CHAPTER X.
A SCREW LOOSE IN THE SIXTH.
For the time being the three friends forgot their own troubles in theireagerness to hear "Rat's" description of certain events which hadhappened during their absence from Ronleigh.
"Look sharp; out with it!" they exclaimed. "What's happened?"
"Well," began Rathson, "it all came out through young Bayley acting thefool and spraining his ankle. You know we had the paper-chase thismorning, and the hares ran out to Arrow Hill, and back again round bythe canal and Birksam Church. Just after we'd rounded the hill, youngBayley jumped off the top of a high hedge, and twisted his foot so badlythat he couldn't stand up. As it happened, there was a check just then,and Carton ran forward and told Allingford what had happened. He andOaks came back, and said the only thing would be to get himto Chatton station, and so home by train. It was awfully decent ofthose chaps. They carried Bayley all the way, and then Oaks went homewith him, and Allingford walked back, and so, of course, they missedhalf the run. Awfully brickish of them I call it, considering that itwas only a kid like Bayley."
The Triple Alliance gave a murmur of assent.
"Was that what the row's about?" asked Diggory.
"Oh, bless you, no; I haven't come to that yet. After he'd seen Oaksand Bayley into the train, old Ally started to walk home. There's alittle 'pub' about half a mile out of Chatton called the Black Swan, andhe thought he'd call and ask if they'd seen the fellows pass. You knowThurston the prefect, that chap who came to the door when we were havingthat meeting in the 'old lab.' Well, now, if he and Mouler, and two orthree more of that sort, weren't sitting in the taproom, smoking, anddrinking beer, and having a regular high old time. They'd lagged behindon purpose. Of course Allingford kicked them all out, and he and'Thirsty' had a frightful row. They say the big chaps want to hush thematter up as far as they can, and not report it to old Denson, for fearhe'd make it an excuse to put a stop to paper-chasing. Ally slangedThurston right and left, and told him that if he chose to drink beer ina low 'pub' with the biggest blackguards in the school, he needn'texpect that the fellows in the Sixth would have anything to do with him,and that he ought to send in his resignation as a prefect."
On entering the school buildings, our three friends were convinced ofthe truth of their comrade's story, and on their way to the schoolroomthe question was repeated at least half a dozen times--"Have you heardabout old 'Thirsty' being cobbed in the Black Swan?" Diggory thought ofthe conversation he had overheard in Acton's study, and mentioned it toCarton.
"Yes," answered the latter. "Big Fletcher's a beast. I know Thurston'svery chummy with him, but I don't see that's got much to do with it.My brother, who left last term, said that 'Thirsty' used to be rather ajolly chap, only he's got a fearful temper when he's crossed. Most ofthe chaps like him as a prefect, because as long as you don't interferewith him he doesn't seem to care much what any one does. The real thingis he's going to the dogs, and, as Allingford says, he ought to resign."
Away in one of the Sixth Form studies the subject of their conversationwas sitting with his hands in his pockets, frowning at the fire. He wasroused from his reverie by some one putting his head round the corner ofthe door and exclaiming,--
"Hullo, 'Thirsty!'"
"Hullo, Fletcher! where on earth have you been all the evening?"
The new-comer was tall and lanky; he had a sharp, foxy-looking face,with thin, straight lips, and two deep lines which looked almost likescars between the eyebrows. He shut the door, and dragging forward achair, sat down with his feet on the fender, and commenced warming hishands at the fire.
"Oh, I've been nowhere in particular," he answered, laughing. "But Isay, young man, you seem to have raised a pretty good hornets' nestabout your ears along this corridor."
"Yes, I know; they've had the cheek to send me that!"
He leaned back as he spoke, and taking a piece of paper from the table,tossed it across to his friend. It was a letter signed by most of theprefects, suggesting that he should send in his resignation.
"Humph!" said Fletcher; "that's a nice sort of a round robin, don't youcall it? Well, what are you going to do?"
"Oh, I shall resign and have done with it. I'm sick of having tomasquerade about as a good boy. I mean to do what I like."
"Pooh!" returned the other. "Now that you are a prefect, I wouldn'tgive up all the privileges and the right to go out and come in when youlike just because a strait-laced chap like Allingford chooses to takeoffence at something you do. They can't force you to resign unless theygo to the doctor, and they won't do that. I know what I'd do: I'd tellthem pretty straight to go and be hanged, and keep their sermonizing tothemselves."
Thurston turned on the speaker with a sudden burst of anger.
"Oh yes!" he exclaimed; "you're always saying you'd do this and do that,but when the time comes you turn tail and sneak away. Look here: youwere the one who proposed going into the Black Swan this morning, andwhen young Mouler said Allingford was coming, you slipped out of theback door and left us to face the shindy."
"Well," returned the other, laughing, "I thought you chaps were going tobolt too. I hopped over the wall at the back into the field, and waitedthere for about a quarter of an hour, and then, as no one came, I madetracks home."
"That's all very fine. You took precious good care to save your ownbacon; you always do."
"Oh, go on!" answered Fletcher, rising from his chair; "you're in a waxto-night. Well, ta, ta! Don't you resign."
This little passage of arms was not the first of the kind that had takenplace between Fletcher and Thurston, and it did not prevent a renewal oftheir friendship on the morrow.
The latter, following either his own inclination or the advice of hischum, decided not to resign his position as a prefect, and in a fewdays' time the majority of the school had wellnigh forgotten thefracas at the Black Swan.
Among those in high places, however, the affair was not so easilyoverlooked. The big fellows kept their own counsel, but it soon becameevident that Thurston was being "cut" and cold-shouldered by the othermembers of the Sixth; while he, for his part, as though by way ofretaliation, began to hob-nob more freely than ever with boys lower downin the school and of decidedly questionable character.
"It's awfully bad form of a chap who's a prefect chumming up with afellow like Mouler in the Upper Fourth," said Carton one afternoon."I wonder old 'Thirsty' isn't ashamed to do it. And now he's handand glove with those chaps Hawley and Gull in the Fifth; they've bothgot heaps of money, but they're frightful cads."
From the morning following their return to Ronleigh the Triple Alliancehad been kept in a continual state of uneasiness and suspense, wonderingwhat action Noaks would take regarding his discovery of their visit toThe Hermitage.
The days passed by, and still he made no further reference to thematter, and took no notice of any of the three friends when he happenedto pass them in the passages. The fact was that for the time being hisattention was turned in another direction. Like most fellows of hiskind, Noaks was a regular toady, ready to do anything in return for theprivilege of being able to rub shoulders occasionally with some one in ahigher position than himself, and he eagerly seized the opportunitywhich his friendship with Mouler afforded him of becoming intimate withThurston. It was rather a fine thing for a boy in the Upper Fourth tobe accosted in a familiar manner by a prefect, and asked sometimes tovisit the latter in his study; and when such things were possible, itwas hardly worth while to spend time and attention in carrying on a feudwith youngsters in the Third Form. But Noaks had never forgotten thedouble humiliation he had suffered at Chatford--first in being sent offthe football field, and again in the disastrous ending to the attemptedraid on the Birchites' fireworks; nor had he forgiven the TripleAlliance for the part which they had played, especially on the latteroccasion, in bringing shame and confusion on the heads of thePhilistines.
One morning, nearly a month after the half-term holiday
, the threefriends were strolling arm in arm through the archway leading from thequadrangle to the paved playground, when they came face to face withtheir old enemy. He was about to push past them without speaking; then,seeming suddenly to change his mind, he pulled up, took something fromhis pocket, and handing it to Jack Vance, said shortly,--
"There! I thought you'd like to see that; it seems a good chance toearn some pocket-money."
The packet turned out to be a copy of the Todderton weekly paper.
"I've marked the place," added Noaks, turning on his heel with asneering laugh; "you needn't give it me back."
A cross of blue chalk had been placed against a short paragraphappearing under the heading "Local Notes." Jack read it out loud for theedification of his two companions.
"We notice that Mr. Fossberry has offered a reward of 50 pounds for anyinformation which shall lead to the arrest of the thieves who enteredhis house some few weeks ago, and stole a valuable collection of coins.As yet the police have been unable to discover any further traces of themissing property, but it is to be hoped that before long the offenderswill be discovered and brought to justice."
There was a moment's silence.
"I wish I'd told my guv'nor," muttered Jack Vance.
"Well, tell him now," said Diggory.
"Oh no, I can't now; he'd wonder why I hadn't done it sooner. Besides,I believe Noaks is only doing this to frighten us; he can't prove thatwe stole the coins, because we didn't. All the same, it would be veryawkward if he sent the police that jack-knife, and told them he'd seenus climbing out of the old chap's window."
"Yes," answered Diggory; "I suppose it would look rather fishy.Bother him! why can't he leave us alone?"