A change seemed now to have fallen upon Haviland. He was no longer to
be met wandering alone, and the moody frown had left his brow, giving
way to an expression of easy, light-hearted contentment. Yet there were
days when he spent nearly the whole of his spare time lying in a corner
of the playing fields, his cap over his face and--fast asleep. There
was no fear of him sleeping too long, or being late for anything--
Mpukuza, otherwise Anthony, took care of that--and was always at hand to
awake him in time.
Not much together were they in the daytime, in fact, hardly at all, yet
the Zulu boy was always at hand when his hero wanted him, actually or
unconsciously. He could do without all this extra sleep, but the other,
with his nervous, high-strung temperament, felt the reaction after these
nights of adventurous excitement, to say nothing of the sheer physical
fatigue following upon the hard exercise attendant on their nocturnal
exploits.
For that first expedition was by no means the last. The appetite for
such grew, and night after night the cord was let down, and these two
amateur poachers would sally forth upon their lawless but entrancing
errand. Not always so lucky were they, however, as on that first
occasion, for it was generally impossible to see the roosting birds
because of the abundant foliage, and then too, the moon began to wane,
which added to the difficulty of bringing them down, even when they did
see them. Moreover, they had at least two exceedingly narrow escapes at
the hands of unduly vigilant keepers. They decided that the time had
come to change their field of action. Things were getting too hot.
Not always, however, were they on poaching bent. Sometimes the air-gun
would be left reposing in its place of concealment and egg-hunting would
be the order of the day--or rather of the night--and here Haviland's
consummate knowledge of the life of the fields and woods brought success
where another would have returned empty-handed. But the season was
getting late, and the nests mostly contained young birds, or eggs so
hard-set as to be useless.
Now this change in Haviland did not long escape the keen, observant eyes
of Mr Sefton. True to his resolution, that kind-hearted disciplinarian
had taken an opportunity of putting in a word with the Doctor, in
mitigation of his favourite's penalty, and had been incontinently
snubbed for his pains. The headmaster saw no reason whatever for
modifying his former judgment, nor did he recognise the right of his
assistants to offer criticism upon his acts, had been the substance of
his reply.
"Ha! Nick blew himself out like a bullfrog, by Jingo!" was Mr Sefton's
subsequent comment when he narrated the result to Mr Williams. "But I
don't mind his bounce, not I, ha ha! It's like water off a duck's back
with me. Ha!" he added whimsically, with his head thrown back, as his
way was.
Of course he said nothing to Haviland as to his kindly meant attempt,
but this new attitude on the part of his favourite was sorely puzzling.
He would engage him in conversation from time to time--not out of any
motive of spying, but because he was really interested in the young
fellow, and liked him genuinely, but even then he could arrive at no
clue.
Haviland, for his part, was greatly enjoying that side of the situation.
He knew they were all curious about him, those, that is, who were
interested in him at all. Laughton and Medlicott and others had at
times commented on his altered demeanour, but he had explained it away
on the ground that the end of the term was not far off, and he expected
to go and stay at an awfully jolly place for part of the holidays. If
they only knew the fun he was having what time everybody else was in bed
and asleep! The thought appealed to the humorous side of his nature.
It is possible he might even have forgiven the Doctor, but that his
sense of justice was outraged. Other masters had punished him, but
never unfairly. He knew he had earned such. The extreme and
double-weighted penalty with which the Head had visited a not very grave
offence he could not feel he had earned. Other masters had set him more
than one swingeing imposition, but even when they had spoken sharply
they had always behaved like gentlemen. The Doctor, on the other hand,
had a bullying, overbearing way with him, which was quite unnecessary,
and galling and ungentlemanly to the last degree, he considered. It
might be all right when dealing with some of these cads, thought
Haviland, but he ought to know when to discriminate. No, he could not
forgive the Doctor. The sense of injustice rankled, and festered, and
not the least side of the enjoyment of his new escapades was that he was
"tying knots in Nick's tail," as he put it to himself--and Anthony--
consciously or unconsciously "lifting" from Ingoldsby.
The only misgiving--and it was rather a serious one--that would strike
him was how long the other fellows in the dormitory would manage to hold
their tongues. He did not believe that any among them would willingly
give them away, but the young asses might get chattering. With this in
view, many and oft were the monitions addressed to them by himself and
his accomplice. They were admonished, not only to make no confidences
to those outside, but never even to talk about it among themselves, for
fear of being overheard--in fact, to regard their knowledge as the
cherished secret of some privileged order, of which they had the honour
to be members. This appealed to them more than any other argument, and
it hardly needed Cetchy's from time to time repeated threat: "Any fellow
sneak--I kill him." This threat he would emphasise by the production of
a wicked-looking weapon, which he kept in his box--namely, the half of
an old sheep-shear, with which, spliced on to a short, strong handle, he
had manufactured a very creditable imitation of his native assegai. Nor
did they regard the menace as an entirely futile one, for they had
witnessed an outbreak or two of genuine, though not unprovoked, savagery
on the part of the threatener, which, but for timely interference, might
have entailed serious--if not fatal--consequences.
Yet the above misgiving grew by dwelling upon, and there were times when
Haviland would feel exceedingly uncomfortable and almost make up his
mind to give up these perilous expeditions. Were they worth the risk?
The end of the term was drawing near, and his irksome restraint would,
of course, end with it; whereas, were he detected, the result would be
inevitable expulsion. Mr Sefton's words would strike uncomfortably
home to his mind, and, after all, embittered and reckless as he might
feel, he had no desire to be expelled. His accomplice would get off
with a sound swishing, for which, of course, he himself was too old. He
would certainly be expelled.
But such prudential moods were not destined to last. His close
confinement galled him more and more, and, besides, there was one
expedition the pair had promised themselves, and that was to extend
their midnight marauding to Hangman's Wood. That would be a famous
exploit. They would shoot two or three pheasants there--the place just
grew pheasants--and at night they would be entirely safe, because no one
dared go into it on account of the ghost. Yes, it would be the crowning
exploit of all, and the sooner they undertook it the better, while there
was some moonlight left.
They might have been less easy in their minds, however, could they have
assisted unseen in a discussion then going on in the Doctor's study
between that potentate and Laughton, with a couple of the senior
prefects.
"It is really becoming a serious matter," the Headmaster was saying,
"and I am considering what action I shall take. Again I have had
complaints. Both Mr Worthington's and Lord Hebron's keepers have been
to me again. There is no doubt as to the truth of their stories, I am
afraid. Their woods are overrun and pheasants taken--they gave me ample
proof of that. They have even found a place where the birds have been
cooked and eaten, and a good many of them too."
"Surely, sir, that's no evidence whatever that it has been done by any
of the school," said Laughton, as the Doctor paused, as though inviting
opinion.
"I think it is, Laughton. The ordinary poacher, you see, would remove
his game, not cook and eat it in a dry ditch. Furthermore, the
footmarks observed by the keepers were made by cricket shoes, and not
large enough nor broad enough to be imprinted by the village
ne'er-do-well."
"But Lord Hebron's preserves are too far away, sir," urged Medlicott.
"No fellow would have time to get there and back unless he got leave
from calling-over."
"That's true," rejoined the Doctor; "but the Question is, has anybody
been getting such leave of late, and, if so, how many? I shall inquire
into that. And now have any of you any other suggestions to offer?"
The prefects looked at each other rather blankly. It was, of course,
very flattering, and all that sort of thing, to be taken thus into the
counsels of the redoubtable Doctor; but then, unfortunately, they hadn't
the ghost of a notion what to suggest. At last Laughton said:--
"I should think, sir, the best plan would be for the owners of the
shootings to increase their staff of keepers. It seems hard for them to
lay the blame on the school when there's so little to justify the
suspicion."
"On the contrary, I think there is a good deal to justify it," returned
the Doctor. "I think they have made out a _prima facie_ case. The
question now is what steps I shall be called upon to take. I am very
loth to put in force so grave a measure as withdrawing the privilege of
rambling over the country and confining the school strictly to grounds,
merely on suspicion, even though a strong suspicion. I have always
held, too, that that privilege, combined with the natural healthiness of
our situation, has not a little to do with the high reputation for
health we have always enjoyed. But, if this goes on, I shall be obliged
to take some such step."
"Perhaps, sir, some of us might make it our business to go about a
little and keep our eyes open," suggested Read, the other prefect.
"That is just what I was thinking, Read," replied the Doctor. "If we
can discover the offenders, I shall make a grave example of them, and it
will be to the interest of the whole school. Meanwhile, let me impress
upon you that I particularly wish this meeting to be considered a
confidential one. To the other prefects its burden must, of course, be
imparted, but beyond them I desire no information to leak out, for that
might be to defeat our object entirely, for it is better for the
evil-doers to be detected than to be only warned and to desist for a
time. And at this we will leave it."
And so they were dismissed.
The while Haviland and his dusky accomplice, blissfully unconscious,
were planning their great stroke, which had the additional attraction of
tying yet another knot in Nick's tail.