"This was the very place!"
He scrambled back rather crestfallen on to the bank. It was getting
dark, and the rain came down ceaselessly, yet so strong was his
certainty that here he should discover the evidence he was looking for,
that for another half-hour he plied his trowel diligently. Sometimes
when it struck on a stone or the roots of a bramble, he trembled with
anticipation; and once, when, groping under a hedge, his hand suddenly
encountered a dead rat, his hair literally stood on end.
He began to get nervous and uncomfortable. The night became suddenly
dark, and the wind whistled all sorts of weird tunes among the trees.
Jonah did not exactly believe in ghosts; still, if there were such
things, this was just the night and just the place for the ghost he was
looking for to take its walk abroad. He did not like it, and began to
wish he was safe at home. The bushes round him began to rustle noisily,
and a gate in the field swung to and fro with an almost human groan. He
fancied he could descry wandering lights and white gleams in the
darkness, and the vague consciousness of something coming nearer and
nearer.
At last, with a great effort, he roused himself from his moist seat, and
leaped down from the bank into the lane.
The instant his feet touched the road he was conscious of a low growl,
and next moment found himself pinned, with his back to the bank, by a
furious dog.
His yell of terror had mingled with the wind for a couple of minutes
before he became aware of the red glow of a cigar in front of him, and
behind that the dim countenance of the man whose talk with Jeffreys he
had overheard the previous evening.
"Oh, Mr Julius!" he howled; "help me. Call him off; I shall be torn to
pieces."
"And pray how come you to know the name of my dog?" said Mr Halgrove;
"eh, my little highwayman?"
"Please, sir, I'm not a highwayman. I was only looking for something on
the bank. Oh, Mr Julius!"
"My dog is not used to be called Mr," replied Mr Halgrove.
"Oh, I--I thought that was your name," whimpered Jonah, not daring to
stir an inch for fear of incurring the resentment of the dog.
"And pray how came you to think my name was Julius?" said Mr Halgrove,
becoming interested.
"Oh! please sir, wasn't it you that was talking to Jeffreys last night
in the minster yard?"
It was too dark for Jonah to see Mr Halgrove's eyebrows go up at this
unexpected question.
"Julius, come in, sir. So you know the gentleman I was speaking to
yesterday," said he, coolly. "What did you say his name was?"
"Jeffreys, sir. He's an--"
Jonah pulled up. This man, whatever his name was, was Jeffreys'
accomplice. Jonah felt he must not commit himself.
"I beg your pardon," said Mr Halgrove, noticing the abrupt pause.
"I am saying--it's--it's rather a wet night, sir," said Jonah, making a
move to walk on.
Mr Halgrove snapped his fingers to Julius, and next instant the
wretched Jonah was pinned again to the bank.
"What did you say he was?" asked Mr Halgrove, lighting a fusee.
"Oh, please, sir, please call him off. My assistant, sir."
"Oh! your assistant--in what? Highway robbery?"
"No, sir. In teaching a school. Please, sir, call him off." Mr
Halgrove paid no heed to the entreaty, but proceeded to extract numerous
particulars as to his ward's conduct and mode of life at Galloway House.
"So he's taken to minding little boys, has he? and you are his employer?
You are aware that you have a treasure of course?"
Even Trimble was not so dense as to miss the sneer with which the
inquiry was made. It emboldened him considerably.
"I dislike him; so does ma. We consider him a dangerous character."
Mr Halgrove laughed.
"What makes you think that?"
"There's a--oh, sir, please call off the dog--mystery about him.
He's--"
"Is that the reason you spied on him yesterday?"
"No, sir--that is--" for at that moment Julius growled--"yes, sir. I
thought if there was anything wrong it was my duty to the school to know
it, sir."
"Exemplary pedagogue! And now you know it? Eh?"
"Well, sir, I have my suspicions."
"No! And what might your suspicions be?"
"Oh, sir," replied the wretched Jonah, feeling like a blue-bottle on a
pin, "I believe he's a murderer in hiding. I really do."
"Clever little ferret! You've found that out, have you?"
"I feel no doubt about it," said Jonah, plucking up a little confidence.
"Don't feel any. When and where did the interesting event take place?"
"Oh, you could tell me that better than I can tell you," stammered
Trimble.
"Indeed!" said Mr Halgrove, his eyebrows going up ominously in the
dark.
"Of course I shouldn't--that is--I should never dream of getting _you_
into trouble, sir."
Mr Halgrove took his cigar out of his mouth and stared at the speaker.
"I'd wait till you were safe away in America, sir; and even then I
wouldn't let your name be known, you know, as an accomplice."
Mr Halgrove put his cigar back into his mouth, and changed his cane
from his left hand to his right.
"Fetch him here, Julius," said he, stepping back into the middle of the
road.
It was in vain the wretched Jonah howled and called for mercy.
"So you won't let my name be known as an accomplice! How very kind!"
And he gave practical proof of his gratitude by caning Jonah till both
were tired.
"Now good-night," said Mr Halgrove when he had done, "and thank you for
a pleasant evening. I dare say Mr Jeffreys will make up for any little
deficiencies on my part if you ask him. Ask him, with my compliments,
to show you the little game he played with one of his old school-
fellows. Good-night, Mr Trimble. Wish him good-night, Julius."
Julius once more pinned his affrighted victim to the bank, and then
following at his master's heels, left the bruised and bewildered Jonah
to limp home as best he could.
The day he had had yesterday had been nothing in comparison with to-day!
In the school, meanwhile, there was jubilation and thanksgiving over
the fact that Jonah had a bad headache. Jeffreys, with the first and
second classes merged for the occasion into one, amazed Mrs Trimble by
the order and industry which he commanded.
"The young man's worth his money," said the good lady, with a sigh of
relief, for she had counted on losing her nap for that day at least, and
was grateful beyond measure to find her fears disappointed.
As for the first class, they got completely spoiled by their day's
change of teacher, and vowed they would all become dunces in order to be
put back in the second class.
"I say, Jeff," said Teddy confidentially, as the school was being
dismissed, "_is_ there any chance of his dying? It's been so ripping
to-day without him."
"Hold your tongue, sir," said Jeffreys, in a tone which astonished his
bloodthirsty young confidant; "you're old enough to know better than
talk like that."
Teddy looked very miserable at this rebuke.
"Don't be in a wax with me, Jeff," he said appealingly. "Whatever would
I do if you got to hate me?"
Jeffreys was not proof against this, and walked home with his two young
friends, beguiling the way with cheery talk, which effectually dispelled
the cloud which his passing anger had roused.
On his way back he felt impelled to climb for a moment on the bank at
his favourite spot. It amazed him to see the ground all torn up, and to
find a trowel lying half bedded in the turf at the top. Still more did
it surprise and perplex him to find a penknife, which he recognised at
once as belonging to Trimble, and which he distinctly recollected having
seen in that hero's hand during school the afternoon of the preceding
day. What did it all mean?