d.i.c.k read--"_2_ reward. Lost or stolen from her moorings, on Templeton Strand, on the 4th inst, a lugger-rigged sailing boat, named the _Martha_. Any one giving information leading to the recovery of the boat--or if stolen, to the conviction of the thief--will receive the above reward. Police Station, Templeton."
d.i.c.k handed the ominous paper back with a long face.
"Here, take it. Whatever did you pull it off the post for?"
"I thought you"d like to see it," said Heathcote, putting the despised doc.u.ment into his pocket.
"So I did. Thanks, Georgie. We didn"t steal the boat, did we?"
"Rather not. Not like what he did to our money."
"No. That was downright robbery."
"With violence," added Heathcote.
"Of course. It was really Tom White"s fault the boat got adrift. It was so carelessly anch.o.r.ed."
"Yes. A puff of wind would have slipped that knot."
There was a pause.
"It"s plain he doesn"t guess anything," said d.i.c.k.
"Not likely. And he"s not likely to say anything about it, if he does."
"Of course not. It would mean transportation for him."
"After all, some one may have gone off with the boat. We can"t tell.
It was there all right when we saw it, wasn"t it?"
d.i.c.k looked at his friend. He could delude himself up to a certain point, but this plea wouldn"t quite wash.
"Most likely they"ll find it. It may have drifted round to Birkens, or some place like that. It"ll be all right, Georgie."
But the thoughts of that unlucky boat haunted their peace. That Tom White had only got his deserts they never questioned; but they would have been more comfortable if that loop had slipped itself.
Days went on, and still no tidings reached them. The bills faced them wherever they went, and once, as they pa.s.sed the boat-house with a crowd of other fellows, they received a shock by seeing Tom White himself sitting and smoking on a bench, and looking contemplatingly out to sea.
"There"s Tom White," said one of the group. "I say," shouted he, "have you found your boat, Tom?"
Tom looked up and scanned the group. Our heroes" hearts were in their boots as his eyes met theirs. But to their relief he did not know them.
A half-tipsy man on a dark night is not a good hand at remembering faces.
"Found her? No, I aren"t, young gentleman," said he.
"Hard lines. Hope you"ll get her back," said the boy. "I say, do you think any one stole her?"
"May be, may be not," replied the boatman.
"Jolly rum thing about that boat," said the spokesman of the party, as the boys continued their walk.
"I expect it got adrift somehow," said another.
"I don"t know," said the first. "I was speaking to a bobby about her: he says they think she was stolen; and fancy they"ve got a clue to the fellow."
Heathcote stumbled for no apparent reason at this particular moment, and it was quite amusing to see the concern on d.i.c.k"s face as he went to the rescue.
"Jolly low trick," continued the boy, who appeared to interest himself so deeply in Tom"s loss, "if any one really took the boat away. Tom will be ruined."
"Who do they think went off with her?" asked another.
"They don"t say; but they"re rather good at running things down, are our police. Do you recollect the way they bowled out the fellow who tried to burn the boat-house last year, and got him six months?"
This police gossip was so alarming to our two heroes, that they gave up taking walks along the beach, and retired to the privacy of the school boundaries, where there was no lack of occupation, indoor and out, to relieve the monotony of life.
A week after the Grandcourt match, a boy called Braider came up to d.i.c.k and asked to speak to him. Braider was in the Fourth, and d.i.c.k knew of him as a racketty, roystering sort of fellow, very popular with his own set--and thought something of by the Den, on account of some recent offences against monitorial authority.
"I say," said he to d.i.c.k, confidentially, "what do you say to belonging to our Club?"
"What Club?" asked d.i.c.k, scenting some new distinction, and getting light-headed in consequence.
"You"ll promise not to go telling everybody," said Braider. "We"re called the "Sociables," It"s a jolly enough lot. Only twenty of us, and we have suppers and concerts once a week. The thing is, it"s _awfully_ select, and a job to get into it. But your name was mentioned the other day, and I fancy you"d get in."
"I suppose Georgie Heathcote isn"t in it?" said d.i.c.k.
"Rather not!" said the other, mistaking his meaning; "he"d have no chance."
"He"s not a bad fellow," said d.i.c.k. "I wouldn"t mind if he was on."
"Well, there are two vacancies. What do you say for one?"
"Do I know the other fellows?"
"Most of them," and Braider repeated a string of names, among which were those of a few well-known heroes of the Fifth and Fourth.
"They"re all jolly fellows," said Braider, "and, back up one another like one o"clock. It was your plucky show up at Grandcourt that made them think of having you; and if you join you"ll just be in time for the next concert. What do you say?"
d.i.c.k didn"t like to say no; and not being a youth who dallied much between the positive and the negative, he said:
"All serene, Braider, if they really want it."
"Of course they do, old man," said Braider, in tones of satisfaction; "they"ll be jolly glad. Mind you don"t go talking about it to any one, you know. They"re very select, and don"t want all Templeton wanting to join."
"When"s the election?" asked d.i.c.k.
"Oh! to-day week. There"s one fellow, Culver, up against you; but he"s got no chance. One black ball in six excludes, so it"s always a close run."
"Do you think there would be any chance for young Heathcote?"