"thieves!"
"fire!"
"help! help!"
the whole house was aroused. the cries of confusion and alarm coming from the fifth form dormitory were repeated by others who, entirely ignorant as to what was the matter, and aroused from slumber by the noise, tumbled from their beds and rushed out wildly, under the impression that nothing less than the house being ablaze could account for the cry.
the doctor and masters came hurrying to the spot; and while the head ran to the fifth form room, the master got the other boys into something like order, ready to be marched quietly downstairs if the alarm of fire should prove to be well founded.
the first thing that the doctor noted was the open window and the ladder, and the next, that a confused babel of sound was going on in the fifth's room; and as he strode to the door he was met, full tilt, by a boy with torn clothes, apparently seeking to free himself from the grasp of half a dozen fifth form boys.[pg 85] to his bewilderment, the head saw that this boy was his new scholar, ralph rexworth.
his strong hand gripped the boy's arm, and his voice thundered out a command for silence, which the boys obeyed all save ralph, who cried—
"if you do not follow him at once, he will be off, sir! these fellows stopped me, and he has got a good start!"
"he! who?" cried the head. and the boy replied—
"the man who was in the fifth, sir. he knocked me down, and bolted; and then the boys woke, and got me, and would not let me go!"
"you have been dreaming, boy. silence, all! kesterway, you are head monitor. explain to me! all boys from other forms back to their rooms; there is no cause for any alarm. at once, please! now, kesterway!"
"i can tell you nothing, sir. i heard a noise, and woke; and there was elgert, and one or two others holding a boy who kicked and struggled; and just as i jumped out of bed and ran round, he broke away and rushed for the door."
"it was rexworth, sir!" cried one boy. "he was in our room trying to play some trick upon elgert. they have been having a row, sir."
"will you have the goodness to hold your tongue, sir!" exclaimed the master, a trifle irritably; and the boy subsided at once.
[pg 86]
"elgert, what have you to say? did this boy attempt to play any tricks on you?"
"yes, sir! i was asleep and i was aroused by a violent cry and a blow, and some one was struggling on my bed, as if he had jumped on and was trying to hold me down; i gripped hold of him, and found it was rexworth. the other fellows woke, and began crying out; and then, when they found who it was that had made the row, they got angry and went for him!"
"that will do. now you, sir, what have you to say? speak up, and tell the truth! why have you disturbed the whole household in this disgraceful manner?"
so the doctor asked, and terribly angry did he look; but very different was his expression when he had heard ralph's story. it sounded incredible that any one should attempt to enter the school for the deliberate purpose of injuring any boy; and he would have put the story down as a fabrication, but there was the plain evidence in the shape of the open window and the ladder.
if ralph had invented it, he must have managed to leave the house, drag the ladder across the playground, raise it to the window, and then go back and open that window; and that also seemed absolutely impossible.
"i saw the man, sir!" the lad said; "he was creeping on his hands and knees, and when he got to elgert's[pg 87] bed he got up, and he had a pillow. he was going to smother elgert. he dropped the pillow when i shouted and ran in. it is by the bed now. i tried to clutch him, sir, but he was too strong. he struck me, and knocked me over on top of elgert, and then they held me and actually let him escape. he darted away like a flash, sir; and i expect that he is far enough away by now!"
bewilderment, incredulity, wonder, all were depicted upon the faces of those who listened; but elgert actually laughed in the head's presence, and asked how any one could be expected to believe such a story.
"who is there who would want to harm me, sir?" he said. "why, it is really absurd to think of such a thing! i have had a row with this boy, as you know, and i suppose that he wanted to play a trick on me, and quite forgot the row that would be made."
"be good enough to keep your remarks to yourself, until i ask for your opinion, elgert!" said the head sternly. "now, all you boys, back to bed! in the morning i will go into the matter properly. to bed at once!"
it was all very well to say "to bed," but "to sleep" was quite another matter. sleep seemed banished from most eyes; and in the fourth, ralph was plied with question after question, until at last he positively refused to talk any more.
truth to tell, ralph was somewhat disgusted. he[pg 88] had done more than most boys would have risked; and had it not been for him, elgert would have been murdered, and this was the best thanks he received!
and yet, as he thought of it, it seemed quite natural to him. after all, it was a very mysterious business; and if people did not believe it, it was not to be wondered at. he would wait patiently until the morning; and then, if the doctor did not believe him, it would not be his fault.
and when morning came, and breakfast was over, the head sent for ralph, and again listened to his story, and questioned him closely; and he felt convinced that the boy was indeed speaking the truth.
that only perplexed him the more; a foolish joke would be understandable, but a deliberate attempt to harm one of the boys under his charge was a thing which he could not by any means comprehend.
he went into the playground and surveyed the ladder; it had been left just where it was. he went to the boundary wall and examined that, and there was a stain of blood—some one, in hastily getting over, must have cut his hand upon the broken glass with which it was finished off. he felt, beyond question, that ralph's tale was true. some one had been there, but who that some one was, was a mystery indeed.
but the doctor was a just man, and as he had thrown some doubt upon ralph's story, he summoned the entire school, and told them he was quite satisfied[pg 89] that what ralph had said happened was absolutely true.
"mysterious as it is, i feel satisfied that one of our number has been in dreadful peril, while he was innocently sleeping; and it is to the goodness of god that he owes his preservation. god, who made ralph rexworth wake up and look from the window and then go to the help of elgert! and i trust," he added gently, "that this circumstance may make the two chief actors in this incident better friends! i am sorry to know that they are not very friendly, but i hope that they will be so in the future!"
so the affair ended—so far as public investigation went, though it was talked over again and again by the boys. the head communicated with the police, and a detective came down; and however much he may have been bewildered and ready to put it down to the tricks of schoolboys, yet after he had seen the ladder and the bloodmark, and heard ralph tell his story, he also had to admit that the boy was undoubtedly telling the truth, and that the school had been entered in the manner described.
but ralph worried over it. the very mystery surrounding it brought back the mystery of his father's disappearance. he pondered all day over it, until he felt weary and angry with himself; and he hailed the close of school with delight, suggesting to his chum and warren that they should go for a good long walk, a proposal with which they immediately agreed.
[pg 90]
"now, look here," said ralph, when the trio had started, "there is only one thing; for mercy's sake don't talk about that business of last night! i am fairly tired of it, and i want to forget it if i can!"
"all right, old chap," answered warren, with a laugh; "let us go into the woods and see if we can find anything worth taking in the way of specimens. i got two lovely orange-tips there the other day, and some silly fellow went and knocked over my setting-board, and spoilt them both!"
"the woods be it," answered ralph readily.
and so they sought the green, cool, shady glades, where the wild birds were so tame, and where such splendid butterflies and dragon flies were to be captured.
they wandered hither and thither, enjoying the quiet sylvan beauty; and presently, stretched on the grass, they spoke of the difference of this scene to that which ralph had known in his younger days; and warren lay flat on his back, and asked question after question concerning the wild people of the great texan plains.
"i didn't know that there were any indians left," the monitor confessed; and ralph laughed.
"plenty of them; and then there are the gauchos—they are of spanish descent, and they are for ever fighting with the indians. it is very different living out there; and, even in the towns, men seldom go about unarmed."
[pg 91]
"pleasant," was warren's remark. "i think that i will stop where i am; even if we do get midnight visitors now and again."
"i say, that subject is forbidden," laughed ralph.
and then he was silent so long that, presently, warren asked him what he was thinking of, and ralph sighed.
"something that is hardly ever out of my thoughts," he answered gravely. "speaking of my old home brought it back——"
"your father?" queried warren; and ralph nodded.
"it must be precious hard for you," the monitor said. "i think that if i were in your place i should go silly."
"no, you would do what i do, old fellow; just pray to god to bring things right. i felt bad at first, and it was mrs. st. clive who taught me to be brave."
"i like her," remarked warren, with a nod. "she is awfully nice, ralph. i wonder if ever you will hear anything about your father?"
"yes," came the confident answer. "i feel sure that i shall; and sometimes, warren, it may seem strange, but it comes to me that he is not dead, and that he will come back!"
"but if he were not dead he would not have gone off and left you all alone like this," objected warren. "i should not think that."
"he may not be able to help it. there, we won't[pg 92] talk of it; only i cannot help thinking like that sometimes. where is charlton?"
the question brought the fact out that they were alone; their companion had gone off and left them there while they were talking.
"now, where has that silly chap got to?" queried warren, sitting up.
"gone after a butterfly, perhaps. he will soon be back."
"but it is time that we began to move. he is such a silly fellow that he is as like as not to go and lose himself. hallo! charlton! charlton! coo-ee! charlton!"
they paused and waited, but no reply came; and warren got up, a trifle cross.
"of all the silly kites!" he said. "what trouble has he got into now? charlton, i say, where are you?"
"better let us go and have a look for him," said ralph; and the two started, warren grumbling all the way, until in response to their shouts, they heard an answering call, and saw their companion appear.
"well, you stupid!" began warren; but ralph checked him, for the other boy looked scared and pale.
"why, what is the matter?" he asked. "you look as if you had been scared. has any one frightened you?"
"i! any one frightened me? oh, no!" answered charlton quickly. "how silly! who could be with[pg 93] me? i got lost—and lost my head! i felt a little afraid, until i heard you call."
"we have been shouting for the last half hour!" grumbled warren. "come along! we shall be late for tea!"
but ralph said nothing. he was puzzled. the spot where they stood was damp and clayey; and on the soft ground were the imprints of two pairs of feet, going towards the bushes from which charlton had emerged. of those footprints, one set was a boy's, and evidently made by his chum; the other set was a man's.
charlton said that he had been alone, but ralph knew better. a man had been with his chum, but who was that man? was he the one who had broken into the school the previous night?
