Vale broke down with a gasp and a sob. His piteous aspect might have moved even Tod.
"Look here," said he, "I don"t care in general to punish a coward; I regard him as an abject animal beneath me: but I cannot go from my word.
Ducking is too good for you, Vale, but you shall have it. Be off to that tree yonder; we"ll give you so much grace. Let him start fair, boys, and then hound him on. It will be a fine chase."
Vale, seeming to be too confused and terror-stricken to do anything but obey, went to the tree, and then darted away _in the direction of the river_. It takes time to read all this; but scarcely a minute appeared to have pa.s.sed since Tod first came out with Whitney, and spoke of the half-crown. Giving Vale the fair start, the boys sprang after him, like a pack of hounds in full cry. Tod, the swiftest runner in the school, was following, when he found himself seized by Sanker. I had stayed behind.
"Have you been accusing Vale? Are you going to duck him?"
"Well?" cried Tod, angry at being stopped.
"It was not Vale who took the things. Vale! He is as innocent as you are. You"ll kill him, Todhetley; he cannot bear terror."
"Who says he is innocent?"
"I do. I say it on my honour. It was another fellow, whose name I"ve been suppressing. This is _your_ work, Johnny Ludlow."
I felt a sudden rush of repentance. A conviction that Sanker spoke nothing but the truth.
"You said it was Vale, Sanker."
"I never did. _You_ said it. I told you you"d better believe it was any other rather than Vale. And I meant it."
But that Sanker was not a fellow to tell a lie, I should have thought he told one then. The impression, resting on my memory, was that he acknowledged to its being Vale, if he had not exactly stated it.
"You know you told me to be quiet, Sanker: you said, give him a chance."
"But I thought you were speaking of another then, not Vale. I swear it was not Vale. He is as honest as the day."
Tod, looking ready to strike me, waiting for no more explanation, was already off, shouting to the crew to turn, far more anxious now to save Vale than he had been to duck him.
How he managed to arrest them, I never knew. He did do it. But for being the fleetest runner and strongest fellow, he could never have overtaken, pa.s.sed, and flung himself back upon them, with his arms stretched out, words of explanation on his lips.
The river was more than a mile away, taking the straight course over the fields, as a bird flies, and leaping fences and ditches. Vale went panting on, _for it_. It was as if his senses were scared out of him.
Tod flew after him, the rest following on more gently. The school-bell boomed out to call us in for evening study, but none heeded it.
"Stop, Vale! Stop!" shouted Tod. "It has been a mistake. Come back and hear about it. It was not you; it was another fellow. Come back, Harry; come back!"
The more Tod shouted, the faster Vale went on. You should have seen the chase in the moonlight. It put us in mind of the fairy tales of Germany, where the phantom huntsman and his pack are seen coursing at midnight.
Vale made for a part where the banks of the river are overshadowed by trees. Tod was only about thirty yards behind when he gained it; he saw him leap in, and heard the plunge.
But when he got close, there was no sign of Vale in the water. Had he suddenly sunk? Tod"s heart stood still with fear. The boys were coming up by ones and twos, and a great silence ensued. Tod stript ready to plunge in when Vale should rise.
"Here"s his cap," whispered one, picking it up from the bank.
"He was a good swimmer; he must have been seized with cramp."
"Look here; they say there are holes in the river, just above this bend.
What if he has sunk into one?"
"Hold your row, all of you," cried Tod, in a hoa.r.s.e whisper that betrayed his fear. "Who"s to listen with that noise?"
He was listening for a sound, watching for the faintest ripple, that might give indication of Vale"s rising. But none came. Tod stood there in his shirt till he shivered with cold. And the church clock struck seven, and then eight, and it was of no use waiting.
It was a horrible feeling. Somehow we seemed, I and Tod, to be responsible for Vale"s death, I for having mistaken Sanker; Tod for entering upon the threatened ducking, and hounding the boys on.
The worst was to come: going back to Dr. Frost and the masters with the tale; breaking it to Mr. and Mrs. Vale at Vale Farm. While Tod was dressing himself, the rest went on slowly, no one staying by him but me and Sanker.
"It"s _your_ doing more than mine," Tod said, turning to Sanker in his awful distress. "If you knew who the thief was last half, you should have disclosed it; not have given him the opportunity to resume his game. Had you done so this could not have happened."
"I promised him then I should proclaim him if he did resume it; I have told him to-night I shall do it," quietly answered Sanker. "It was Lacketer."
"Lacketer!"
"Lacketer. And since my eyes were opened, it has seemed to me that all yours must have been closed, not to find him out. His manner was enough to betray him: only, I suppose--you wanted the clue."
"But, Sanker, why did you let me think it was Vale?" I asked.
"_You_ made the first mistake; I let you lie under it for Lacketer"s sake; to give him the chance," said Sanker. "Who was to foresee you would go and tell?"
It had never pa.s.sed my lips, save those few words at the time when Tod questioned me. Harding was the one outside the porch who had overheard it; but he had kept it to himself until now, when he thought the time had come for speaking.
What was to be done?--what was to be done? It seemed as if a great darkness had suddenly fallen upon us, and could never again be lifted.
We had death upon our hands.
"There"s just a chance," said Tod, dragging his legs along like so much lead, and beginning with a sort of groan. "Vale may have made for the land again as soon as he got in, and come out lower down. In that case he would run home probably."
Just a chance, as Tod said. But in the depth of despair chances are caught at. If we cut across to the left, Vale Farm was not more than a mile off: and we turned to it. Absenting ourselves from school seemed as nothing. Tod went on with a bound now there was an object, a ray of hope; I and Sanker after him.
"I can"t go in," said Tod, when we came in front of the farm, a long, low house, with lights gleaming in some of the windows. "It"s not cowardice; at least, I don"t think it is. It"s---- Never mind; I"ll wait for you here."
"I say," said Sanker to me, "what excuse are we to make for going in at this time? We can"t tell the truth."
_I_ could not. Harry Vale stood alone; he had neither brother nor sister. I could not go in and tell his mother that he was dead. She was sitting in one of the front parlours, sewing by the lamp. We saw her through the window as we stole up to look in. But there was no time for plotting. Footsteps approached, and we only got back on the path when Mr. Vale came up. He was a tall, fine man, with a fair face and blue eyes like his son"s. What we said I hardly knew; something about being close by, and thought we"d call on our way home. Sanker had been there several times in the holidays.
Mr. Vale took us in with a beaming face to his wife. They were the kindest-hearted people, liberal and hospitable, as most well-to-do farmers are. Mrs. Vale, rolling up her work, said we must take something to help us on our way home, and rang the bell. We never said we could not stop; we never said Tod was waiting outside. But there were no signs that Vale had gone home half-drowned.
Two maids put the supper on the table, and Mrs. Vale helped them; for Sanker had summoned courage to say it was late for us to stop. About a dozen things. Cold ducks, and ham, collared-head, a big dish of custard, and fruit and cake. I couldn"t have swallowed a morsel; the lump rising in my throat would have hindered it. I don"t think Sanker could, for he said resolutely we must not sit down because of Dr. Frost.
"How is Harry?" asked Mrs. Vale.
"Oh, he is--very well," said Sanker, after waiting to see if I"d answer.
"Have you seen him lately?"
"Not since last Sunday week, when he and young Snepp spent the day here.
He was looking well, and seemed in spirits. It was rather a hazard, sending him to school at all; Mr. Vale wanted to have him taught at home, as he has been until this year. But I think it is turning out for the best."
"He gets frightened, does he not?" said Sanker, who knew what she meant.
"He did," replied Mrs. Vale; "but he is growing out of it. Never was a braver little child born than he; but when he was four years old, he strolled away from his nurse into a field where a bull was grazing, a savage animal. What exactly happened, we never knew; that Harry was chased across the field by it was certain, and then tossed. The chief injury was to the nerves, strange though that may seem in so young a child. For a long time afterwards, the least alarm would put him into a state of terrible fear, almost a fit. But he is getting over it now."