Having discharged this public duty our heroes resumed their seats just in time to witness the arrival of the usher of the court, followed by a man in a wig, and a couple of reporters.
"It"s getting hot, I say," said d.i.c.k, speaking more of his emotions than of the state of the atmosphere.
It got hotter rapidly; for two of the Templeton police appeared on the scene and looked hard at the front public bench. Then the solicitors"
seats filled up, and the magistrates" clerk bustled in to his table.
And before these alarming arrivals had well brought the perspiration to our heroes" brows, the appearance of two magistrates on the bench sent up the temperature to tropical.
"Order in the court!" cried the usher.
Whereupon Duffield, in his excitement, dropped a chocolate on the floor and turned pale as if expecting immediate sentence of death.
However, the worst was now over. And when it appeared that the two magistrates were bluff, good-humoured squires, who seemed to have no particular spite against anybody, and believed everything the clerk told them, the spirits of our heroes revived wonderfully, and Duffield"s bag travelled briskly in consequence.
To the relief of the "Firm," the first case was not Tom White"s. It was that of a vagrant who was charged with the heinous crimes of begging and being unable to give an account of herself. The active and intelligent police gave their evidence beautifully, and displayed an amount of shrewdness and heroism in the taking up of this wretched outcast which made every one wonder they were allowed to waste their talents in so humble a sphere as Templeton.
The magistrates put their heads together for a few seconds, and then summoned the clerk to put his head up, too, and the result of the consultation was that the poor creature was ordered to be taken in at the Union and cared for.
Duffield"s bag was getting very light by the time this humane decision was come to. Only one round was left, and that was deferred by mutual consent when the clerk called out "Thomas White!"
Our heroes sat up in their seats and fixed their eyes on the dock.
In a moment Tom White, as rollicking as ever, but unusually sober, stood in it, and gazed round the place in a half-dazed way.
As his eyes came down to the front public bench, our heroes" cheeks flushed and their eyes looked straight in front of them.
Duffield and Raggles, on the contrary, being the victims of no pangs of conscience, after looking hurriedly round to see that neither the magistrates, the police, nor the usher observed them, winked recognition at their old servant in distress.
This was too much for d.i.c.k. These two fellows who weren"t "in it" at all were backing Tom up in public, whereas his "Firm," who were in it, and had come down for the express purpose of looking after the prisoner, were doing nothing. "Better nod," he whispered.
And the "Firm" nodded, shyly but distinctly.
Tom White was not the sort of gentleman to cut his friends on an occasion like this, and he, seeing himself thus noticed, and recognising, in a vague sort of way, his patrons, favoured the front public bench with five very p.r.o.nounced nods, greatly to the embarra.s.sment of the young gentlemen there, and vastly to the indignation of the police and officials of the court.
"Order there, or the court will be cleared!" cried the clerk, in a tone of outraged propriety; "How dare you?"
Our heroes, not being in a position to answer the question by reason of their tongues being glued to the roofs of their mouths, remained silent, and tried as best they could to appear absorbed in the shape of their own boots.
"If such a thing occurs again," persisted the clerk, "their worships will take very serious notice of it."
"Their worships," who had not a ghost of an idea what the clerk was talking about, said "very serious," and asked that the case might proceed.
It proceeded, and under its cover our agitated heroes gradually raised their countenances from their boots, and felt their hearts, which had just now stood still, beating once more in their honest bosoms.
For any one not personally interested, the case was prosy enough.
A solicitor got up and said he appeared for Tom"s three partners, who charged him with pledging the _Martha_ and appropriating the money, whereas the _Martha_ belonged to the four of them, and Tom had no right to raise money on her except by mutual consent.
The three partners and the p.a.w.nbroker were put into the witness-box, and gave their evidence in a lame sort of way.
Tom was invited to ask any questions he desired of the witnesses, and said "Thank"ee, sir," to each offer. He had nothing that he "knowed of to ask them. He was an unfortunate labouring man that had lost his living, and he hoped gentlemen would remember him."
He accompanied this last appeal with a knowing look and grin at the occupants of the front public bench, who immediately blushed like turkey c.o.c.ks, and again dropped their heads towards their boots.
"Have you anything to say about the disappearance of the boat?" said the clerk, shuffling his notes.
"Only, your worship," said the solicitor, "that on the 4th of June last the _Martha_ disappeared from her berth on the beach, and, as White disappeared at the same time and refuses to give an account of himself at that particular time, the prosecutors are convinced he removed the boat himself."
In support of this very vague charge a policeman was called, who gave a graphic account of the beauties of the moonlight on the night in question, and of how he had seen, from his beat on the Parade, a figure move stealthily across the sands to the place where White"s boat was supposed to be. He couldn"t quite, swear that the figure was White or that the boat was the _Martha_ but he didn"t know who either could be if they were not. The figure might have been a boy, but, as he was a quarter of a mile off, he couldn"t say. He never left his beat till one in the morning. By that time the tide was in. He didn"t actually see Tom White row off in the _Martha_ but neither of them was to be seen in Templeton next day.
After this piece of conclusive evidence the public looked at one another and shook their heads, and thought what wonderful men the Templeton police were for finding out things.
"Have you any questions to ask the witness?" demanded the clerk of Tom.
"Thank"ee, no, sir; it"s all one to me," said Tom. "Bless yer! I never knows nothing about it till a young gentleman says to me, "They"re after you," says he; "scuttle off." So I scuttled off. Bless you, sir, I didn"t know I was doing harm."
Under this thunderbolt d.i.c.k almost collapsed. Fortunately, Tom"s short memory kept him from recognising him in the matter any more than the other occupants of the seat. He nodded generally to the young gentlemen as a body--a most compromising nod, and one which included all five in it meaning.
One of the magistrates who saw it looked up and asked genially:--
"You don"t mean to say it was one of those young gentlemen, prisoner?"
"Bless you, sir, likely as not. They young gentlemen, sir, always spare a trifle for a honest--"
"Yes, yes; we don"t want all that! If you have no more questions to ask the constable, the constable may stand down."
The constable stood down, and a brief consultation again ensued between the Bench and the clerk which d.i.c.k, firmly believing that it referred to him, watched with terrible interest.
"Yes," said the magistrate, looking up, "we remand the case for a week."
d.i.c.k breathed again. The storm had blown over after all. Not only had he himself escaped punishment for conspiring against the ends of justice, but Tom White had still another week during which something might turn up.
The court emptied rapidly as the case ended.
"Rather hot! wasn"t it?" said Duffield, as the five found themselves outside, solacing themselves with the last "go" of the creams.
"Awful!" said the "Firm" from the bottom of their hearts, and feeling that many afternoons like this would materially shorten their days.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
HOW OUR HEROES TURN THEIR ATTENTION TO THE CHASE.
During the few days which followed their gallant but unsuccessful attempt to "back up" Tom White, the "Firm" found plenty to think about nearer home.
The rumour of the revolution in the "Select Sociables" spread rapidly over Templeton, and Freckleton was almost mobbed more than once by his new admirers. However, he kept his head, and steered his new ship craftily and carefully. By appealing to the patriotism and honour of his "Sociables," he succeeded in getting the rules so amended and purified, that in a few days, instead of being a select Club of the worst characters in Templeton, its const.i.tution was open enough to admit any boy who in any way proved himself a credit to the school.
A still more important step was the voluntary disbanding of the old Club for the purpose of placing the new rules before a meeting of the whole school. This was not an easy thing to accomplish, for the old members knew, most of them, that their qualifications were the reverse of those which would make them eligible for membership according to the new rules. They therefore clung tenaciously to their hold, and it was not until Freckleton compromised the matter by promising to hold them eligible for election to the new Club, and exempt them from the conditions other fellows would have to fulfil to become eligible, that they finally gave way.