'
+
+'My fault in a way,' said the man. 'Riding wrong side of road. Out for
+a run?'
+
+'More or less.'
+
+'Excellent thing.'
+
+'Yes.'
+
+It occurred to Barrett that it was only due to the man on whom he had
+been rolling to tell him the true facts of the case. Besides, it might
+do something towards removing the impression which must, he felt, be
+forming in the stranger's mind that he was mad.
+
+'You see,' he said, in a burst of confidence, 'it was rather a close
+thing. There were some keepers after me.'
+
+'Ah!' said the man. 'Thought so. Trespassing?'
+
+'Yes.'
+
+'Ah. Keepers don't like trespassers. Curious thing--don't know if it
+ever occurred to you--if there were no trespassers, there would be no
+need for keepers. To their interest, then, to encourage trespassers.
+But do they?'
+
+Barrett admitted that they did not very conspicuously.
+
+'No. Same with all professions. Not poaching, I suppose?'
+
+'Rather not. I was after eggs. By Jove, that reminds me.' He felt in
+his pocket for the pill-boxes. Could they have survived the stormy
+times through which they had been passing? He heaved a sigh of relief
+as he saw that the eggs were uninjured. He was so intent on examining
+them that he missed the stranger's next remark.
+
+'Sorry. What? I didn't hear.'
+
+'Asked if I was going right for St Austin's School.'
+
+'College!' said Barrett with a convulsive shudder. The most deadly
+error mortal man can make, with the exception of calling a school a
+college, is to call a college a school.
+
+'College!' said the man. 'Is this the road?'
+
+'Yes. You can't miss it. I'm going there myself. It's only about a
+mile.'
+
+'Ah,' said the man, with a touch of satisfaction in his voice. 'Going
+there yourself, are you? Perhaps you're one of the scholars?'
+
+'Not much,' said Barrett, 'ask our form-beak if I'm a scholar. Oh. I
+see. Yes, I'm there all right.'
+
+Barrett was a little puzzled as to how to class his companion. No old
+public school man would talk of scholars. And yet he was emphatically
+not a bargee. Barrett set him down as a sort of superior tourist, a
+Henry as opposed to an 'Arry.
+
+'Been bit of a disturbance there, hasn't there? Cricket pavilion.
+Cups.'
+
+'Rather. But how on earth--'
+
+'How on earth did I get to hear of it, you were going to say. Well, no
+need to conceal anything. Fact is, down here to look into the matter.
+Detective. Name, Roberts, Scotland Yard. Now we know each other, and if
+you can tell me one or two things about this burglary, it would be a
+great help to me, and I should be very much obliged.'
+
+Barrett had heard that a detective was coming down to look into the
+affair of the cups. His position was rather a difficult one. In a sense
+it was simple enough. He had found the cups. He could (keepers
+permitting) go and fetch them now, and there would--No. There would
+_not_ be an end of the matter. It would be very pleasant,
+exceedingly pleasant, to go to the Headmaster and the detective, and
+present the cups to them with a 'Bless you, my children' air. The
+Headmaster would say, 'Barrett, you're a marvel. How can I thank you
+sufficiently?' while the detective would observe that he had been in
+the profession over twenty years, but never had he seen so remarkable
+an exhibition of sagacity and acumen as this. That, at least, was what
+ought to take place. But Barrett's experience of life, short as it was,
+had taught him the difference between the ideal and the real. The real,
+he suspected, would in this case be painful. Certain facts would come
+to light. When had he found the cups? About four in the afternoon? Oh.
+Roll-call took place at four in the afternoon. How came it that he was
+not at roll-call? Furthermore, how came it that he was marked on the
+list as having answered his name at that ceremony? Where had he found
+the cups? In a hollow tree? Just so. Where was the hollow tree? In Sir
+Alfred Venner's woods. Did he know that Sir Alfred Venner's woods were
+out of bounds? Did he know that, in consequence of complaints from Sir
+Alfred Venner, Sir Alfred Venner's woods were more out of bounds than
+any other out of bounds woods in the entire county that did _not_
+belong to Sir Alfred Venner? He did? Ah! No, the word for his guidance
+in this emergency, he felt instinctively, was 'mum'. Time might provide
+him with a solution. He might, for instance, abstract the cups secretly
+from their resting-place, place them in the middle of the football
+field, and find them there dramatically after morning school. Or he
+might reveal his secret from the carriage window as his train moved out
+of the station on the first day of the holidays. There was certain to
+be some way out of the difficulty. But for the present, silence.
+
+He answered his companion's questions freely, however. Of the actual
+burglary he knew no more than any other member of the School,
+considerably less, indeed, than Jim Thomson, of Merevale's, at present
+staggering under the weight of a secret even more gigantic than
+Barrett's own. In return for his information he extracted sundry
+reminiscences. The scar on the detective's cheekbone, barely visible
+now, was the mark of a bullet, which a certain burglar, named,
+singularly enough, Roberts, had fired at him from a distance of five
+yards. The gentleman in question, who, the detective hastened to inform
+Barrett, was no relation of his, though owning the same name, happened
+to be a poor marksman and only scored a bad outer, assuming the
+detective's face to have been the bull. He also turned up his cuff to
+show a larger scar. This was another testimonial from the burglar
+world. A Kensington practitioner had had the bad taste to bite off a
+piece of that part of the detective. In short, Barrett enlarged his
+knowledge of the seamy side of things considerably in the mile of road
+which had to be traversed before St Austin's appeared in sight. The two
+parted at the big gates, Barrett going in the direction of Philpott's,
+the detective wheeling his machine towards the porter's lodge.
+
+Barrett's condition when he turned in at Philpott's door was critical.
+He was so inflated with news that any attempt to keep it in might have
+serious results. Certainly he could not sleep that night in such a
+bomb-like state.
+
+It was thus that he broke in upon Reade. Reade had passed an absurdly
+useless afternoon. He had not stirred from the study. For all that it
+would have mattered to him, it might have been raining hard the whole
+afternoon, instead of being, as it had been, the finest afternoon of
+the whole term. In a word, and not to put too fine a point on the
+matter, he had been frousting, and consequently was feeling dull and
+sleepy, and generally under-vitalized and futile. Barrett entered the
+study with a rush, and was carried away by excitement to such an extent
+that he addressed Reade as if the deadly feud between them not only did
+not exist, but never had existed.
+
+'I say, Reade. Heave that beastly book away. My aunt, I have had an
+afternoon of it.'
+
+'Oh?' said Reade, politely, 'where did you go?'
+
+'After eggs in the Dingle.'
+
+Reade was fairly startled out of his dignified reserve. For the first
+time since they had had their little difference, he addressed Barrett
+in a sensible manner.
+
+'You idiot!' he said.
+
+'Don't see it. The Dingle's just the place to spend a happy day. Like
+Rosherville. Jove, it's worth going there. You should see the birds.
+Place is black with 'em.'
+
+'How about keepers? See any?'
+
+'Did I not! Three of them chased me like good 'uns all over the place.'
+
+'You got away all right, though.'
+
+'Only just. I say, do you know what happened? You know that rotter
+Plunkett. Used to be a day boy. Head of Ward's now. Wears specs.'
+
+'Yes?'
+
+'Well, just as I was almost out of the wood, I jumped a bush and landed
+right on top of him. The man was asleep or something. Fancy choosing
+the Dingle of all places to sleep in, where you can't go a couple of
+yards without running into a keeper! He hadn't even the sense to run. I
+yelled to him to look out, and then I hooked it myself. And then the
+nearest keeper, who'd just come down a buster over a rabbit-hole,
+sailed in and had him. I couldn't do anything, of course.'
+
+'Jove, there'll be a fair-sized row about this. The Old Man's on to
+trespassing like tar. I say, think Plunkett'll say anything about you
+being there too?'
+
+'Shouldn't think so. For one thing I don't think he recognized me.
+Probably doesn't know me by sight, and he was fast asleep, too. No, I
+fancy I'm all right.'
+
+'Well, it was a jolly narrow shave. Anything else happen?'
+
+'Anything else! Just a bit. That's to say, no, nothing much else. No.'
+
+'Now then,' said Reade, briskly. 'None of your beastly mysteries. Out
+with it.'
+
+'Look here, swear you'll keep it dark?'
+
+'Of course I will.'
+
+'On your word of honour?'
+
+'If you think--' began Reade in an offended voice.
+
+'No, it's all right. Don't get shirty. The thing is, though, it's so
+frightfully important to keep it dark.'
+
+'Well? Buck up.'
+
+'Well, you needn't believe me, of course, but I've found the pots.'
+
+Reade gasped.
+
+'What!' he cried. 'The pot for the quarter?'
+
+'And the one for the hundred yards. Both of them. It's a fact.'
+
+'But where? How? What have you done with them?'
+
+Barrett unfolded his tale concisely.
+
+'You see,' he concluded, 'what a hole I'm in. I can't tell the Old Man
+anything about it, or I get booked for cutting roll-call, and going out
+of bounds. And then, while I'm waiting and wondering what to do, and
+all that, the thief, whoever he is, will most likely go off with the
+pots. What do you think I ought to do?'
+
+Reade perpended.
+
+'Well,' he said, 'all you can do is to lie low and trust to luck, as
+far as I can see. Besides, there's one consolation. This Plunkett
+business'll make every keeper in the Dingle twice as keen after
+trespassers. So the pot man won't get a chance of getting the things
+away.'
+
+'Yes, there's something in that,' admitted Barrett.
+
+'It's all you can do,' said Reade.
+
+'Yes. Unless I wrote an anonymous letter to the Old Man explaining
+things. How would that do?'
+
+'Do for you, probably. Anonymous letters always get traced to the
+person who wrote them. Or pretty nearly always. No, you simply lie
+low.'
+
+'Right,' said Barrett, 'I will.'
+
+The process of concealing one's superior knowledge is very irritating.
+So irritating, indeed, that very few people do it. Barrett, however,
+was obliged to by necessity. He had a good chance of displaying his
+abilities in that direction when he met Grey the next morning.
+
+'Hullo,' said Grey, 'have a good time yesterday?'
+
+'Not bad. I've got an egg for you.'
+
+'Good man. What sort?'
+
+'Hanged if I know. I know you haven't got it, though.'
+
+'Thanks awfully. See anything of the million keepers?'
+
+'Heard them oftener than I saw them.'
+
+'They didn't book you?'
+
+'Rather fancy one of them saw me, but I got away all right.'
+
+'Find the place pretty lively?'
+
+'Pretty fair.'
+
+'Stay there long?'
+
+'Not very.'
+
+'No. Thought you wouldn't. What do you say to a small ice? There's time
+before school.'
+
+'Thanks. Are you flush?'
+
+'Flush isn't the word for it. I'm a plutocrat.'
+
+'Uncle came out fairly strong then?'
+
+'Rather. To the tune of one sovereign, cash. He's a jolly good sort, my
+uncle.'
+
+'So it seems,' said Barrett.
+
+The meeting then adjourned to the School shop, Barrett enjoying his ice
+all the more for the thought that his secret still was a secret. A
+thing which it would in all probability have ceased to be, had he been
+rash enough to confide it to K. St H. Grey, who, whatever his other
+merits, was very far from being the safest sort of confidant. His usual
+practice was to speak first, and to think, if at all, afterwards.
+
+
+
+
+[10]
+
+MR THOMPSON INVESTIGATES
+
+
+The Pavilion burglary was discussed in other places besides Charteris'
+study. In the Masters' Common Room the matter came in for its full
+share of comment. The masters were, as at most schools, divided into
+the athletic and non-athletic, and it was for the former class that the
+matter possessed most interest. If it had been that apple of the
+College Library's eye, the original MS. of St Austin's private diary,
+or even that lesser treasure, the black-letter Eucalyptides, that had
+disappeared, the elder portion of the staff would have had a great deal
+to say upon the subject. But, apart from the excitement caused by the
+strangeness of such an occurrence, the theft of a couple of Sports
+prizes had little interest for them.
+
+On the border-line between these two castes came Mr Thompson, the
+Master of the Sixth Form, spelt with a _p_ and no relation to the
+genial James or the amiable Allen, with the former of whom, indeed, he
+was on very indifferent terms of friendship. Mr Thompson, though an
+excellent classic, had no knowledge of the inwardness of the Human Boy.
+He expected every member of his form not only to be earnest--which very
+few members of a Sixth Form are--but also to communicate his innermost
+thoughts to him. His aim was to be their confidant, the wise friend to
+whom they were to bring their troubles and come for advice. He was, in
+fact, poor man, the good young master. Now, it is generally the case at
+school that troubles are things to be worried through alone, and any
+attempt at interference is usually resented. Mr Thompson had asked Jim
+to tea, and, while in the very act of passing him the muffins, had
+embarked on a sort of unofficial sermon, winding up by inviting
+confidences. Jim had naturally been first flippant, and then rude, and
+relations had been strained ever since.
+
+'It must have been a professional,' alleged Perkins, the master of the
+Upper Fourth. 'If it hadn't been for the fact of the money having been
+stolen as well as the cups, I should have put it down to one of our
+fellows.'
+
+'My dear Perkins,' expostulated Merevale.
+
+'My dear Merevale, my entire form is capable of any crime except the
+theft of money. A boy might have taken the cups for a joke, or just for
+the excitement of the thing, meaning to return them in time for the
+Sports. But the two pounds knocks that on the head. It must have been a
+professional.'
+
+'I always said that the Pavilion was a very unsafe place in which to
+keep anything of value,' said Mr Thompson.
+
+'You were profoundly right, Thompson,' replied Perkins. 'You deserve a
+diploma.'
+
+'This business is rather in your line, Thompson,' said Merevale. 'You
+must bring your powers to bear on the subject, and scent out the
+criminal.'
+
+Mr Thompson took a keen pride in his powers of observation. He would
+frequently observe, like the lamented Sherlock Holmes, the vital
+necessity of taking notice of trifles. The daily life of a Sixth Form
+master at a big public school does not afford much scope for the
+practice of the detective art, but Mr Thompson had once detected a
+piece of cribbing, when correcting some Latin proses for the master of
+the Lower Third, solely by the exercise of his powers of observation,
+and he had never forgotten it. He burned to add another scalp to his
+collection, and this Pavilion burglary seemed peculiarly suited to his
+talents. He had given the matter his attention, and, as far as he could
+see, everything pointed to the fact that skilled hands had been at
+work.
+
+From eleven until half-past twelve that day, the Sixth were doing an
+unseen examination under the eye of the Headmaster, and Mr Thompson was
+consequently off duty. He took advantage of this to stroll down to the
+Pavilion and make a personal inspection of the first room, from which
+what were left of the prizes had long been removed to a place of
+safety.
+
+He was making his way to the place where the ground-man was usually to
+be found, with a view to obtaining the keys, when he noticed that the
+door was already open, and on going thither he came upon Biffen, the
+ground-man, in earnest conversation with a stranger.
+
+'Morning, sir,' said the ground-man. He was on speaking terms with most
+of the masters and all the boys. Then, to his companion, 'This is Mr
+Thompson, one of our masters.'
+
+'Morning, sir,' said the latter. 'Weather keeps up. I am Inspector
+Roberts, Scotland Yard. But I think we're in for rain soon. Yes. 'Fraid
+so. Been asked to look into this business, Mr Thompson. Queer
+business.'
+
+'Very. Might I ask--I am very interested in this kind of thing--whether
+you have arrived at any conclusions yet?'
+
+The detective eyed him thoughtfully, as if he were hunting for the
+answer to a riddle.
+
+'No. Not yet. Nothing definite.'
+
+'I presume you take it for granted it was the work of a professional
+burglar.'
+
+'No. No. Take nothing for granted. Great mistake. Prejudices one way or
+other great mistake. But, I think, yes, I think it was probably--almost
+certainly--_not_ done by a professional.'
+
+Mr Thompson looked rather blank at this. It shook his confidence in his
+powers of deduction.
+
+'But,' he expostulated. 'Surely no one but a practised burglar would
+have taken a pane of glass out so--ah--neatly?'
+
+Inspector Roberts rubbed a finger thoughtfully round the place where
+the glass had been. Then he withdrew it, and showed a small cut from
+which the blood was beginning to drip.
+
+'Do you notice anything peculiar about that cut?' he enquired.
+
+Mr Thompson did not. Nor did the ground-man.
+
+'Look carefully. Now do you see? No? Well, it's not a clean cut.
+Ragged. Very ragged. Now if a professional had cut that pane out he
+wouldn't have left it jagged like that. No. He would have used a
+diamond. Done the job neatly.'
+
+This destroyed another of Mr Thompson's premises. He had taken it for
+granted that a diamond had been used.
+
+'Oh!' he said, 'was that pane not cut by a diamond; what did the
+burglar use, then?'
+
+'No. No diamond. Diamond would have left smooth surface. Smooth as a
+razor edge. This is like a saw. Amateurish work. Can't say for certain,
+but probably done with a chisel.'
+
+'With a chisel? Surely not.'
+
+'Yes. Probably with a chisel. Probably the man knocked the pane out
+with one blow, then removed all the glass so as to make it look like
+the work of an old hand. Very good idea, but amateurish. I am told that
+three cups have been taken. Could you tell me how long they had been in
+the Pavilion?'
+
+Mr Thompson considered.
+
+'Well,' he said. 'Of course it's difficult to remember exactly, but I
+think they were placed there soon after one o'clock the day before
+yesterday.'
+
+'Ah! And the robbery took place yesterday in the early morning, or the
+night before?'
+
+'Yes.'
+
+'Is the Pavilion the usual place to keep the prizes for the Sports?'
+
+'No, it is not. They were only put there temporarily. The Board Room,
+where they are usually kept, and which is in the main buildings of the
+School, happened to be needed until the next day. Most of us were very
+much against leaving them in the Pavilion, but it was thought that no
+harm could come to them if they were removed next day.'
+
+'But they were removed that night, which made a great difference,' said
+Mr Roberts, chuckling at his mild joke. 'I see. Then I suppose none
+outside the School knew that they were not in their proper place?'
+
+'I imagine not.'
+
+'Just so. Knocks the idea of professional work on the head. None of the
+regular trade can have known this room held so much silver for one
+night. No regular would look twice at a cricket pavilion under ordinary
+circumstances. Therefore, it must have been somebody who had something
+to do with the School. One of the boys, perhaps.'
+
+'Really, I do not think that probable.'
+
+'You can't tell. Never does to form hasty conclusions. Boy might have
+done it for many reasons. Some boys would have done it for the sake of
+the excitement. That, perhaps, is the least possible explanation. But
+you get boy kleptomaniacs just as much in proportion as grown-up
+kleptomaniacs. I knew a man. Had a son. Couldn't keep him away from
+anything valuable. Had to take him away in a hurry from three schools,
+good schools, too.'
+
+'Really? What became of him? He did not come to us, I suppose?'
+
+'No. Somebody advised the father to send him to one of those
+North-Country schools where they flog. Great success. Stole some money.
+Got flogged, instead of expelled. Did it again with same result.
+Gradually got tired of it. Reformed character now.... I don't say it is
+a boy, mind you. Most probably not. Only say it may be.'
+
+All the while he was talking, his eyes were moving restlessly round the
+room. He came to the window through which Jim had effected his
+entrance, and paused before the broken pane.
+
+'I suppose he tried that window first, before going round to the
+other?' hazarded Mr Thompson.
+
+'Yes. Most probably. Broke it, and then remembered that anyone at the
+windows of the boarding Houses might see him, so left his job half
+done, and shifted his point of action. I think so. Yes.'
+
+He moved on again till he came to the other window. Then he gave vent
+to an excited exclamation, and picked up a piece of caked mud from the
+sill as carefully as if it were some fragile treasure.
+
+'Now, see this,' he said. 'This was wet when the robbery was done. The
+man brought it in with him. On his boot. Left it on the sill as he
+climbed in. Got out in a hurry, startled by something--you can see he
+was startled and left in a hurry from the different values of the cups
+he took--and as he was going, put his hand on this. Left a clear
+impression. Good as plaster of Paris very nearly.'
+
+Mr Thompson looked at the piece of mud, and there, sure enough, was the
+distinct imprint of the palm of a hand. He could see the larger of the
+lines quite clearly, and under a magnifying-glass there was no doubt
+that more could be revealed.
+
+He drew in a long breath of satisfaction and excitement.
+
+'Yes,' said the detective. 'That piece of mud couldn't prove anything
+by itself, but bring it up at the end of a long string of evidence, and
+if it fits your man, it convicts him as much as a snap-shot photograph
+would. Morning, sir. I must be going.' And he retired, carrying the
+piece of mud in his hand, leaving Mr Thompson in the full grip of the
+detective-fever, hunting with might and main for more clues.
+
+After some time, however, he was reluctantly compelled to give up the
+search, for the bell rang for dinner, and he always lunched, as did
+many of the masters, in the Great Hall. During the course of the meal
+he exercised his brains without pause in the effort to discover a
+fitting suspect. Did he know of any victim of kleptomania in the
+School? No, he was sorry to say he did not. Was anybody in urgent need
+of money? He could not say. Very probably yes, but he had no means of
+knowing.
+
+After lunch he went back to the Common Room. There was a letter lying
+on the table. He picked it up. It was addressed to 'J. Thomson, St
+Austin's.' Now Mr Thompson's Christian name was John. He did not notice
+the omission of the _p_ until he had opened the envelope and
+caught a glimpse of the contents. The letter was so short that only a
+glimpse was needed, and it was not till he had read the whole that he
+realized that it was somebody else's letter that he had opened.
+
+This was the letter:
+
+'Dear Jim--Frantic haste. Can you let me have that two pounds directly
+you come back? Beg, borrow, or steal it. I simply must have it.--Yours
+ever,
+
+Allen.'
+
+
+
+
+[11]
+
+THE SPORTS
+
+
+Sports weather at St Austin's was as a rule a quaint but unpleasant
+solution of mud, hail, and iced rain. These were taken as a matter of
+course, and the School counted it as something gained when they were
+spared the usual cutting east wind.
+
+This year, however, occurred that invaluable exception which is so
+useful in proving rules. There was no gale, only a gentle breeze. The
+sun was positively shining, and there was a general freshness in the
+air which would have made a cripple cast away his crutches, and, after
+backing himself heavily both ways, enter for the Strangers' Hundred
+Yards.
+
+Jim had wandered off alone. He was feeling too nervous at the thought
+of the coming mile and all it meant to him to move in society for the
+present. Charteris, Welch, and Tony, going out shortly before lunch to
+inspect the track, found him already on the spot, and in a very low
+state of mind.
+
+'Hullo, you chaps,' he said dejectedly, as they came up.
+
+'Hullo.'
+
+'Our James is preoccupied,' said Charteris. 'Why this jaundiced air,
+Jim? Look at our other Thompson over there.'
+
+'Our other Thompson' was at that moment engaged in conversation with
+the Headmaster at the opposite side of the field.
+
+'Look at him,' said Charteris, 'prattling away as merrily as a little
+che-ild to the Old Man. You should take a lesson from him.'
+
+'Look here, I say,' said Jim, after a pause, 'I believe there's
+something jolly queer up between Thompson and the Old Man, and I
+believe it's about me.'
+
+'What on earth makes you think that?' asked Welch.
+
+'It's his evil conscience,' said Charteris. 'No one who hadn't
+committed the awful crime that Jim has, could pay the least attention
+to anything Thompson said. What does our friend Thucydides remark on
+the subject?--
+
+   '"_Conscia mens recti, nec si sinit esse dolorem
+   Sed revocare gradum_."
+
+Very well then.'
+
+'But why should you think anything's up?' asked Tony.
+
+'Perhaps nothing is, but it's jolly fishy. You see Thompson and the Old
+'Un pacing along there? Well, they've been going like that for about
+twenty minutes. I've been watching them.'
+
+'But you can't tell they're talking about you, you rotter,' said Tony.
+'For all you know they may be discussing the exams.'
+
+'Or why the sea is boiling hot, and whether pigs have wings,' put in
+Charteris.
+
+'Or anything,' added Welch profoundly.
+
+'Well, all I know is that Thompson's been doing all the talking, and
+the Old Man's been getting more and more riled.'
+
+'Probably Thompson's been demanding a rise of screw or asking for a
+small loan or something,' said Charteris. 'How long have you been
+watching them?'
+
+'About twenty minutes.'
+
+'From here?'
+
+'Yes.'
+
+'Why didn't you go and join them? There's nothing like tact. If you
+were to go and ask the Old Man why the whale wailed or something after
+that style it 'ud buck him up like a tonic. I wish you would. And then
+you could tell him to tell you all about it and see if you couldn't do
+something to smooth the wrinkles from his careworn brow and let the
+sunshine of happiness into his heart. He'd like it awfully.'
+
+'Would he!' said Jim grimly. 'Well, I got the chance just now. Thompson
+said something to him, and he spun round, saw me, and shouted
+"Thomson". I went up and capped him, and he was starting to say
+something when he seemed to change his mind, and instead of confessing
+everything, he took me by the arm, and said, "No, no, Thomson. Go away.
+It's nothing. I will send for you later."'
+
+'And did you knock him down?' asked Charteris.
+
+'What happened?' said Welch.
+
+'He gave me a shove as if he were putting the weight, and said again,
+"It's no matter. Go away, Thomson, now." So I went.'
+
+'And you've kept an eye on him ever since?' said Charteris. 'Didn't he
+seem at all restive?'
+
+'I don't think he noticed me. Thompson had the floor and he was pretty
+well full up listening to him.'
+
+'I suppose you don't know what it's all about?' asked Tony.
+
+'Must be this Pavilion business.'
+
+'Now, my dear, sweet cherub,' said Charteris, 'don't you go and make an
+utter idiot of yourself and think you're found out and all that sort of
+thing. Even if they suspect you they've got to prove it. There's no
+sense in your giving them a helping hand in the business. What you've
+got to do is to look normal. Don't overdo it or you'll look like a
+swashbuckler, and that'll be worse than underdoing it. Can't you make
+yourself look less like a convicted forger? For my sake?'
+
+'You really do look a bit off it,' said Welch critically. 'As if you
+were sickening for the flu., or something. Doesn't he, Tony?'
+
+'Rather!' said that expert in symptoms. 'You simply must buck up, Jim,
+or Drake'll walk away from you.'
+
+'It's disappointing,' said Charteris, 'to find a chap who can crack a
+crib as neatly as you can doubling up like this. Think how Charles
+Peace would have behaved under the circs. Don't disgrace him, poor
+man.'
+
+'Besides,' said Jim, with an attempt at optimism, 'it isn't as if I'd
+actually done anything, is it?'
+
+'Just so,' said Charteris, 'that's what I've been trying to get you to
+see all along. Keep that fact steadily before you, and you'll be all
+right.'
+
+'There goes the lunch-bell,' said Tony. 'You can always tell Merevale's
+bell in a crowd. William rings it as if he was doing it for his
+health.'
+
+William, also known in criminal circles as the Moke, was the gentleman
+who served the House--in a perpetual grin and a suit of livery four
+sizes too large for him--as a sort of butler.
+
+'He's an artist,' agreed Charteris, as he listened to the performance.
+'Does it as if he enjoyed it, doesn't he? Well, if we don't want to
+spoil Merevale's appetite by coming in at half-time, we might be
+moving.' They moved accordingly.
+
+The Sports were to begin at two o'clock with a series of hundred-yards
+races, which commenced with the 'under twelve' (Cameron of Prater's a
+warm man for this, said those who had means of knowing), and culminated
+at about a quarter past with the open event, for which Welch was a
+certainty. By a quarter to the hour the places round the ropes were
+filled, and more visitors were constantly streaming in at the two
+entrances to the School grounds, while in the centre of the ring the
+band of the local police force--the military being unavailable owing to
+exigencies of distance--were seating themselves with the grim
+determination of those who know that they are going to play the
+soldiers' chorus out of _Faust_. The band at the Sports had played
+the soldiers' chorus out of _Faust_ every year for decades past,
+and will in all probability play it for decades to come.
+
+The Sports at St Austin's were always looked forward to by everyone
+with the keenest interest, and when the day arrived, were as regularly
+voted slow. In all school sports there are too many foregone
+conclusions. In the present instance everybody knew, and none better
+than the competitors themselves, that Welch would win the quarter and
+hundred. The high jump was an equal certainty for a boy named Reece in
+Halliday's House. Jackson, unless he were quite out of form, would win
+the long jump, and the majority of the other events had already been
+decided. The gem of the afternoon would be the mile, for not even the
+shrewdest judge of form could say whether Jim would beat Drake, or
+Drake Jim. Both had done equally good times in practice, and both were
+known to be in the best of training. The adherents of Jim pointed to
+the fact that he had won the half off Drake--by a narrow margin, true,
+but still he had won it. The other side argued that a half-mile is no
+criterion for a mile, and that if Drake had timed his sprint better he
+would probably have won, for he had finished up far more strongly than
+his opponent. And so on the subject of the mile, public opinion was for
+once divided.
+
+The field was nearly full by this time. The only clear space outside
+the ropes was where the Headmaster stood to greet and talk about the
+weather to such parents and guardians and other celebrities as might
+pass. This habit of his did not greatly affect the unattached members
+of the School, those whose parents lived in distant parts of the world
+and were not present on Sports Day, but to St Jones Brown (for
+instance) of the Lower Third, towing Mr Brown, senior, round the ring,
+it was a nervous ordeal to have to stand by while his father and the
+Head exchanged polite commonplaces. He could not help feeling that
+there was _just a chance_ (horrible thought) that the Head,
+searching for something to say, might seize upon that little matter of
+broken bounds or shaky examination papers as a subject for discussion.
+He was generally obliged, when the interview was over, to conduct his
+parent to the shop by way of pulling his system together again, the
+latter, of course, paying.
+
+At intervals round the ropes Old Austinian number one was meeting Old
+Austinian number two (whom he emphatically detested, and had hoped to
+avoid), and was conversing with him in a nervous manner, the clearness
+of his replies being greatly handicapped by a feeling, which grew with
+the minutes, that he would never be able to get rid of him and go in
+search of Old Austinian number three, his bosom friend.
+
+At other intervals, present Austinians of tender years were manoeuvring
+half-companies of sisters, aunts, and mothers, and trying without much
+success to pretend that they did not belong to them. A pretence which
+came down heavily when one of the aunts addressed them as 'Willie' or
+'Phil', and wanted to know audibly if 'that boy who had just passed'
+(_the_ one person in the School whom they happened to hate and
+despise) was their best friend. It was a little trying, too, to have to
+explain in the middle of a crowd that the reason why you were not
+running in 'that race' (the 'under thirteen' hundred, by Jove, which
+ought to have been a gift to you, only, etc.) was because you had been
+ignominiously knocked out in the trial heats.
+
+In short, the afternoon wore on. Welch won the hundred by two yards and
+the quarter by twenty, and the other events fell in nearly every case
+to the favourite. The hurdles created something of a surprise--Jackson,
+who ought to have won, coming down over the last hurdle but two,
+thereby enabling Dallas to pull off an unexpected victory by a couple
+of yards. Vaughan's enthusiastic watch made the time a little under
+sixteen seconds, but the official timekeeper had other views. There
+were no instances of the timid new boy, at whom previously the world
+had scoffed, walking away with the most important race of the day.
+
+And then the spectators were roused from a state of coma by the sound
+of the bell ringing for the mile. Old Austinian number one gratefully
+seized the opportunity to escape from Old Austinian number two, and
+lose himself in the crowd. Young Pounceby-Green with equal gratitude
+left his father talking to the Head, and shot off without ceremony to
+get a good place at the ropes. In fact, there was a general stir of
+anticipation, and all round the ring paterfamilias was asking his son
+and heir which was Drake and which Thomson, and settling his glasses
+more firmly on the bridge of his nose.
+
+The staff of _The Glow Worm_ conducted Jim to the starting-place,
+and did their best to relieve his obvious nervousness with light
+conversation.
+
+'Eh, old chap?' said Jim. He had been saying 'Eh?' to everything
+throughout the afternoon.
+
+'I said, "Is my hat on straight, and does it suit the colour of my
+eyes?"' said Charteris.
+
+'Oh, yes. Yes, rather. Ripping,' in a far-off voice.
+
+'And have you a theory of the Universe?'
+
+'Eh, old chap?'
+
+'I said, "Did you want your legs rubbed before you start?" I believe
+it's an excellent specific for the gout.'
+
+'Gout? What? No, I don't think so, thanks.'
+
+'And you'll write to us sometimes, Jim, and give my love to little
+Henry, and _always_ wear flannel next your skin, my dear boy?'
+said Charteris.
+
+This seemed to strike even Jim as irrelevant.
+
+'Do shut up for goodness
+sake, Alderman,' he said irritably. 'Why can't you go and rag somebody
+else?'
+
+'My place is by your side. Go, my son, or else they'll be starting
+without you. Give us your blazer. And take my tip, the tip of an old
+runner, and don't pocket your opponent's ball in your own twenty-five.
+And come back victorious, or on the shields of your soldiers. All
+right, sir (to the starter), he's just making his will. Good-bye Jim.
+Buck up, or I'll lynch you after the race.'
+
+Jim answered by muffling him in his blazer, and walking to the line.
+There were six competitors in all, each of whom owned a name ranking
+alphabetically higher than Thomson. Jim, therefore, had the outside
+berth. Drake had the one next to the inside, which fell to Adamson, the
+victim of the lost two pounds episode.
+
+Both Drake and Jim got off well at the sound of the pistol, and the
+pace was warm from the start. Jim evidently had his eye on the inside
+berth, and, after half a lap had been completed, he got it, Drake
+falling back. Jim continued to make the running, and led at the end of
+the first lap by about five yards. Then came Adamson, followed by a
+batch of three, and finally Drake, taking things exceedingly coolly, a
+couple of yards behind them. The distance separating him from Jim was
+little over a dozen yards. A roar of applause greeted the runners as
+they started on the second lap, and it was significant that while Jim's
+supporters shouted, 'Well run', those of Drake were fain to substitute
+advice for approval, and cry 'Go it'. Drake, however, had not the least
+intention of 'going it' in the generally accepted meaning of the
+phrase. A yard or two to the rear meant nothing in the first lap, and
+he was running quite well enough to satisfy himself, with a nice,
+springy stride, which he hoped would begin to tell soon.
+
+With the end of the second lap the real business of the race began, for
+the survival of the fittest had resulted in eliminations and changes of
+order. Jim still led, but now by only eight or nine yards. Drake had
+come up to second, and Adamson had dropped to a bad third. Two of the
+runners had given the race up, and retired, and the last man was a long
+way behind, and, to all practical purposes, out of the running. There
+were only three laps, and, as the last lap began, the pace quickened,
+fast as it had been before. Jim was exerting every particle of his
+strength. He was not a runner who depended overmuch on his final dash.
+He hoped to gain so much ground before Drake made his sprint as to
+neutralize it when it came. Adamson he did not fear.
+
+And now they were in the last two hundred yards, Jim by this time some
+thirty yards ahead, but in great straits. Drake had quickened his pace,
+and gained slowly on him. As they rounded the corner and came into the
+straight, the cheers were redoubled. It was a great race. Then, fifty
+yards from the tape, Drake began his final sprint. If he had saved
+himself before, he made up for it now. The gap dwindled and dwindled.
+Neither could improve his pace. It was a question whether there was
+enough of the race left for Drake to catch his man, or whether he had
+once more left his sprint till too late. Jim could hear the roars of
+the spectators, and the frenzied appeals of Merevale's House to him to
+sprint, but he was already doing his utmost. Everything seemed black to
+him, a black, surging mist, and in its centre a thin white line, the
+tape. Could he reach it before Drake? Or would he collapse before he
+reached it? There were only five more yards to go now, and still he
+led. Four. Three. Two. Then something white swept past him on the
+right, the white line quivered, snapped, and vanished, and he pitched
+blindly forward on to the turf at the track-side. Drake had won by a
+foot.
+
+
+
+
+[12]
+
+AN INTERESTING INTERVIEW
+
+
+For the rest of the afternoon Jim had a wretched time. To be beaten
+after such a race by a foot, and to be beaten by a foot when victory
+would have cut the Gordian knot of his difficulties once and for all,
+was enough to embitter anybody's existence. He found it hard to accept
+the well-meant condolences of casual acquaintances, and still harder to
+do the right thing and congratulate Drake on his victory, a refinement
+of self-torture which is by custom expected of the vanquished in every
+branch of work or sport. But he managed it somehow, and he also managed
+to appear reasonably gratified when he went up to take his prize for
+the half-mile. Tony and the others, who knew what his defeat meant to
+him, kept out of his way, for which he was grateful. After lock-up,
+however, it was a different matter, but by that time he was more ready
+for society. Even now there might be some way out of the difficulty. He
+asked Tony's advice on the subject. Tony was perplexed. The situation
+was beyond his grip.
+
+'I don't see what you can do, Jim,' he said, 'unless the Rugby chap'll
+be satisfied with a pound on account. It's a beastly business. Do you
+think your pater will give you your money all the same as it was such a
+close finish?'
+
+Jim thought not. In fact, he was certain that he would not, and Tony
+relapsed into silence as he tried to bring another idea to the surface.
+He had not succeeded when Charteris came in.
+
+'Jim,' he said 'you have my sympathy. It was an awfully near thing. But
+I've got something more solid than sympathy. I will take a seat.'
+
+'Don't rag, Charteris,' said Tony. 'It's much too serious.'
+
+'Who's ragging, you rotter? I say I have something more solid than
+sympathy, and instead of giving me an opening, as a decent individual
+would, by saying, "What?" you accuse me of ragging. James, my son, if
+you will postpone your suicide for two minutes, I will a tale unfold. I
+have an idea.'
+
+'Well?'
+
+'That's more like it. Now you _are_ talking. We will start at the
+beginning. First, you want a pound. So do I. Secondly, you want it
+before next Tuesday. Thirdly, you haven't it on you. How, therefore,
+are you to get it? As the song hath it, you don't know, they don't
+know, but--now we come to the point--I _do_ know.'
+
+'Yes?' said Jim and Tony together.
+
+'It is a luminous idea. Why shouldn't we publish a special number of
+_The Glow Worm_ before the end of term?'
+
+Jim was silent at the brilliance of the scheme. Then doubts began to
+harass him.
+
+'Is there time?'
+
+'Time? Yards of it. This is Saturday. We start tonight, and keep at it
+all night, if necessary. We ought to manage it easily before tomorrow
+morning. On Sunday we jellygraph it--it'll have to be a jellygraphed
+number this time. On Monday and Tuesday we sell it, and there you are.'
+
+'How are you going to sell it? In the ordinary way at the shop?'
+
+'Yes, I've arranged all that. All we've got to do is to write the
+thing. As the penalty for your sins you shall take on most of it. I'll
+do the editorial, Welch is pegging away at the Sports account now, and
+I waylaid Jackson just before lock-up, and induced him by awful threats
+to knock off some verses. So we're practically published already.'
+
+'It's grand,' said Jim. 'And it's awfully decent of you chaps to fag
+yourselves like this for me. I'll start on something now.'
+
+'But can you raise a sovereign on one number?' asked Tony.
+
+'Either that, or I've arranged with the shop to give us a quid down,
+and take all profits on this and the next number. They're as keen as
+anything on the taking-all-profits idea, but I've kept that back to be
+used only in case of necessity. But the point is that Jim gets his
+sovereign in any case. I must be off to my editorial. So long,' and he
+went.
+
+'Grand man, Charteris,' said Tony, as he leant back in his chair in
+search of a subject. 'You'd better weigh in with an account of the
+burglary. It's a pity you can't give the realistic description you gave
+us. It would sell like anything.'
+
+'Wouldn't do to risk it.'
+
+At that moment the door swung violently open, with Merevale holding on
+to the handle, and following it in its course. Merevale very rarely
+knocked at a study door, a peculiarity of his which went far towards
+shattering the nervous systems of the various inmates, who never knew
+when it was safe to stop work and read fiction. 'Ah, Thomson,' he said,
+'I was looking for you. The Headmaster wants to see you over at his
+House, if you are feeling well enough after your exertions. _Very_
+close thing, that mile. I don't know when I have seen a better-run race
+on the College grounds. I suppose you are feeling pretty tired, eh?'
+
+'I am rather, sir, but I had better see the Head. Will he be in his
+study, sir?'
+
+'Yes, I think so.'
+
+Jim took his cap and went off, while Merevale settled down to spend the
+evening in Tony's study, as he often did when the term's work was over,
+and it was no longer necessary to keep up the pretence of preparation.
+
+Parker, the Head's butler, conducted Jim into the presence.
+
+'Sit down, Thomson,' said the Head.
+
+Jim took a seat, and he had just time to notice that his namesake, Mr
+Thompson, was also present, and that, in spite of the fact that his tie
+had crept up to the top of his collar, he was looking quite
+unnecessarily satisfied with himself, when he became aware that the
+Head was speaking to him.
+
+'I hope you are not feeling any bad effects from your race, Thomson?'
+
+Jim was half inclined to say that his effects were _nil,_ but he
+felt that the quip was too subtle, and would be lost on his present
+audience, so he merely said that he was not. There was a rather awkward
+silence for a minute. Then the Head coughed, and said:
+
+'Thomson.'
+
+'Yes, sir.'
+
+'I think it would be fairest to you to come to the point at once, and
+to tell you the reason why I wished to see you.'
+
+Jim ran over the sins which shot up in his mind like rockets as he
+heard these ominous words, and he knew that this must be the matter of
+the Pavilion. He was, therefore, in a measure prepared for the Head's
+next words.
+
+'Thomson.'
+
+'Yessir.'
+
+'A very serious charge has been brought against you. You are accused of
+nothing less than this unfortunate burglary of the prizes for the
+Sports.'
+
+'Yes, sir. Is my accuser Mr Thompson?'
+
+The Headmaster hesitated for a moment, and Mr Thompson spoke. 'That is
+so,' he said.
+
+'Yes,' said the Head, 'the accusation is brought by Mr Thompson.'
+
+'Yes, sir,' said Jim again, and this time the observation was intended
+to convey the meaning, 'My dear, good sir, when you've known him as
+long as I have, you won't mind what Mr Thompson says or does. It's a
+kind of way he's got, and if he's not under treatment for it, he ought
+to be.'
+
+'I should like to hear from your own lips that the charge is
+groundless.'
+
+'Anything to oblige,' thought Jim. Then aloud, 'Yes, sir.'
+
+'You say it is groundless?' This from Mr Thompson.
+
+'Yes, sir.'
+
+'I must warn you, Thomson, that the evidence against you is very strong
+indeed,' said the Head. 'Without suggesting that you are guilty of this
+thing, I think I ought to tell you that if you have any confession to
+make, it will be greatly, very greatly, to your own advantage to make
+it at once.'
+
+'And give myself away, free, gratis and for nothing,' thought Jim. 'Not
+for me, thank you.'
+
+'Might I hear Mr Thompson's evidence, sir?' he asked.
+
+'Certainly, Thomson.' He effected a movement in Mr Thompson's
+direction, midway between a bow and a nod.
+
+Mr Thompson coughed. Jim coughed, too, in the same key. This put Mr
+Thompson out, and he had to cough again.
+
+'In the first place,' he began, 'it has been conclusively proved that
+the burglary was the work of an unskilful hand.'
+
+'That certainly seems to point to me as the author,' said Jim
+flippantly.
+
+'Silence, Thomson,' said the Head, and counsel for the prosecution
+resumed.
+
+'In the second place, it has been proved that you were at the time of
+the burglary in great need of money.'
+
+This woke Jim up. It destroyed that feeling of coolness with which he
+had started the interview. Awful thoughts flashed across his mind. Had
+he been seen at the time of his burglarious entry? At any rate, how did
+Mr Thompson come to know of his pecuniary troubles?
+
+'Did you say it had been proved, sir?'
+
+'Yes.'
+
+'How, sir?'
+
+He felt the question was a mistake as he was uttering it. Your really
+injured innocent would have called all the elements to witness that he
+was a millionaire. But it was too late to try that now. And, besides,
+he really did want to know how Mr Thompson had got to hear of this
+skeleton in his cupboard.
+
+The Headmaster interrupted hurriedly. 'It is a very unfortunate affair
+altogether, and this is quite the most unfortunate part. A letter came
+to the College addressed to J. Thomson, and Mr Thompson opened and read
+it inadvertently. Quite inadvertently.'
+
+'Yes, sir,' said Jim, in a tone which implied, 'I am no George
+Washington myself, but when you say he read it inadvertently, well--'
+
+'This letter was signed "Allen"--'
+
+'My brother, sir.'
+
+'Exactly. And it asked for two pounds. Evidently in payment of a debt,
+and the tone of the letter certainly seemed to show that you were not
+then in possession of the money.'
+
+'Could I have the letter, sir?' Then with respectful venom to Mr
+Thompson: 'If you have finished with it.' The letter was handed over,
+and pocketed, and Jim braced his moral pecker up for the next round of
+the contest.
+
+'I take it, then, Thomson,' resumed the Head, 'that you owe your
+brother this money?'
+
+'Yes, sir.'
+
+'Two pounds is a great deal of money for one boy to lend another.'
+
+'It was not lent, sir. It was a bet.'
+
+'A bet!' in a nasty tone from the Head.
+
+'A bet!' in a sepulchral echo from Mr Thompson.
+
+There was a long pause.
+
+'At any other time,' said the Head, 'I should feel it my duty to take
+serious notice of this, but beside this other matter with which you are
+charged, it becomes trivial. I can only repeat that the circumstances
+are exceedingly suspicious, and I think it would be in your interests
+to tell us all you know without further delay.'
+
+'You take it for granted I am guilty, sir,' began Jim hotly.
+
+'I say that the circumstances seems to point to it. In the first place,
+you were in need of money. You admit that?'
+
+'Yes, sir.'
+
+'In the second place,' said the Head slowly, 'in the second place, I am
+told that you were nowhere to be found in the House at half-past eight
+on the night of the burglary, when you ought certainly to have been in
+your study at your work.'
+
+Bombshell number two, and a worse one than the first. For the moment
+Jim's head swam. If he had been asked just then in so many words where
+he had been at that time, it is likely that he would have admitted
+everything. By some miracle the Head did not press his point.
+
+'You may go now, Thomson,' he said. 'I should like to see you after
+morning school on Monday. Good-night.'
+
+'Good-night, sir,' said Jim, and went without another word. Coming so
+soon after the exertion and strain of the mile, this shock made him
+feel sick and dizzy.
+
+When he had gone, the Head turned to Mr Thompson with a worried look on
+his face. 'I feel as certain as I do of anything,' he said
+thoughtfully, 'that that boy is telling the truth. If he had been
+guilty, he would not have behaved like that. I feel sure of it.'
+
+Mr Thompson looked equally thoughtful. 'The circumstances are certainly
+very suspicious,' he said, echoing the Head's own words. 'I wish I
+could think he was innocent, but I am bound to say I do not. I regard
+the evidence as conclusive.'
+
+'Circumstantial evidence is proverbially uncertain, Mr Thompson. That
+is principally the reason why I was so bent on making him confess if he
+had anything to confess. I can't expel a boy and ruin his whole career
+on mere suspicion. The matter must be proved, doubly proved, and even
+then I should feel uneasy until he owned himself guilty. It is a most
+unpleasant affair, a terrible affair.'
+
+'Most,' agreed Mr Thompson.
+
+And exactly the same thing was occurring at that moment to Jim, as he
+sat on his bed in his dormitory, and pondered hopelessly on this new
+complication that had presented itself so unexpectedly. He was getting
+very near to the end of his tether, was J. Thomson of Merevale's. It
+seemed to him, indeed, that he had reached it already. Possibly if he
+had had a clearer conscience and a larger experience, he might have
+recognized that the evidence which Mr Thompson had described as
+conclusive, was in reality not strong enough to hang a cat on.
+Unfortunately, he did not enjoy those advantages.
+
+
+
+
+[13]
+
+SIR ALFRED SCORES
+
+
+Soon after Jim had taken his departure, Mr Thompson, after waiting a
+few minutes in case the Headmaster had anything more to say, drifted
+silently out of the room. The Head, like the gentleman in the ballad,
+continued to wear a worried look. The more he examined the matter, the
+less did he know what to make of it. He believed, as he had said to Mr
+Thompson, that Jim was entirely innocent. It was an incredible thing,
+he thought, that a public school boy, a School-prefect, too, into the
+bargain, should break out of his House and into a cricket pavilion,
+however great a crisis his finances might be undergoing. And then to
+steal two of the prizes for the Sports. Impossible. Against this,
+however, must be placed the theft of the two pounds. It might occur to
+a boy, as indeed Mr Thompson had suggested, to steal the cups in order
+to give the impression that a practised burglar had been at work. There
+was certainly something to be said in favour of this view. But he would
+never believe such a thing. He was a good judge of character--a
+headmaster generally is--and he thought he could tell when a boy was
+speaking the truth and when he was not.
+
+His reflections were interrupted by a knock at the door. The butler
+entered with a card on a tray. 'Sir Alfred Venner, M.P., Badgwick
+Hall,' said--almost shouted--the card. He read the words without any
+apparent pleasure.
+
+'Is Sir Alfred here himself, Parker?' he said.
+
+'He is, sir.'
+
+The Headmaster sighed inaudibly but very wearily. He was feeling
+worried already, and he knew from experience that a _tete-a-tete_
+with Sir Alfred Venner, M.P., of Badgwick Hall, would worry him still
+more.
+
+The Head was a man who tried his very hardest to like each and all of
+his fellow-creatures, but he felt bound to admit that he liked most
+people a great, a very great, deal better than he liked the gentleman
+who had just sent in his card. Sir Alfred's manner always jarred upon
+him. It was so exactly the antithesis of his own. He was quiet and
+dignified, and addressed everybody alike, courteously. Sir Alfred was
+restless and fussy. His manner was always dictatorial and generally
+rude. When he had risen in the House to make his maiden speech, calling
+the attention of the Speaker to what he described as 'a thorough
+draught', he had addressed himself with such severity to that official,
+that a party of Siamese noblemen, who, though not knowing a word of
+English, had come to listen to the debate, had gone away with the
+impression that he was the prime minister. No wonder the Headmaster
+sighed.
+
+'Show him in, Parker,' said he resignedly.
+
+'Yessir.'
+
+Parker retired, leaving the Head to wonder what his visitor's grievance
+might be this time. Sir Alfred rarely called without a grievance,
+generally connected with the trespassing of the School on his land.
+
+'Good evening, Sir Alfred,' he said, as his visitor whirled into the
+room.
+
+'O-o-o, this sort of thing won't do, you know, Mr Perceval,' said Sir
+Alfred fussily, adjusting a pair of gold pince-nez on his nose. The
+Head's name, which has not before been mentioned, was the Reverend
+Herbert Perceval, M.A. He had shivered at the sound of the 'O-o-o'
+which had preceded Sir Alfred's remark. He knew, as did other
+unfortunate people, that the great man was at his worst when he said
+'O-o-o'. In moments of comparative calm he said 'Er'.
+
+'I can't put up with it, you know, Mr Perceval. It's too much. A great
+deal too much.'
+
+'You refer to--?' suggested the Head, with a patience that did him
+credit.
+
+'This eternal trespassing and tramping in and out of my grounds all
+day.'
+
+'You have been misinformed, I fear, Sir Alfred. I have not trespassed
+in your grounds for--ah--a considerable time.' The Head could not
+resist this thrust. In his unregenerate 'Varsity days he had been a
+power at the Union, where many a foeman had exposed himself to a verbal
+counter from him with disastrous results. Now the fencing must be done
+with buttons on the foils.
+
+'You--what--I don't follow you, Mr Perceval.'
+
+'I understand you to reproach me for trespassing and--ah--tramping in
+and out of your grounds all day. Was that not your meaning?'
+
+Sir Alfred almost danced with impatience.
+
+'No, no, no. You misunderstand me. You don't follow my drift.'
+
+'In that case, I beg your pardon. I gathered from the extreme severity
+of your attitude towards me that I was the person to whom you
+referred.'
+
+'No, no, no. I've come here to complain of your boys.'
+
+It occurred to the Head to ask if the complaint embraced the entire six
+hundred of them, or merely referred to one of them. But he reflected
+that the longer he fenced, the longer his visitor would stay. And he
+decided, in spite of the illicit pleasure to be derived from the
+exercise, that it was not worth while.
+
+'Ah,' he said.
+
+'Yes,' continued Sir Alfred, 'my keepers tell me the woods were full of
+them, sir.'
+
+The Head suggested that possibly the keepers had exaggerated.
+
+'Possibly. Possibly they may have exaggerated. But that is not the
+point. The nuisance is becoming intolerable, Mr Perceval, perfectly
+intolerable. It is time to take steps.'
+
+'I have already done all that can be done. I have placed your land out
+of bounds, considerably out of bounds indeed. And I inflict the
+severest penalties when a breach of the rule is reported to me.'
+
+'It's not enough. It's not nearly enough.'
+
+'I can scarcely do more, I fear, Sir Alfred. There are more than six
+hundred boys at St Austin's, and it is not within my power to place
+them all under my personal supervision.'
+
+Here the Head, who had an eye to the humorous, conjured up a picture of
+six hundred Austinians going for walks, two and two, the staff posted
+at intervals down the procession, and himself bringing up the rear. He
+made a mental mem. to laugh when his visitor had retired.
+
+'H'm,' said the baffled M.P. thoughtfully, adjusting his pince-nez once
+more. ''M no. No, perhaps not. But'--here he brightened up--'you can
+punish them when they do trespass.'
+
+'That is so, Sir Alfred. I can and invariably do.'
+
+'Then punish that what's-his-name, Plinkett, Plunkett--I've got the
+name down somewhere. Yes, Plunkett. I thought so. Punish Plunkett.'
+
+'Plunkett!' said the Head, taken completely by surprise. He, in common
+with the rest of the world, had imagined Plunkett to be a perfect
+pattern of what should be. A headmaster, like other judges of
+character, has his failures.
+
+'Plunkett. Yes, that is the name. Boy with spectacles. Good gracious,
+Mr Perceval, don't tell me the boy gave me a false name.'
+
+'No. His name is Plunkett. Am I to understand that he was trespassing
+on your land? Surely there is some mistake? The boy's a
+School-prefect.'
+
+Here it suddenly flashed upon his mind that he had used that expression
+before in the course of the day, on the occasion when Mr Thompson first
+told him of his suspicions in connection with Jim. 'Why, Mr Thompson,
+the boy's a School-prefect,' had been his exact words. School-prefects
+had been in his eyes above suspicion. It is a bad day for a school when
+they are not so. Had that day arrived for St Austin's? he asked
+himself.
+
+'He may be a School-prefect, Mr Perceval, but the fact remains that he
+is a trespasser, and ought from your point of view to be punished for
+breaking bounds.'
+
+The Head suddenly looked almost cheerful again.
+
+'Of course,' he said, 'of course. I thought that there must be an
+explanation. The rules respecting bounds, Sir Alfred, do not apply to
+School-prefects, only to the rest of the School.'
+
+'Indeed?' said Sir Alfred. His tone should have warned the Head that
+something more was coming, but it did not. He continued.
+
+'Of course it was very wrong of him to trespass on your land, but I
+have no doubt that he did it quite unintentionally. I will speak to
+him, and I think I can guarantee that he will not do it again.'
+
+'Oh,' said his visitor. 'That is very gratifying, I am sure. Might I
+ask, Mr Perceval, if School-prefects at St Austin's have any other
+privileges?'
+
+The Head began to look puzzled. There was something in his visitor's
+manner which suggested unpleasant possibilities.
+
+'A few,' he replied. 'They have a few technical privileges, which it
+would be a matter of some little time to explain.'
+
+'It must be very pleasant to be a prefect at St Austin's,' said Sir
+Alfred nastily. 'Very pleasant indeed. Might I ask, Mr Perceval, if the
+technical privileges to which you refer include--smoking?'
+
+The Head started as if, supposing such a thing possible, someone had
+pinched him. He did not know what to make of the question. From the
+expression on his face his visitor did not appear to be perpetrating a
+joke.
+
+'No,' he said sharply, 'they do not include smoking.'
+
+'I merely asked because this was found by my keeper on the boy when he
+caught him.'
+
+He produced a small silver match-box. The Head breathed again. The
+reputation of the School-prefect, though shaky, was still able to come
+up to the scratch.
+
+'A match-box is scarcely a proof that a boy has been smoking, I think,'
+said he. 'Many boys carry matches for various purposes, I believe. I
+myself, though a non-smoker, frequently place a box in my pocket.'
+
+For answer Sir Alfred laid a bloated and exceedingly vulgar-looking
+plush tobacco-pouch on the table beside the match-box.
+
+'That also,' he observed, 'was found in his pocket by my keeper.'
+
+He dived his hand once more into his coat. 'And also this,' he said.
+
+And, with the air of a card-player who trumps his opponent's ace, he
+placed on the pouch a pipe. And, to make the matter, if possible,
+worse, the pipe was not a new pipe. It was caked within and coloured
+without, a pipe that had seen long service. The only mitigating
+circumstance that could possibly have been urged in favour of the
+accused, namely that of 'first offence', had vanished.
+
+'It is pleasant,' said Sir Alfred with laborious sarcasm, 'to find a
+trespasser doing a thing which has caused the dismissal of several
+keepers. Smoking in my woods I--will--not--permit. I will not have my
+property burnt down while I can prevent it. Good evening, Mr Perceval.'
+With these words he made a dramatic exit.
+
+For some minutes after he had gone the Head remained where he stood,
+thinking. Then he went across the room and touched the bell.
+
+'Parker,' he said, when that invaluable officer appeared, 'go across to
+Mr Ward's House, and tell him I wish to see Plunkett. Say I wish to see
+him at once.'
+
+'Yessir.'
+
+After ten minutes had elapsed, Plunkett entered the room, looking
+nervous.
+
+'Sit down, Plunkett.'
+
+Plunkett collapsed into a seat. His eye had caught sight of the smoking
+apparatus on the table.
+
+The Head paced the room, something after the fashion of the tiger at
+the Zoo, whose clock strikes lunch.
+
+'Plunkett,' he said, suddenly, 'you are a School-prefect.'
+
+'Yes, sir,' murmured Plunkett. The fact was undeniable.
+
+'You know the duties of a School-prefect?'
+
+'Yes, sir.'
+
+'And yet you deliberately break one of the most important rules of the
+School. How long have you been in the habit of smoking?'
+
+Plunkett evaded the question.
+
+'My father lets me smoke, sir, when I'm at home.'
+
+(A hasty word in the reader's ear. If ever you are accused of smoking,
+please--for my sake, if not for your own--try to refrain from saying
+that your father lets you do it at home. It is a fatal mistake.)
+
+At this, to employ a metaphor, the champagne of the Head's wrath, which
+had been fermenting steadily during his late interview, got the better
+of the cork of self-control, and he exploded. If the Mutual Friend ever
+has grandchildren he will probably tell them with bated breath the
+story of how the Head paced the room, and the legend of the things he
+said. But it will be some time before he will be able to speak about it
+with any freedom. At last there was a lull in the storm.
+
+'I am not going to expel you, Plunkett. But you cannot come back after
+the holidays. I will write to your father to withdraw you.' He pointed
+to the door. Plunkett departed in level time.
+
+'What did the Old 'Un want you for?' asked Dallas, curiously, when he
+returned to the study.
+
+Plunkett had recovered himself by this time sufficiently to be able to
+tell a lie.
+
+'He wanted to tell me he'd heard from my father about my leaving.'
+
+'About your leaving!' Dallas tried to keep his voice as free as
+possible from triumphant ecstasy.
+
+'Are you leaving? When?'
+
+'This term.'
+
+'Oh!' said Dallas. It was an uncomfortable moment. He felt that at
+least some conventional expression of regret ought to proceed from him.
+
+'Don't trouble to lie about being sorry,' said Plunkett with a sneer.
+
+'Thanks,' said Dallas, gratefully, 'since you mention it, I rather
+think I won't.'
+
+
+
+
+[14]
+
+THE LONG RUN
+
+
+Vaughan came up soon afterwards, and Dallas told him the great news.
+They were neither of them naturally vindictive, but the Mutual Friend
+had been a heavy burden to them during his stay in the House, and they
+did not attempt to conceal from themselves their unfeigned pleasure at
+the news of his impending departure.
+
+'I'll never say another word against Mr Plunkett, senior, in my life,'
+said Vaughan. 'He's a philanthropist. I wonder what the Mutual's going
+to do? Gentleman of leisure, possibly. Unless he's going to the
+'Varsity.'
+
+'Same thing, rather. I don't know a bit what he's going to do, and I
+can't say I care much. He's going, that's the main point.'
+
+'I say,' said Vaughan. 'I believe the Old Man was holding a sort of
+reception tonight. I know he had Thomson over to his House. Do you
+think there's a row on?'
+
+'Oh, I don't know. Probably only wanted to see if he was all right
+after the mile. By Jove, it was a bit of a race, wasn't it?' And the
+conversation drifted off into matters athletic.
+
+There were two persons that night who slept badly. Jim lay awake until
+the College clock had struck three, going over in his mind the various
+points of his difficulties, on the chance of finding a solution of
+them. He fell asleep at a quarter past, without having made any
+progress. The Head, also, passed a bad night. He was annoyed for many
+reasons, principally, perhaps, because he had allowed Sir Alfred Venner
+to score so signal a victory over him. Besides that, he was not easy in
+his mind about Jim. He could not come to a decision. The evidence was
+all against him, but evidence is noted for its untrustworthiness. The
+Head would have preferred to judge the matter from his knowledge of
+Jim's character. But after the Plunkett episode he mistrusted his
+powers in that direction. He thought the matter over for a time, and
+then, finding himself unable to sleep, got up and wrote an article for
+a leading review on the subject of the Doxology. The article was
+subsequently rejected--which proves that Providence is not altogether
+incapable of a kindly action--but it served its purpose by sending its
+author to sleep.
+
+Barrett, too, though he did not allow it to interfere with his
+slumbers, was considerably puzzled as to what he ought to do about the
+cups which he had stumbled upon in the wood. He scarcely felt equal to
+going to the Dingle again to fetch them, and yet every minute he
+delayed made the chances of their remaining there more remote. He
+rather hoped that Reade would think of some way out of it. He had a
+great respect for Reade's intellect, though he did not always show it.
+The next day was the day of the Inter-House cross-country race. It was
+always fixed for the afternoon after Sports Day, a most inconvenient
+time for it, as everybody who had exerted or over-exerted himself the
+afternoon before was unable to do himself justice. Today, contrary to
+general expectation, both Drake and Thomson had turned out. The knowing
+ones, however, were prepared to bet anything you liked (except cash),
+that both would drop out before the first mile was over. Merevale's
+pinned their hopes on Welch. At that time Welch had not done much
+long-distance running. He confined himself to the hundred yards and the
+quarter. But he had it in him to do great things, as he proved in the
+following year, when he won the half, and would have beaten the great
+Mitchell-Jones record for the mile, but for an accident, or rather an
+event, which prevented his running. The tale of which is told
+elsewhere.
+
+The course for the race was a difficult one. There were hedges and
+brooks to be negotiated, and, worst of all, ploughed fields. The first
+ploughed field usually thinned the ranks of the competitors
+considerably. The distance was about ten miles.
+
+The race started at three o'clock. Jim and Welch, Merevale's first
+string, set the pace from the beginning, and gradually drew away from
+the rest. Drake came third, and following him the rest of the Houses in
+a crowd.
+
+Welch ran easily and springily; Jim with more effort. He felt from the
+start that he could not last. He resolved to do his best for the honour
+of the House, but just as the second mile was beginning, the first of
+the ploughed fields appeared in view, stretching, so it appeared to
+Jim, right up to the horizon. He groaned.
+
+'Go on, Welch,' he gasped. 'I'm done.'
+
+Welch stopped short in his stride, and eyed him critically.
+
+'Yes,' he said, 'better get back to the House. You overdid it
+yesterday. Lie down somewhere. G'bye.' And he got into his stride
+again. Jim watched his figure diminish, until at last it was a
+shapeless dot of white against the brown surface. Then he lay down on
+his back and panted.
+
+It was in this attitude that Drake found him. For a moment an almost
+irresistible wish seized him to act in the same way. There was an
+unstudied comfort about Jim's pose which appealed to him strongly. His
+wind still held out, but his legs were beginning to feel as if they did
+not belong to him at all. He pulled up for an instant.
+
+'Hullo,' he said, 'done up?'
+
+For reply Jim merely grunted.
+
+'Slacker,' said Drake. 'Where's Welch?'
+
+'Miles ahead.'
+
+'Oh Lord!' groaned Drake and, pulling himself together,
+set out painfully once more across the heavy surface of the field.
+
+Jim lay where he was a little longer. The recollection of the other
+runners, who might be expected to arrive shortly, stirred him to
+action. He did not wish to interview everyone on the subject of his
+dropping out. He struck off at right angles towards the hedge on the
+left. As he did so, the first of the crowd entered the field. Simpson
+_major_, wearing the colours of Perkins's House on his manly
+bosom, was leading. Behind him came a group of four, two School House,
+Dallas of Ward's, and a representative of Prater's. A minute later they
+were followed by a larger group, consisting this time of twenty or more
+runners--all that was left of the fifty who had started. The rest had
+dropped out at the sight of the ploughed field.
+
+Jim watched the procession vanish over the brow of the hill, and, as it
+passed out of sight, began to walk slowly back to the School again.
+
+He reached it at last, only to find it almost entirely deserted. In
+Merevale's House there was nobody. He had hoped that Charteris and Tony
+might have been somewhere about. When he had changed into his ordinary
+clothes, he made a tour of the School grounds. The only sign of life,
+as far as he could see, was Biffen, who was superintending the cutting
+of the grass on the cricket-field. During the winter Biffen always
+disappeared, nobody knew where, returning at the beginning of Sports
+Week to begin preparations for the following cricket season. It had
+been stated that during the winter he shut himself up and lived on
+himself after the fashion of a bear. Others believed that he went and
+worked in some Welsh mine until he was needed again at the School.
+Biffen himself was not communicative on the subject, a fact which led a
+third party to put forward the awful theory that he was a professional
+association player and feared to mention his crime in a school which
+worshipped Rugby.
+
+'Why, Mr Thomson,' he said, as Jim came up, 'I thought you was running.
+Whoa!' The last remark was addressed to a bored-looking horse attached
+to the mowing-machine. From the expression on its face, the animal
+evidently voted the whole process pure foolishness. He pulled up
+without hesitation, and Biffen turned to Jim again.
+
+'Surely they ain't come back yet?' he said.
+
+'I have,' said Jim. 'I did myself up rather in the mile yesterday, and
+couldn't keep up the pace. I dropped out at that awfully long ploughed
+field by Parker's Spinney.'
+
+Biffen nodded.
+
+'And 'oo was winning, sir?'
+
+'Well, Welch was leading, the last I saw of it. Shouldn't wonder if he
+won either. He was going all right. I say, the place seems absolutely
+deserted. Isn't anybody about?'
+
+'Just what Mr MacArthur was saying to me just this minute, sir. 'E
+went into the Pavilion.'
+
+'Good. I'll go and hunt for him.'
+
+Biffen 'clicked' the _blase_ horse into movement again. Jim went
+to the Pavilion and met the Babe coming down the steps.
+
+'Hullo, Babe! I was looking for you.'
+
+'Hullo! Why aren't you running?'
+
+'Dropped out. Come and have tea in my study.'
+
+'No, I'll tell you what. You come back with me. I've got rather a
+decent dog I want to show you. Only got him yesterday.'
+
+Jim revelled in dogs, so he agreed instantly. The Babe lived with his
+parents in a big house about a mile from the College, and in so doing
+was the object of much envy amongst those who had to put up with life
+at the Houses. Jim had been to his home once or twice before, and had
+always had a very good time indeed there. The two strolled off. In
+another hour the place began to show signs of life again. The School
+began to return by ones and twos, most of them taking up a position
+near the big gates. This was where the race was to finish. There was a
+straight piece of road about two hundred yards in length before the
+high road was reached. It was a sight worth seeing when the runners,
+paced by their respective Houses on each side of the road, swept round
+the corner, and did their best to sprint with all that was left in them
+after ten miles of difficult country. Suddenly a distant shouting began
+to be heard. The leaders had been sighted. The noise increased, growing
+nearer and nearer, until at last it swelled into a roar, and a black
+mass of runners turned the corner. In the midst of the black was one
+white figure--Welch, as calm and unruffled as if he had been returning
+from a short trot to improve his wind. Merevale's surged round him in a
+cheering mob. Welch simply disregarded them. He knew where he wished to
+begin his sprint, and he would begin it at that spot and no other. The
+spot he had chosen was well within a hundred yards from the gates. When
+he reached it, he let himself go, and from the uproar, the crowd
+appeared to be satisfied. A long pause, and still none of the other
+runners appeared. Five minutes went by before they began to appear.
+First Jones, of the School House, and Simpson, who raced every yard of
+the way, and finished in the order named, and then three of Philpott's
+House in a body. The rest dropped in at intervals for the next quarter
+of an hour.
+
+The Headmaster always made a point of watching the finish of the
+cross-country run. Indeed, he was generally one of the last to leave.
+With the majority of the spectators it was enough to see the first five
+safely in.
+
+The last man and lock-up arrived almost simultaneously, and the Head
+went off to a well-earned dinner.
+
+He had just finished this meal, and was congratulating himself on not
+being obliged to spend the evening in a series of painful interviews,
+as had happened the night before, when Parker, the butler, entered the
+room.
+
+'Well, Parker, what is it?' asked he.
+
+'Mr Roberts, sir, wishes to see you.'
+
+For a moment the Head was at a loss. He could not recall any friend or
+acquaintance of that name. Then he remembered that Roberts was the name
+of the detective who had come down from London to look into the matter
+of the prizes.
+
+'Very well,' he said, resignedly, 'show him into the study.'
+
+Parker bowed, and retired. The Head, after an interval, followed him,
+and made his way to the study.
+
+
+
+
+[15]
+
+MR ROBERTS EXPLAINS
+
+
+Inspector Roberts was standing with his back to the door, examining a
+photograph of the College, when the Head entered. He spun round
+briskly. 'Good evening, Mr Roberts. Pray be seated. You wish to see
+me?'
+
+The detective took a seat.
+
+'This business of the cups, sir.'
+
+'Ah!' said the Head, 'have you made any progress?'
+
+'Considerable. Yes, very considerable progress. I've found out who
+stole them.'
+
+'You have?' cried the Head. 'Excellent. I suppose it _was_
+Thomson, then? I was afraid so.'
+
+'Thomson, sir? That was certainly not the name he gave me. Stokes he
+called himself.'
+
+'Stokes? Stokes? This is curious. Perhaps if you were to describe his
+appearance? Was he a tall boy, of a rather slight build--'
+
+The detective interrupted.
+
+'Excuse me, sir, but I rather fancy we have different persons in our
+mind. Stokes is not a boy. Not at all. Well over thirty. Red moustache.
+Height, five foot seven, I should say. Not more. Works as a farmhand
+when required, and does odd jobs at times. That's the man.'
+
+The Head's face expressed relief, as he heard this description. 'Then
+Thomson did not do it after all,' he said.
+
+'Thomson?' queried Mr Roberts.
+
+'Thomson,' explained the Head, 'is the name of one of the boys at the
+School. I am sorry to say that I strongly suspected him of this
+robbery.'
+
+'A boy at the School. Curious. Unusual, I should have thought, for a
+boy to be mixed up in an affair like this. Though I have known cases.'
+
+'I was very unwilling, I can assure you, to suspect him of such a
+thing, but really the evidence all seemed to point to it. I am afraid,
+Mr Roberts, that I have been poaching on your preserves without much
+success.'
+
+'Curious thing evidence,' murmured Mr Roberts, fixing with his eye a
+bust of Socrates on the writing-desk, as if he wished it to pay
+particular attention to his words. 'Very curious. Very seldom able to
+trust it. Case the other day. Man charged with robbery from the person.
+_With violence_. They gave the case to me. Worked up beautiful
+case against the man. Not a hitch anywhere. Whole thing practically
+proved. Man brings forward _alibi._ Proves it. Turned out that at
+time of robbery he had been serving seven days without the option for
+knocking down two porters and a guard on the District Railway. Yet the
+evidence seemed conclusive. Yes, curious thing evidence.' He nodded
+solemnly at Socrates, and resumed an interested study of the carpet.
+
+The Head, who had made several spirited attempts at speaking during
+this recital, at last succeeded in getting in a word.
+
+'You have the cups?'
+
+'No. No, cups still missing. Only flaw in the affair. Perhaps I had
+better begin from the beginning?'
+
+'Exactly. Pray let me hear the whole story. I am more glad than I can
+say that Thomson is innocent. There is no doubt of that, I hope?'
+
+'Not the least, sir. Not the very least. Stokes is the man.'
+
+'I am very glad to hear it.'
+
+The inspector paused for a moment, coughed, and drifted into his
+narrative.
+
+'... Saw at once it was not the work of a practised burglar. First
+place, how could regular professional know that the cups were in the
+Pavilion at all? Quite so. Second place, work very clumsily done. No
+neatness. Not the professional touch at all. Tell it in a minute. No
+mistaking it. Very good. Must, therefore, have been amateur--this night
+only--and connected with School. Next question, who? Helped a little
+there by luck. Capital thing luck, when it's not bad luck. Was passing
+by the village inn--you know the village inn, I dare say, sir?'
+
+The Head, slightly scandalized, explained that he was seldom in the
+village. The detective bowed and resumed his tale.
+
+'As I passed the door, I ran into a man coming out. In a very elevated,
+not to say intoxicated, state. As a matter of fact, barely able to
+stand. Reeled against wall, and dropped handful of money. I lent
+helping hand, and picked up his money for him. Not my place to arrest
+drunken men. Constable's! No constable there, of course. Noticed, as I
+picked the money up, that there was a good deal of it. For ordinary
+rustic, a _very_ good deal. Sovereign and plenty of silver.' He
+paused, mused for a while, and went on again.
+
+'Yes. Sovereign, and quite ten shillings' worth of silver. Now the
+nature of my profession makes me a suspicious man. It struck me as
+curious, not to say remarkable, that such a man should have thirty
+shillings or more about him so late in the week. And then there was
+another thing. I thought I'd seen this particular man somewhere on the
+School grounds. Couldn't recall his face exactly, but just had a sort
+of general recollection of having seen him before. I happened to have a
+camera with me. As a matter of fact I had been taking a few photographs
+of the place. Pretty place, sir.'
+
+'Very,' agreed the Head.
+
+'You photograph yourself, perhaps?'
+
+'No. I--ah--do not.'
+
+'Ah. Pity. Excellent hobby. However--I took a snap-shot of this man to
+show to somebody who might know him better than I did. This is the
+photograph. Drunk as a lord, is he not?'
+
+He exhibited a small piece of paper. The Head examined it gravely, and
+admitted that the subject of the picture did not appear to be
+ostentatiously sober. The sunlight beat full on his face, which wore
+the intensely solemn expression of the man who, knowing his own
+condition, hopes, by means of exemplary conduct, to conceal it from the
+world. The Head handed the photograph back without further comment.
+
+'I gave the man back his money,' went on Mr Roberts, 'and saw him
+safely started again, and then I set to work to shadow him. Not a
+difficult job. He walked very slowly, and for all he seemed to care,
+the whole of Scotland Yard might have been shadowing him. Went up the
+street, and after a time turned in at one of the cottages. I marked the
+place, and went home to develop the photograph. Took it to show the man
+who looks after the cricket-field.'
+
+'Biffen?'
+
+'Just so, Biffen. Very intelligent man. Given me a good deal of help in
+one way and another all along. Well, I showed it to him and he said he
+thought he knew the face. Was almost certain it was one of the men at
+work on the grounds at the time of the robbery. Showed it to friend of
+his, the other ground-man. He thought same. That made it as certain as
+I had any need for. Went off at once to the man's cottage, found him
+sober, and got the whole thing out of him. But not the cups. He had
+been meaning to sell them, but had not known where to go. Wanted
+combination of good price and complete safety. Very hard to find, so
+had kept cups hidden till further notice.'
+
+Here the Head interrupted.
+
+'And the cups? Where are they?'
+
+'We-e-ll,' said the detective, slowly. 'It is this way. We have only
+got his word to go on as regards the cups. This man, Stokes, it seems
+is a notorious poacher. The night after the robbery he took the cups
+out with him on an expedition in some woods that lie in the direction
+of Badgwick. I think Badgwick is the name.'
+
+'Badgwick! Not Sir Alfred Venner's woods?'
+
+'Sir Alfred Venner it was, sir. That was the name he mentioned. Stokes
+appears to have been in the habit of visiting that gentleman's property
+pretty frequently. He had a regular hiding place, a sort of store where
+he used to keep all the game he killed. He described the place to me.
+It is a big tree on the bank of the stream nearest the high road. The
+tree is hollow. One has to climb to find the opening to it. Inside are
+the cups, and, I should say, a good deal of mixed poultry. That is what
+he told me, sir. I should advise you, if I may say so, to write a note
+to Sir Alfred Venner, explaining the case, and ask him to search the
+tree, and send the cups on here.'
+
+This idea did not appeal to the Head at all. Why, he thought bitterly,
+was this wretched M.P. always mixed up with his affairs? Left to
+himself, he could have existed in perfect comfort without either
+seeing, writing to, or hearing from the great man again for the rest of
+his life. 'I will think it over,' he said, 'though it seems the only
+thing to be done. As for Stokes, I suppose I must prosecute--'
+
+The detective raised a hand in protest.
+
+'Pardon my interruption, sir, but I really should advise you not to
+prosecute.'
+
+'Indeed! Why?'
+
+'It is this way. If you prosecute, you get the man his term of
+imprisonment. A year, probably. Well and good. But then what happens?
+After his sentence has run out, he comes out of prison an ex-convict.
+Tries to get work. No good. Nobody will look at him. Asks for a job.
+People lock up their spoons and shout for the police. What happens
+then? Not being able to get work, tries another burglary. Being a
+clumsy hand at the game, gets caught again and sent back to prison, and
+so is ruined and becomes a danger to society. Now, if he is let off
+this time, he will go straight for the rest of his life. Run a mile to
+avoid a silver cup. He's badly scared, and I took the opportunity of
+scaring him more. Told him nothing would happen this time, if the cups
+came back safely, but that he'd be watched ever afterwards to see he
+did not get into mischief. Of course he won't really be watched, you
+understand, but he thinks he will. Which is better, for it saves
+trouble. Besides, we know where the cups are--I feel sure he was
+speaking the truth about them, he was too frightened to invent a
+story--and here is most of the money. So it all ends well, if I may put
+it so. My advice, sir, and I think you will find it good advice--is
+not to prosecute.'
+
+'Very well,' said the Head, 'I will not.'
+
+'Very good, sir. Good morning, sir.' And he left the room.
+
+The Head rang the bell.
+
+'Parker,' said he, 'go across to Mr Merevale's, and ask him to send
+Thomson to me.'
+
+It was with mixed feelings that he awaited Jim's arrival. The
+detective's story had shown how unjust had been his former suspicions,
+and he felt distinctly uncomfortable at the prospect of the apology
+which he felt bound to make to him. On the other hand, this feeling was
+more than equalled by his relief at finding that his faith in the
+virtue of the _genus_ School-prefect, though at fault in the
+matter of Plunkett, was not altogether misplaced. It made up for a good
+deal. Then his thoughts drifted to Sir Alfred Venner. Struggle with his
+feelings as he might, the Head could _not_ endure that local
+potentate. The recent interview between them had had no parallel in
+their previous acquaintance, but the Head had always felt vaguely
+irritated by his manner and speech, and he had always feared that
+matters would come to a head sooner or later. The prospect of opening
+communication with him once more was not alluring. In the meantime
+there was his more immediate duty to be performed, the apology to
+Thomson. But that reminded him. The apology must only be of a certain
+kind. It must not be grovelling. And this for a very excellent reason.
+After the apology must come an official lecture on the subject of
+betting. He had rather lost sight of that offence in the excitement of
+the greater crime of which Thomson had been accused, and very nearly
+convicted. Now the full heinousness of it came back to him. Betting!
+Scandalous!
+
+'Come in,' he cried, as a knock at the door roused him from his
+thoughts. He turned. But instead of Thomson, there appeared Parker.
+Parker carried a note. It was from Mr Merevale.
+
+The Head opened it.
+
+'What!' he cried, as he read it. 'Impossible.' Parker made no comment.
+He stood in the doorway, trying to look as like a piece of furniture as
+possible--which is the duty of a good butler.
+
+'Impossible!' said the Head again.
+
+What Mr Merevale had said in his note was this, that Thomson was not in
+the House, and had not been in the House since lunchtime. He ought to
+have returned at six o'clock. It was now half-past eight, and still
+there were no signs of him. Mr Merevale expressed a written opinion
+that this was a remarkable thing, and the Head agreed with him
+unreservedly.
+
+
+
+
+[16]
+
+THE DISAPPEARANCE OF J. THOMSON
+
+
+Certainly the Head was surprised.
+
+He read the note again. No. There was no mistake. 'Thomson is not in
+the House.' There could be no two meanings about that.
+
+'Go across to Mr Merevale's,' he said at last, 'and ask him if he would
+mind seeing me here for a moment.'
+
+The butler bowed his head gently, but with more than a touch of pained
+astonishment. He thought the Headmaster might show more respect for
+persons. A butler is not an errand-boy.
+
+'Sir?' he said, giving the Head a last chance, as it were, of realizing
+the situation.
+
+'Ask Mr Merevale to step over here for a moment.'
+
+The poor man bowed once more. The phantom of a half-smoked cigar
+floated reproachfully before his eyes. He had lit it a quarter of an
+hour ago in fond anticipation of a quiet evening. Unless a miracle had
+occurred, it must be out by this time. And he knew as well as anybody
+else that a relighted cigar is never at its best. But he went, and in a
+few minutes Mr Merevale entered the room.
+
+'Sit down, Mr Merevale,' said the Head. 'Am I to understand from your
+note that Thomson is actually not in the House?'
+
+Mr Merevale thought that if he had managed to understand anything else
+from the note he must possess a mind of no common order, but he did not
+say so.
+
+'No,' he said. 'Thomson has not been in the House since lunchtime, as
+far as I know. It is a curious thing.'
+
+'It is exceedingly serious. Exceedingly so. For many reasons. Have you
+any idea where he was seen last?'
+
+'Harrison in my House says he saw him at about three o'clock.'
+
+'Ah!'
+
+'According to Harrison, he was walking in the direction of Stapleton.'
+
+'Ah. Well, it is satisfactory to know even as little as that.'
+
+'Just so. But Mace--he is in my House, too--declares that he saw
+Thomson at about the same time cycling in the direction of Badgwick.
+Both accounts can scarcely be correct.'
+
+'But--dear me, are you certain, Mr Merevale?'
+
+Merevale nodded to imply that he was. The Head drummed irritably with
+his fingers on the arm of his chair. This mystery, coming as it did
+after the series of worries through which he had been passing for the
+last few days, annoyed him as much as it is to be supposed the last
+straw annoyed the proverbial camel.
+
+'As a matter of fact,' said Merevale, 'I know that Thomson started to
+run in the long race this afternoon. I met him going to the
+starting-place, and advised him to go and change again. He was not
+looking at all fit for such a long run. It seems to me that Welch might
+know where he is. Thomson and he got well ahead of the others after the
+start, so that if, as I expect, Thomson dropped out early in the race,
+Welch could probably tell us where it happened. That would give us some
+clue to his whereabouts, at any rate.'
+
+'Have you questioned Welch?'
+
+'Not yet. Welch came back very tired, quite tired out, in fact and went
+straight to bed. I hardly liked to wake him except as a last resource.
+Perhaps I had better do so now?'
+
+'I think you should most certainly. Something serious must have
+happened to Thomson to keep him out of his House as late as this.
+Unless--'
+
+He stopped. Merevale looked up enquiringly. The Head, after a moment's
+deliberation, proceeded to explain.
+
+'I have made a very unfortunate mistake with regard to Thomson, Mr
+Merevale. A variety of reasons led me to think that he had had
+something to do with this theft of the Sports prizes.'
+
+'Thomson!' broke in Merevale incredulously.
+
+'There was a considerable weight of evidence against him, which I have
+since found to be perfectly untrustworthy, but which at the time seemed
+to me almost conclusive.'
+
+'But surely,' put in Merevale again, 'surely Thomson would be the last
+boy to do such a thing. Why should he? What would he gain by it?'
+
+'Precisely. I can understand that perfectly in the light of certain
+information which I have just received from the inspector. But at the
+time, as I say, I believed him guilty. I even went so far as to send
+for him and question him upon the subject. Now it has occurred to me,
+Mr Merevale--you understand that I put it forward merely as a
+conjecture--it occurs to me--'
+
+'That Thomson has run away,' said Merevale bluntly.
+
+The Head, slightly discomposed by this Sherlock-Holmes-like reading of
+his thoughts, pulled himself together, and said, 'Ah--just so. I think
+it very possible.'
+
+'I do not agree with you,' said Merevale. 'I know Thomson well, and I
+think he is the last boy to do such a thing. He is neither a fool nor a
+coward, to put it shortly, and he would need to have a great deal of
+both in him to run away.'
+
+The Head looked slightly relieved at this.
+
+'You--ah--think so?' he said.
+
+'I certainly do. In the first place, where, unless he went home, would
+he run to? And as he would be going home in a couple of days in the
+ordinary course of things, he would hardly be foolish enough to risk
+expulsion in such a way.'
+
+Mr Merevale always rather enjoyed his straight talks with the
+Headmaster. Unlike most of his colleagues he stood in no awe of him
+whatever. He always found him ready to listen to sound argument, and,
+what was better, willing to be convinced. It was so in this case.
+
+'Then I think we may dismiss that idea,' said the Head with visible
+relief. The idea of such a scandal occurring at St Austin's had filled
+him with unfeigned horror. 'And now I think it would be as well to go
+across to your House and hear what Welch has to say about the matter.
+Unless Thomson returns soon--and it is already past nine o'clock--we
+shall have to send out search-parties.'
+
+Five minutes later Welch, enjoying a sound beauty-sleep, began to be
+possessed of a vague idea that somebody was trying to murder him. His
+subsequent struggles for life partially woke him, and enabled him to
+see dimly that two figures were standing by his bed.
+
+'Yes?' he murmured sleepily, turning over on to his side again, and
+preparing to doze off. The shaking continued. This was too much. 'Look
+here,' said he fiercely, sitting up. Then he recognized his visitors.
+As his eye fell on Merevale, he wondered whether anything had occurred
+to bring down his wrath upon him. Perhaps he had gone to bed without
+leave, and was being routed out to read at prayers or do some work? No,
+he remembered distinctly getting permission to turn in. What then could
+be the matter?
+
+At this point he recognized the Headmaster, and the last mists of sleep
+left him.
+
+'Yes, sir?' he said, wide-awake now.
+
+Merevale put the case briefly and clearly to him. 'Sorry to disturb
+you, Welch. I know you are tired.'
+
+'Not at all, sir,' said Welch, politely.
+
+'But there is something we must ask you. You probably do not know that
+Thomson has not returned?'
+
+'Not returned!'
+
+'No. Nobody knows where he is. You were probably the last to see him.
+What happened when you and he started for the long run this afternoon?
+You lost sight of the rest, did you not?'
+
+'Yes, sir.'
+
+'Well?'
+
+'And Thomson dropped out.'
+
+'Ah.' This from the Headmaster.
+
+'Yes, sir. He said he couldn't go any farther. He told me to go on.
+And, of course, I did, as it was a race. I advised him to go back to
+the House and change. He looked regularly done up. I think he ran too
+hard in the mile yesterday.'
+
+The Head spoke.
+
+'I thought that some such thing must have happened. Where was it that
+he dropped out, Welch?'
+
+'It was just as we came to a long ploughed field, sir, by the side of a
+big wood.'
+
+'Parker's Spinney, I expect,' put in Merevale.
+
+'Yes, sir. About a mile from the College.'
+
+'And you saw nothing more of him after that?' enquired the Headmaster.
+
+'No, sir. He was lying on his back when I left him. I should think some
+of the others must have seen him after I did. He didn't look as if he
+was likely to get up for some time.'
+
+'Well,' said the Head, as he and Merevale went out of the room, leaving
+Welch to his slumbers, 'we have gained little by seeing Welch. I had
+hoped for something more. I must send the prefects out to look for
+Thomson at once.'
+
+'It will be a difficult business,' said Merevale, refraining--to his
+credit be it said--from a mention of needles and haystacks. 'We have
+nothing to go upon. He may be anywhere for all we know. I suppose it is
+hardly likely that he is still where Welch left him?'
+
+The Head seemed to think this improbable. 'That would scarcely be the
+case unless he were very much exhausted. It is more than five hours
+since Welch saw him. I can hardly believe that the worst exhaustion
+would last so long. However, if you would kindly tell your
+House-prefects of this--'
+
+'And send them out to search?'
+
+'Yes. We must do all we can. Tell them to begin searching where Thomson
+was last seen. I will go round to the other Houses. Dear me, this is
+exceedingly annoying. Exceedingly so.'
+
+Merevale admitted that it was, and, having seen his visitor out of the
+House, went to the studies to speak to his prefects. He found Charteris
+and Tony together in the former's sanctum.
+
+'Has anything been heard about Thomson, sir?' said Tony, as he entered.
+
+'That is just what I want to see you about. Graham, will you go and
+bring the rest of the prefects here?'
+
+'Now,' he said, as Tony returned with Swift and Daintree, the two
+remaining House-prefects, 'you all know, of course, that Thomson is not
+in the House. The Headmaster wants you to go and look for him. Welch
+seems to have been the last to see him, and he left him lying in a
+ploughed field near Parker's Spinney. You all know Parker's Spinney, I
+suppose?'
+
+'Yes, sir.'
+
+'Then you had better begin searching from there. Go in twos if you
+like, or singly. Don't all go together. I want you all to be back by
+eleven. All got watches?'
+
+'Yes, sir.'
+
+'Good. You'd better take lanterns of some sort. I think I can raise a
+bicycle lamp each, and there is a good moon. Look everywhere, and shout
+as much as you like. I think he must have sprained an ankle or
+something. He is probably lying somewhere unable to move, and too far
+away from the road to make his voice heard to anyone. If you start now,
+you will have just an hour and a half. You should have found him by
+then. The prefects from the other Houses will help you.'
+
+Daintree put in a pertinent question.
+
+'How about trespassing, sir?'
+
+'Oh, go where you like. In reason, you know. Don't go getting the
+School mixed up in any unpleasantness, of course, but remember that
+your main object is to find Thomson. You all understand?'
+
+'Yes, sir.'
+
+'Very good. Then start at once.'
+
+'By Jove,' said Swift, when he had gone, 'what an unholy rag! This
+suits yours truly. Poor old Jim, though. I wonder what the deuce has
+happened to him?'
+
+At that very moment the Headmaster, leaving Philpott's House to go to
+Prater's, was wondering the same thing. In spite of Mr Merevale's
+argument, he found himself drifting back to his former belief that Jim
+had run away. What else could keep him out of his House more than three
+hours after lock-up? And he had had some reason for running away, for
+the _conscia mens recti,_ though an excellent institution in
+theory, is not nearly so useful an ally as it should be in practice.
+The Head knocked at Prater's door, pondering darkly within himself.
+
+
+
+
+[17]
+
+'WE'LL PROCEED TO SEARCH FOR THOMSON IF HE BE ABOVE THE GROUND'
+
+
+'How sweet the moonlight sleeps on yonder haystack,' observed Charteris
+poetically, as he and Tony, accompanied by Swift and Daintree, made
+their way across the fields to Parker's Spinney. Each carried a bicycle
+lamp, and at irregular intervals each broke into piercing yells, to the
+marked discomfort of certain birds roosting in the neighbourhood, who
+burst noisily from the trees, and made their way with visible disgust
+to quieter spots.
+
+'There's one thing,' said Swift, 'we ought to hear him if he yells on a
+night like this. A yell ought to travel about a mile.'
+
+'Suppose we try one now,' said Charteris. 'Now. A concerted piece,
+_andante_ in six-eight time. Ready?'
+
+The next moment the stillness of the lovely spring night was shattered
+by a hideous uproar.
+
+'R.S.V.P.,' said Charteris to space in general, as the echoes died
+away. But there was no answer, though they waited several minutes on
+the chance of hearing some sound that would indicate Jim's whereabouts.
+
+'If he didn't hear that,' observed Tony, 'he can't be within three
+miles, that's a cert. We'd better separate, I think.'
+
+They were at the ploughed field by Parker's Spinney now.
+
+'Anybody got a coin?' asked Daintree. 'Let's toss for directions.'
+
+Charteris produced a shilling.
+
+'My ewe lamb,' he said. 'Tails.'
+
+Tails it was. Charteris expressed his intention of striking westward
+and drawing the Spinney. He and Tony made their way thither, Swift and
+Daintree moving off together in the opposite direction.
+
+'This is jolly rum,' said Tony, as they entered the Spinney. 'I wonder
+where the deuce the man has got to?'
+
+'Yes. It's beastly serious, really, but I'm hanged if I can help
+feeling as if I were out on a picnic. I suppose it's the night air.'
+
+'I wonder if we shall find him?'
+
+'Not the slightest chance in my opinion. There's not the least good in
+looking through this forsaken Spinney. Still, we'd better do it.'
+
+'Yes. Don't make a row. We're trespassing.'
+
+They moved on in silence. Half-way through the wood Charteris caught
+his foot in a hole and fell.
+
+'Hurt?' said Tony.
+
+'Only in spirit, thanks. The absolute dashed foolishness of this is
+being rapidly borne in upon me, Tony. What _is_ the good of it? We
+shan't find him here.'
+
+Tony put his foot down upon these opinions with exemplary promptitude.
+
+'We must go on trying. Hang it all, if it comes to the worst, it's
+better than frousting indoors.'
+
+'Tony, you're a philosopher. Lead on, Macduff.'
+
+Tony was about to do so, when a form appeared in front of him, blocking
+the way. He flashed his lamp at the form, and the form, prefacing its
+remarks with a good, honest swearword--of a variety peculiar to that
+part of the country--requested him, without any affectation of
+ceremonious courtesy, to take his something-or-other lamp out of his
+(the form's) what's-its-named face, and state his business briefly.
+
+'Surely I know that voice,' said Charteris. 'Archibald, my long-lost
+brother.'
+
+The keeper failed to understand him, and said so tersely.
+
+'Can you tell _me_,' went on Charteris, 'if you have seen such a
+thing as a boy in this Spinney lately? We happen to have lost one. An
+ordinary boy. No special markings. His name is Thomson, on the Grampian
+Hills--'
+
+At this point the keeper felt that he had had enough. He made a dive
+for the speaker.
+
+Charteris dodged behind Tony, and his assailant, not observing this,
+proceeded to lay violent hands upon the latter, who had been standing
+waiting during the conversation.
+
+'Let go, you fool,' cried he. The keeper's hand had come smartly into
+contact with his left eye, and from there had taken up a position on
+his shoulder. In reply the keeper merely tightened his grip.
+
+'I'll count three,' said Tony, 'and--'
+
+The keeper's hand shifted to his collar.
+
+'All right, then,' said Tony between his teeth. He hit up with his left
+at the keeper's wrist. The hand on his collar loosed its grip. Its
+owner rushed, and as he came, Tony hit him in the parts about the third
+waistcoat-button with his right. He staggered and fell. Tony hit very
+hard when the spirit moved him.
+
+'Come on, man,' said Charteris quickly, 'before he gets his wind again.
+We mustn't be booked trespassing.'
+
+Tony recognized the soundness of the advice. They were out of the
+Spinney in two minutes.
+
+'Now,' said Charteris, 'let's do a steady double to the road. This is
+no place for us. Come on, you man of blood.'
+
+When they reached the road they slowed down to a walk again. Charteris
+laughed.
+
+'I feel just as if we'd done a murder, somehow. What an ass that fellow
+was to employ violence. He went down all right, didn't he?'
+
+'Think there'll be a row?'
+
+'No. Should think not. He didn't see us properly. Anyhow, he was
+interfering with an officer in the performance of his duty. So were we,
+I suppose. Well, let's hope for the best. Hullo!'
+
+'What's up?'
+
+'All right. It's only somebody coming down the road. Thought it might
+be the keeper at first. Why, it's Biffen.'
+
+It was Biffen. He looked at them casually as he came up, but stopped
+short in surprise when he saw who they were.
+
+'Mr Charteris!'
+
+'The same,' said Charteris. 'Enjoying a moonlight stroll, Biffen?'
+
+'But what are you doing out of the 'ouse at this time of night, Mr
+Charteris?'
+
+'It's this way,' said Tony, 'all the House-prefects have been sent out
+to look for Thomson. He's not come back.'
+
+'Not come back, sir!'
+
+'No. Bit queer, isn't it? The last anybody saw of him was when he
+dropped out of the long race near Parker's Spinney.'
+
+'I seen him later than that, Mr Graham. He come on to the grounds while
+I was mowing the cricket field.'
+
+'Not really? When was that?'
+
+'Four. 'Alf past four, nearly.'
+
+'What became of him?'
+
+''E went off with Mr MacArthur. Mr MacArthur took 'im off 'ome with
+'im, I think, sir.'
+
+'By Jove,' said Charteris with enthusiasm. 'Now we _are_ on the
+track. Thanks awfully, Biffen, I'll remember you in my will. Come on,
+Tony.'
+
+'Where are you going now?'
+
+'Babe's place, of course. The Babe holds the clue to this business. We
+must get it out of him. 'Night, Biffen.'
+
+'Good-night, sir.'
+
+Arrived at the Babe's residence, they rang the bell, and, in the
+interval of waiting for the door to be opened, listened with envy to
+certain sounds of revelry which filtered through the windows of a room
+to the right of the porch.
+
+'The Babe seems to be making a night of it,' said Charteris. 'Oh'--as
+the servant opened the door--'can we see Mr MacArthur, please?'
+
+The servant looked doubtful on the point.
+
+'There's company tonight, sir.'
+
+'I knew he was making a night of it,' said Charteris to Tony. 'It's not
+Mr MacArthur we want to see. It's--dash it, what's the Babe's name?'
+
+'Robert, I believe. Wouldn't swear to it.'
+
+'Mr Robert. Is he in?' It seemed to Charteris that the form of this
+question smacked of Ollendorf. He half expected the servant to say 'No,
+but he has the mackintosh of his brother's cousin'. It produced the
+desired effect, however, for after inviting them to step in, the
+servant disappeared, and the Babe came on the scene, wearing a
+singularly prosperous expression, as if he had dined well.
+
+'Hullo, you chaps,' he said.
+
+'Sir to you,' said Charteris. 'Look here, Babe, we want to know what
+you have done with Jim. He was seen by competent witnesses to go off
+with you, and he's not come back. If you've murdered him, you might let
+us have the body.'
+
+'Not come back! Rot. Are you certain?'
+
+'My dear chap, every House-prefect on the list has been sent out to
+look for him. When did he leave here?'
+
+The Babe reflected.
+
+'Six, I should think. Little after, perhaps. Why--oh Lord!'
+
+He broke off suddenly.
+
+'What's up?' asked Tony.
+
+'Why I sent him by a short cut through some woods close by here, and
+I've only just remembered there's a sort of quarry in the middle of
+them. I'll bet he's in there.'
+
+'Great Scott, man, what sort of a quarry? I like the calm way the Babe
+talks of sending unsuspecting friends into quarries. Deep?'
+
+'Not very, thank goodness. Still, if he fell down he might not be able
+to get up again, especially if he'd hurt himself at all. Half a second.
+Let me get on some boots, and I'll come out and look. Shan't be long.
+
+When he came back, the three of them set out for the quarry.
+
+'There you are,' cried the Babe, with an entirely improper pride in his
+voice, considering the circumstances. 'What did I tell you?' Out of the
+darkness in front of them came a shout. They recognized the voice at
+once as Jim's.
+
+Tony uttered a yell of encouragement, and was darting forward to the
+spot from which the cry had come, when the Babe stopped him. 'Don't do
+that, man,' he said. 'You'll be over yourself, if you don't look out.
+It's quite close here.'
+
+He flashed one of the lamps in front of him. The light fell on a black
+opening in the ground, and Jim's voice sounded once more from the
+bowels of the earth, this time quite close to where they stood.
+
+'Jim,' shouted Charteris, 'where are you?'
+
+'Hullo,' said the voice, 'who's that? You might lug me out of here.'
+
+'Are you hurt?'
+
+'Twisted my ankle.'
+
+'How far down are you?'
+
+'Not far. Ten feet, about. Can't you get me out?'
+
+'Half a second,' said the Babe, 'I'll go and get help. You chaps had
+better stay here and talk to him.' He ran off.
+
+'How many of you are there up there?' asked Jim.
+
+'Only Tony and myself,' said Charteris.
+
+'Thought I heard somebody else.'
+
+'Oh, that was the Babe. He's gone off to get help.'
+
+'Oh. When he comes back, wring his neck, and heave him down here,' said
+Jim. 'I want a word with him on the subject of short cuts. I say, is
+there much excitement about this?'
+
+'Rather. All the House-prefects are out after you. We've been looking
+in Parker's Spinney, and Tony was reluctantly compelled to knock out a
+keeper who tried to stop us. You should have been there. It was a rag.'
+
+'Wish I had been. Hullo, is that the Babe come back?'
+
+It was. The Babe, with his father and a party of friends arrayed in
+evening dress. They carried a ladder amongst them.
+
+The pungent remarks Jim had intended to address to the Babe had no
+opportunity of active service. It was not the Babe who carried him up
+the ladder, but two of the dinner-party. Nor did the Babe have a hand
+in the carrying of the stretcher. That was done by as many of the
+evening-dress brigade as could get near enough. They seemed to enjoy
+it. One of them remarked that it reminded him of South Africa. To which
+another replied that it was far more like a party of policemen
+gathering in an 'early drunk' in the Marylebone Road. The procession
+moved on its stately way to the Babe's father's house, and the last
+Tony and Charteris saw of Jim, he was the centre of attraction, and
+appeared to be enjoying himself very much.
+
+Charteris envied him, and did not mind saying so.
+
+'Why can't _I_ smash my ankle?' he demanded indignantly of Tony.
+
+He was nearing section five, sub-section three, of his discourse, when
+they reached Merevale's gates. It was after eleven, but they felt that
+the news they were bringing entitled them to be a little late.
+Charteris brought his arguments to a premature end, and Tony rang the
+bell. Merevale himself opened the door to them.
+
+
+
+
+[18]
+
+IN WHICH THE AFFAIRS OF VARIOUS PERSONS ARE WOUND UP
+
+
+'Well,' he said, 'you're rather late. Any luck?'
+
+'We've found him, sir,' said Tony.
+
+'Really? That's a good thing. Where was he?'
+
+'He'd fallen down a sort of quarry place near where MacArthur lives.
+MacArthur took him home with him to tea, and sent him back by a short
+cut, forgetting all about the quarry, and Thomson fell in and couldn't
+get out again.'
+
+'Is he hurt?'
+
+'Only twisted his ankle, sir.'
+
+'Then where is he now?'
+
+'They carried him back to the house.'
+
+'MacArthur's house?'
+
+'Yes, sir.'
+
+'Oh, well, I suppose he will be all right then. Graham, just go across
+and report to the Headmaster, will you? You'll find him in his study.'
+
+The Head was immensely relieved to hear Tony's narrative. After much
+internal debate he had at last come to the conclusion that Jim must
+have run away, and he had been wondering how he should inform his
+father of the fact.
+
+'You are certain that he is not badly hurt, Graham?' he said, when Tony
+had finished his story.
+
+'Yes, sir. It's only his ankle.'
+
+'Very good. Good-night, Graham.'
+
+The Head retired to bed that night filled with a virtuous resolve to
+seek Jim out on the following day, and speak a word in season to him on
+the subject of crime in general and betting in particular. This plan he
+proceeded to carry out as soon as afternoon school was over. When,
+however, he had arrived at the Babe's house, he found that there was
+one small thing which he had left out of his calculations. He had
+counted on seeing the invalid alone. On entering the sick-room he found
+there Mrs MacArthur, looking as if she intended to remain where she sat
+for several hours--which, indeed, actually was her intention--and Miss
+MacArthur, whose face and attitude expressed the same, only, if
+anything, more so. The fact was that the Babe, a very monument of
+resource on occasions, had, as he told Jim, 'given them the tip not to
+let the Old Man get at him, unless he absolutely chucked them out, you
+know'. When he had seen the Headmaster approaching, he had gone
+hurriedly to Jim's room to mention the fact, with excellent results.
+
+The Head took a seat by the bed, and asked, with a touch of
+nervousness, after the injured ankle. This induced Mrs MacArthur to
+embark on a disquisition concerning the ease with which ankles are
+twisted, from which she drifted easily into a discussion of Rugby
+football, its merits and demerits. The Head, after several vain
+attempts to jerk the conversation into other grooves, gave it up, and
+listened for some ten minutes to a series of anecdotes about various
+friends and acquaintances of Mrs MacArthur's who had either twisted
+their own ankles or known people who had twisted theirs. The Head began
+to forget what exactly he had come to say that afternoon. Jim lay and
+grinned covertly through it all. When the Head did speak, his first
+words roused him effectually.
+
+'I suppose, Mrs MacArthur, your son has told you that we have had a
+burglary at the School?'
+
+'Hang it,' thought Jim, 'this isn't playing the game at all. Why talk
+shop, especially that particular brand of shop, here?' He wondered if
+the Head intended to describe the burglary, and then spring to his feet
+with a dramatic wave of the hand towards him, and say, 'There, Mrs
+MacArthur, is the criminal! There lies the viper on whom you have
+lavished your hospitality, the snaky and systematic serpent you have
+been induced by underhand means to pity. Look upon him, and loathe him.
+_He_ stole the cups!'
+
+'Yes, indeed,' replied Mrs MacArthur, 'I have heard a great deal about
+it. I suppose you have never found out who it was that did it?'
+
+Jim lay back resignedly. After all, he had not done it, and if the Head
+liked to say he had, well, let him. _He_ didn't care.
+
+'Yes, Mrs MacArthur, we have managed to discover him.'
+
+'And who was it?' asked Mrs MacArthur, much interested.
+
+'Now for it,' said Jim to himself.
+
+'We found that it was a man living in the village, who had been doing
+some work on the School grounds. He had evidently noticed the value of
+the cups, and determined to try his hand at appropriating them. He is
+well known as a poacher in the village, it seems. I think that for the
+future he will confine himself to that--ah--industry, for he is hardly
+likely ever to--ah--shine as a professional house-breaker. No.'
+
+'Oh, well, that must be a relief to you, I am sure, Mr Perceval. These
+poachers are a terrible nuisance. They do frighten the birds so.'
+
+She spoke as if it were an unamiable eccentricity on the part of the
+poachers, which they might be argued out of, if the matter were put
+before them in a reasonable manner. The Head agreed with her and rose
+to go. Jim watched him out of the room and then breathed a deep,
+satisfying breath of relief. His troubles were at an end.
+
+In the meantime Barrett, who, having no inkling as to the rate at which
+affairs had been progressing since his visit to the Dingle, still
+imagined that the secret of the hollow tree belonged exclusively to
+Reade, himself, and one other, was much exercised in his mind about it.
+Reade candidly confessed himself baffled by the problem. Give him
+something moderately straightforward, and he was all right. This secret
+society and dark lantern style of affair was, he acknowledged, beyond
+him. And so it came about that Barrett resolved to do the only thing he
+could think of, and go to the Head about it. But before he had come to
+this decision, the Head had received another visit from Mr Roberts, as
+a result of which the table where Sir Alfred Venner had placed
+Plunkett's pipe and other accessories so dramatically during a previous
+interview, now bore another burden--the missing cups.
+
+Mr Roberts had gone to the Dingle in person, and, by adroit use of the
+divinity which hedges a detective, had persuaded a keeper to lead him
+to the tree where, as Mr Stokes had said, the cups had been deposited.
+
+The Head's first act, on getting the cups, was to send for Welch, to
+whom by right of conquest they belonged. Welch arrived shortly before
+Barrett. The Head was just handing him his prizes when the latter came
+into the room. It speaks well for Barrett's presence of mind that he
+had grasped the situation and decided on his line of action before
+Welch went, and the Head turned his attention to him.
+
+'Well, Barrett?' said the Head.
+
+'If you please, sir,' said Barrett, blandly, 'may I have leave to go to
+Stapleton?'
+
+'Certainly, Barrett. Why do you wish to go?'
+
+This was something of a poser, but Barrett's brain worked quickly.
+
+'I wanted to send a telegram, sir.'
+
+'Very well. But'--with suspicion--'why did you not ask Mr Philpott?
+Your House-master can give you leave to go to Stapleton.'
+
+'I couldn't find him, sir.' This was true, for he had not looked.
+
+'Ah. Very well.'
+
+'Thank you, sir.'
+
+And Barrett went off to tell Reade that in some mysterious manner the
+cups had come back on their own account.
+
+When Jim had congratulated himself that everything had ended happily,
+at any rate as far as he himself was concerned, he had forgotten for
+the moment that at present he had only one pound to his credit instead
+of the two which he needed. Charteris, however, had not. The special
+number of _The Glow Worm_ was due on the following day, and Jim's
+accident left a considerable amount of 'copy' to be accounted for. He
+questioned Tony on the subject.
+
+'Look here, Tony, have you time to do any more stuff for _The Glow
+Worm?_
+
+'My dear chap,' said Tony, 'I've not half done my own bits. Ask Welch.'
+
+'I asked him just now. He can't. Besides, he only writes at about the
+rate of one word a minute, and we must get it all in by tonight at
+bed-time. I'm going to sit up as it is to jellygraph it. What's up?'
+
+Tony's face had assumed an expression of dismay.
+
+'Why,' he said, 'Great Scott, I never thought of it before. If we
+jellygraph it, our handwriting'll be recognized, and that will give the
+whole show away.'
+
+Charteris took a seat, and faced this difficulty in all its aspects.
+The idea had never occurred to him before. And yet it should have been
+obvious.
+
+'I'll have to copy the whole thing out in copper-plate,' he said
+desperately at last. 'My aunt, what a job.'
+
+'I'll help,' said Tony. 'Welch will, too, I should think, if you ask
+him. How many jelly machine things can you raise?'
+
+'I've got three. One for each of us. Wait a bit, I'll go and ask
+Welch.'
+
+Welch, having first ascertained that the matter really was a pressing
+one, agreed without hesitation. He had objections to spoiling his sleep
+without reason, but in moments of emergency he put comfort behind him.
+
+'Good,' said Charteris, when this had been settled, 'be here as soon as
+you can after eleven. I tell you what, we'll do the thing in style, and
+brew. It oughtn't to take more than an hour or so. It'll be rather a
+rag than otherwise.'
+
+'And how about Jim's stuff?' asked Welch.
+
+'I shall have to do that, as you can't. I've done my own bits. I think
+I'd better start now.' He did, and with success. When he went to bed at
+half-past ten, _The Glow Worm_ was ready in manuscript. Only the
+copying and printing remained to be done.
+
+Charteris was out of bed and in the study just as eleven struck. Tony
+and Welch, arriving half-an-hour later, found him hard at work copying
+out an article of topical interest in a fair, round hand, quite
+unrecognizable as his own.
+
+It was an impressive scene. The gas had been cut off, as it always was
+when the House went to bed, and they worked by the light of candles.
+Occasionally Welch, breathing heavily in his efforts to make his
+handwriting look like that of a member of a board-school (second
+standard), blew one or more of the candles out, and the others grunted
+fiercely. That was all they could do, for, for evident reasons, a vow
+of silence had been imposed. Charteris was the first to finish. He
+leant back in his chair, and the chair, which at a reasonable hour of
+the day would have endured any treatment, collapsed now with a noise
+like a pistol-shot.
+
+'Now you've done it,' said Tony, breaking all rules by speaking
+considerably above a whisper.
+
+Welch went to the door, and listened. The House was still. They settled
+down once more to work. Charteris lit the spirit-lamp, and began to
+prepare the meal. The others toiled painfully on at their round-hand.
+They finished almost simultaneously.
+
+'Not another stroke do I do,' said Tony, 'till I've had something to
+drink. Is that water boiling yet?'
+
+It was at exactly a quarter past two that the work was finished.
+
+'Never again,' said Charteris, looking with pride at the piles of
+_Glow Worms_ stacked on the table; 'this jelly business makes one
+beastly sticky. I think we'll keep to print in future.'
+
+And they did. Out of the twenty or more numbers of _The Glow Worm_
+published during Charteris' stay at School, that was the only one that
+did not come from the press. Readers who have themselves tried
+jellygraphing will sympathize. It is a curious operation, but most
+people will find one trial quite sufficient. That special number,
+however, reached a record circulation. The School had got its
+journey-money by the time it appeared, and wanted something to read in
+the train. Jim's pound was raised with ease.
+
+Charteris took it round to him at the Babe's house, together with a
+copy of the special number.
+
+'By Jove,' said Jim. 'Thanks awfully. Do you know, I'd absolutely
+forgotten all about _The Glow Worm_. I was to have written
+something for this number, wasn't I?'
+
+And, considering the circumstances, that remark, as Charteris was at
+some pains to explain to him at the time, contained--when you came to
+analyse it--more cynical immorality to the cubic foot than any other
+half-dozen remarks he (Charteris) had ever heard in his life.
+
+'It passes out of the realm of the merely impudent,' he said, with a
+happy recollection of a certain favourite author of his, 'and soars
+into the boundless empyrean of pure cheek.'
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Pothunters, by P. G. Wodehouse
+
+*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE POTHUNTERS ***
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