"Sir," he said, "I think I am expressing the general consensus of opinion among my--ahem--fellow-students, when I say that this cla.s.s sincerely regrets the unfortunate state the solutions have managed to get themselves into."
"Hear, hear!" from a back bench.
"It is with--"
"Sit _down_, Harringay."
"It is with heartfelt--"
"Harringay, if you do not sit down--"
"As your ludship pleases." This _sotto voce_.
And Harringay resumed his seat amidst applause. O"Hara got up.
"As me frind who has just sat down was about to observe--"
"Sit down, O"Hara. The whole form will remain after the cla.s.s."
"--the unfortunate state the solutions have managed to get thimsilves into is sincerely regretted by this cla.s.s. Sir, I think I am ixprissing the general consensus of opinion among my fellow-students whin I say that it is with heart-felt sorrow--"
"O"Hara!"
"Yes, sir?"
"Leave the room instantly."
"Yes, sir."
From the tower across the gravel came the melodious sound of chimes.
The college clock was beginning to strike ten. He had scarcely got into the pa.s.sage, and closed the door after him, when a roar as of a bereaved spirit rang through the room opposite, followed by a string of words, the only intelligible one being the noun-substantive "globe", and the next moment the door opened and Moriarty came out. The last stroke of ten was just booming from the clock.
There was a large cupboard in the pa.s.sage, the top of which made a very comfortable seat. They climbed on to this, and began to talk business.
"An" what was it ye wanted to tell me?" inquired Moriarty.
O"Hara related what he had learned from Trevor that morning.
"An" do ye know," said Moriarty, when he had finished, "I half suspected, when I heard that Mill"s study had been ragged, that it might be the League that had done it. If ye remember, it was what they enjoyed doing, breaking up a man"s happy home. They did it frequently."
"But I can"t understand them doing it to Trevor at all."
"They"ll do it to anybody they choose till they"re caught at it."
"If they are caught, there"ll be a row."
"We must catch "em," said Moriarty. Like O"Hara, he revelled in the prospect of a disturbance. O"Hara and he were going up to Aldershot at the end of the term, to try and bring back the light and middle-weight medals respectively. Moriarty had won the light-weight in the previous year, but, by reason of putting on a stone since the compet.i.tion, was now no longer eligible for that cla.s.s. O"Hara had not been up before, but the Wrykyn instructor, a good judge of pugilistic form, was of opinion that he ought to stand an excellent chance. As the prize-fighter in _Rodney Stone_ says, "When you get a good Irishman, you can"t better "em, but they"re dreadful "asty." O"Hara was attending the gymnasium every night, in order to learn to curb his "dreadful "astiness", and acquire skill in its place.
"I wonder if Trevor would be any good in a row," said Moriarty.
"He can"t box," said O"Hara, "but he"d go on till he was killed entirely. I say, I"m getting rather tired of sitting here, aren"t you?
Let"s go to the other end of the pa.s.sage and have some cricket."
So, having unearthed a piece of wood from the debris at the top of the cupboard, and rolled a handkerchief into a ball, they adjourned.
Recalling the stirring events of six years back, when the League had first been started, O"Hara remembered that the members of that enterprising society had been wont to hold meetings in a secluded spot, where it was unlikely that they would be disturbed. It seemed to him that the first thing he ought to do, if he wanted to make their nearer acquaintance now, was to find their present rendezvous. They must have one. They would never run the risk involved in holding ma.s.s-meetings in one another"s studies. On the last occasion, it had been an old quarry away out on the downs. This had been proved by the not-to-be-shaken testimony of three school-house f.a.gs, who had wandered out one half-holiday with the unconcealed intention of finding the League"s place of meeting. Unfortunately for them, they _had_ found it.
They were going down the path that led to the quarry before-mentioned, when they were unexpectedly seized, blindfolded, and carried off. An impromptu court-martial was held--in whispers--and the three explorers forthwith received the most spirited "touching-up" they had ever experienced. Afterwards they were released, and returned to their house with their zeal for detection quite quenched. The episode had created a good deal of excitement in the school at the time.
On three successive afternoons, O"Hara and Moriarty scoured the downs, and on each occasion they drew blank. On the fourth day, just before lock-up, O"Hara, who had been to tea with Gregson, of Day"s, was going over to the gymnasium to keep a pugilistic appointment with Moriarty, when somebody ran swiftly past him in the direction of the boarding-houses. It was almost dark, for the days were still short, and he did not recognise the runner. But it puzzled him a little to think where he had sprung from. O"Hara was walking quite close to the wall of the College buildings, and the runner had pa.s.sed between it and him. And he had not heard his footsteps. Then he understood, and his pulse quickened as he felt that he was on the track. Beneath the block was a large sort of cellar-bas.e.m.e.nt. It was used as a store-room for chairs, and was never opened except when prize-day or some similar event occurred, when the chairs were needed. It was supposed to be locked at other times, but never was. The door was just by the spot where he was standing. As he stood there, half-a-dozen other vague forms dashed past him in a knot. One of them almost brushed against him. For a moment he thought of stopping him, but decided not to. He could wait.
On the following afternoon he slipped down into the bas.e.m.e.nt soon after school. It was as black as pitch in the cellar. He took up a position near the door.
It seemed hours before anything happened. He was, indeed, almost giving up the thing as a bad job, when a ray of light cut through the blackness in front of him, and somebody slipped through the door. The next moment, a second form appeared dimly, and then the light was shut off again.
O"Hara could hear them groping their way past him. He waited no longer.
It is difficult to tell where sound comes from in the dark. He plunged forward at a venture. His hand, swinging round in a semicircle, met something which felt like a shoulder. He slipped his grasp down to the arm, and clutched it with all the force at his disposal.
IX
MAINLY ABOUT FERRETS
"Ow!" exclaimed the captive, with no uncertain voice. "Let go, you a.s.s, you"re hurting."
The voice was a treble voice. This surprised O"Hara. It looked very much as if he had put up the wrong bird. From the dimensions of the arm which he was holding, his prisoner seemed to be of tender years.
"Let go, Harvey, you idiot. I shall kick."
Before the threat could be put into execution, O"Hara, who had been fumbling all this while in his pocket for a match, found one loose, and struck a light. The features of the owner of the arm--he was still holding it--were lit up for a moment.
"Why, it"s young Renford!" he exclaimed. "What are you doing down here?"
Renford, however, continued to pursue the topic of his arm, and the effect that the vice-like grip of the Irishman had had upon it.
"You"ve nearly broken it," he said, complainingly.
"I"m sorry. I mistook you for somebody else. Who"s that with you?"
"It"s me," said an ungrammatical voice.
"Who"s me?"
"Harvey."
At this point a soft yellow light lit up the more immediate neighbourhood. Harvey had brought a bicycle lamp into action.