it, and if he would give his evidence freely it might be avoided. But
it may be necessary to frighten him, if we can find him, that is. And,
doctor, allow me to say that if this were merely a boyish escapade, a
raid upon my pheasants, I should be content to leave the matter in your
hands, considering that a sound flogging would meet the case. But my
man being dangerously hurt alters the whole business. I owe it to him,
and to all others in my employ, not to leave a stone unturned to
discover the perpetrator of the outrage, and I call upon you, Dr
Jolliffe, to assist me."
The doctor bowed. "Can your lordship suggest anything you would like
done towards the elucidation of this mystery?" he said. "In spite of
the jacket and cuffs, I find it difficult to suppose that any Weston boy
is in league with poachers. But you may rely on my doing all in my
power to aid you in any investigation you may think desirable."
"I expected as much, and thank you," replied Lord Woodruff. "It
occurred to me, then, that it might be well, as a preliminary measure,
to collect the boys together in one room and lay the case before them,
promising impunity to the offender, if present, on condition of his
turning queen's evidence."
"It shall be done at once," said the doctor. "Will you speak to them,
or shall I?"
"It does not much matter," replied Lord Woodruff. "Perhaps the pledge
would come better from me, the natural prosecutor."
"Very good."
The doctor returned to his class-room, not too soon. One of the young
scamps had taken his chair, and was delivering a burlesque lecture, near
enough to the head-master's style to excite irreverent laughter. They
listened for his step upon the stair, however, and when he entered the
room they might have been taken for a synod discussing a Revised Edition
by the extreme gravity of their demeanour.
"We must interrupt our studies for a short time, I am sorry to say,"
observed Dr Jolliffe. "I wish you to assemble at once, but without
noise, in the schools. And, Probyn, run round to the other class-rooms,
and tell the masters, with my compliments, that I wish their classes
also to go there at once, and arrange themselves in their proper places,
as on Examination Days."
The "Schools" was a large room which held all Weston; but the college
was liberal in the matter of accommodation, and only three classes were
habitually held in it, that so the hubbub of voices might not be
inconvenient. For some persons are so constituted that when you seek to
instruct them in Greek, they take an intense interest in mathematics, if
treated upon within their hearing, and _vice versa_. But every class
had its appointed place in the schools, all the same, and in a few
minutes after the summons had gone forth, the boys, not quite broken-
hearted at having to shut up their books, were reassembled in the large
room, wondering what on earth had happened to cause such an unparalleled
infraction of the daily routine. One sanguine youth suggested that they
were to have an extra half-holiday in consequence of the fine condition
of the ice, and he had many converts to his opinion; but there were many
other theories. Saurin alone formed a correct guess at the real matter
in hand, conscience prompting him.
No sooner were all settled in their places than the head-master came in
accompanied by Lord Woodruff, who was known to most present by sight,
and curiosity became almost painful.
"It is he who has begged us the half-holiday," whispered the prophet of
good to his neighbour. "Shall we give him a cheer?"
"Better wait to make certain first," replied his more prudent auditor.
Next the roll was called, and when all had answered to their names Dr
Jolliffe announced that their visitor had something serious to say to
them; and then Lord Woodruff got up.
"No doubt some of your fathers are preservers of game for sporting
purposes," he said, "and you all know what it means. I preserve game in
this neighbourhood; and last night one of my keepers was going home
through a wood where there are a good many pheasants, for it has not
been disturbed this year, when he met two persons. They may not have
been poachers, but poaching was certainly going on last night, for the
guns were heard, and the man naturally concluded that they were
trespassing in pursuit of game, for why else should they be there at
that hour of the night. And so, as was clearly his duty, he endeavoured
to secure one of them. But just as he had succeeded in doing so, he was
struck down from behind with some weapon which has inflicted serious
injuries upon him. He has recovered his senses, and laid an information
that the person he seized was a Weston boy."
There was a murmur and a movement throughout the assembly at this
sensational announcement. Saurin, who felt that he was very pale,
muttered, "Absurd!" and strove to assume a look of incredulous
amusement.
"Now, boys, listen to me. I take a great interest in Weston College,
and should be sorry to see any disgrace brought upon it. And indeed it
would be very painful to me that any one of you should have his future
prospects blighted on first entering into life, for what I am willing to
look upon as a thoughtless freak. But when the matter is once put into
the hands of the police I shall have no further power to shield anyone,
and if they trace the boy who was in that wood last night, which, mind
you, they will probably do, safe as he may think himself, he will have
to stand his trial in a court of justice. But now, I will give him a
fair chance. If he will stand forward and confess that he was present
on the occasion I allude to, and will say who the ruffian was that
struck the blow, for of complicity in such an act I do not for a moment
suspect him, I promise that he shall not be himself proceeded against in
any way."
There was a pause of a full minute, during which there was dead silence;
no one moved.
"What!" continued Lord Woodruff; "were you all in your beds at eleven
o'clock last night? Was there no one out of college unbeknown to the
authorities?"
He looked slowly round as he spoke, and it seemed to Buller that his
eyes rested upon him. Though he knew nothing of this poaching business,
he was certainly out, and perhaps Dr Jolliffe had told Lord Woodruff
so, and this was a trap to see if he would own to it, and if he did not,
they might suspect him of the other thing. He half rose, and sat down
again, hesitating.
"Ah!" said Lord Woodruff, catching sight of the movement; "what is it,
my lad? speak up, don't be afraid."
"I was certainly out of the college last night," said Buller, getting on
to his feet, "but I was not near any wood, and I did not meet any man,
or see or hear any struggling or fighting."
"It has nothing to do with this case, my lord," interposed the doctor.
"This boy went late to the gravel-pits to skate, and was seen by one of
the masters. It was a breach of the regulations, for which he will be
punished, but nothing more serious."
"Oh! if he was seen skating by one of the masters that is enough. Might
I speak to the gentleman?"
"Certainly."
And Mr Rabbits was called forward and introduced.
"Oh! Mr Rabbits, you actually saw this boy skating last night, did
you?"
"No, not exactly. He was getting in again at his window when I
surprised him?"
"May I ask at what time?"
"About half-past twelve."
"And how, if you did not see him, do you know that he was out skating?"
"He said so," replied Mr Rabbits innocently.
"And his word is the only evidence you have that he was not elsewhere?"
Mr Rabbits was obliged to confess that it was.
"Buller! come here," cried the doctor. "Now, did anyone see you at the
gravel-pits, or going there, or coming back?"
"No, sir."
"Think well, because you may be suspected of having gone in an exactly
opposite direction. If any friend was with you I am certain that he
would be glad to give himself up to get you out of a really serious
scrape. Shall I put it to the boys, my lord?"
"It is of no use, sir," said Buller. "I was quite alone, just as I told
you, and no one knew I was out. I did not think of it myself till a few
minutes before, when I found the bar loose. And I did not open my door
even. And I saw no one, going or returning, till Mr Rabbits lit his
chemical as I was getting in at the window."
"It is very painful to--ah--to seem to doubt your word, in short," said
Lord Woodruff with hesitation, for he was a gentleman, and Tom's manner
struck him as remarkably open and straightforward. "But you know it is
impossible to accept anyone's unsupported evidence in his own favour,
and I really wish that you could produce some one to corroborate your
rather unlikely story. Assuming for a moment that you were in the
company of poachers for a bit of fun last night, and that you saw
something of this affray, and being caught as you got home, were
frightened into accounting for your being out at so late an hour by this
story of going skating in the moonlight; I say, assuming all this, I
appeal to you to save yourself from serious consequences, and to forward
the ends of justice by telling anything you know which may put us on the
traces of the fellow who has injured my poor gamekeeper. A fellow who
would come behind and strike a cowardly blow like that, trying to murder
or maim a man who was simply doing his duty, does not deserve that you
should shield him. Come, will you not denounce him?"
"But how can I tell about things of which I have no knowledge whatever?"
cried Buller, who was getting vexed as well as bewildered. "What I have
said is the exact truth, and if it does not suit you I cannot help it.
Believe me or not, as you like, there is no good in my going on
repeating my words."
"I cannot accept the responsibility of taking your bare word in such a
matter," said Lord Woodruff, more stiffly, for Tom's tone had offended
him; "a magistrate may do so. Of course I shall not adjudicate in my
own case," he added, turning to Dr Jolliffe. "Mr Elliot is the next
nearest magistrate, and I shall apply for a warrant against this youth
to him."
Tom Buller experienced a rather sudden change of sensation in a short
period. A quarter of an hour ago he felt like a culprit, now his heart
swelled with the indignation of a hero and a martyr. To be accused of
poaching, and asked to betray a supposed accomplice in what might prove
a murder, just because he happened to be out after ten one night, was
rather too strong, and Tom's back was up.
"You had better go to your room, Buller, and wait there till you hear
further," said Dr Jolliffe, not unkindly.
To tell the truth the doctor was a good deal ruffled by this accusation,
brought, as it seemed to him, on very insufficient grounds, against some
member of the school. But he was determined to be as cool and quiet
about it as possible, and not to give any one a chance of saying that he
had obstructed the ends of justice. For if he took the highly indignant
line, and it were proved after all that one of his boys was involved in
the scrape, how foolish he would look!
"And you really mean to have this boy up before Mr Elliot on a charge
of poaching?" he asked.
"What else can I do?" said Lord Woodruff. "His own obstinacy in
refusing to tell what he knows is to blame."
"But supposing that he really knows nothing, how can he tell it? I know
the boy well, and he is remarkably truthful and straightforward.
Intensely interested, too, in the studies and sports of his school, and
the very last to seek low company or get into a scrape of this kind."
Lord Woodruff smiled and shook his head.
CHAPTER ELEVEN.
CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE.
Have you ever stood near a bee-hive when something unusual was going on
inside? When a swarm was meditated, or you had cut off the
communication with a super which you meant to take? Just such a buzz
and murmur as then arises might have been heard in Weston court-yard
when the boys poured out from the schools, only increased so much in
volume as the human vocal organs are more powerful than the apiarian.
And surely not without cause, for the scene which had just been enacted,
without any rehearsal, for their benefit was simply astounding.
"Fancy Tom Buller the chief of a gang of poachers!" cried Saurin. "By
Jove, I did not think it was in him, and fairly confess that I have not
done him justice. He is a dark horse and no mistake."
"Why, you don't for a moment suppose that there is anything in it, do
you?" asked Robarts, who heard him.
"I don't know, I'm sure," replied Saurin; "perhaps not. Awful liars
those keeper chaps, no doubt. We shall know all about it in time, I
suppose."
"It would not be bad fun if one got a fair price for the game one took,"
said Griffiths. "But the risk and difficulty of selling it would be so
great that one would be certain to be robbed."
"What an ass Tom Bowling was to give himself up; it would have been all
right if he had sat still."
"I don't know that. He had already been caught breaking out of college,
don't you see, and they would have been certain to put this and that
together."
"Who would?"
"Old Jolliffe."
"Not a bit of it. I twigged his face when Buller stood up, and he
looked as vexed as possible. _He'd_ never have told."
"I am not sure of that, and I think Buller was right not to risk it."
"Fussy old chap, Lord Woodruff!"
"Not a bad sort altogether, I believe, if you rub him the right way."
"No more am I; give me everything I want, and never thwart me, and I am
the easiest fellow to live with in the world."
That is a sample of the way the matter was discussed and commented upon.
But the most astonished of the whole school, and the only one who could
not trust himself to make any remark at all in public, was Edwards. For
the second time that day he had to watch his opportunity for a private
conference with Saurin, and when he found it he opened on him eagerly.
"What a chap you are! And so you had a regular fight with keepers, and
nearly did for one; and all you said this morning was that the whole
thing was a failure and a sell. And even when we talked about
gamekeepers catching poachers, and the poachers resisting, you kept it
all dark."
"Why, it was a serious thing to talk about, you see," said Saurin.
"Well, I think you might have trusted me at all events," replied Edwards
somewhat reproachfully.
"Trust you! My dear fellow I would trust you with my life," said
Saurin. "But I thought it better to keep Marriner's attack on this
keeper secret for your sake. There was sure to be a row, and in case of
the inquiry coming in this direction, and your being questioned, it
would be so much jollier for you to be able to say that you knew nothing
about it. Whereas, if I had entered into all the details, it would have
bothered you. For, to tell the truth, I feared the man was killed; now
he is not hurt much, I don't care."
"They would not have got anything out of me," said Edwards.
"Perhaps not," replied Saurin. "But those lawyers are awful fellows
when they get you into the witness-box, and make you say pretty nearly
what they like. I had much rather have nothing to tell them myself if I
were to be put in such a position, and I thought you would feel the
same."
"You are right, so I do," said Edwards. "What a fellow you are, Saurin,
you think of everything!"
"It is different, now that they have got hold of that ass, Buller; what
a joke it all is, isn't it?"
"Yes," replied Edwards, in a tone of hesitation, however, as if he did
not quite see the humour of it. "Rather rough upon Buller, though,
don't you think?"
"Not a bit of it; he has got off his flogging."
"But suppose he comes in for something worse?"
"How should he? They cannot prove that he was in the coppice when he
was about three miles in the opposite direction, you know. Now, if I
were once suspected, they would find out that I constantly went to
Slam's, who finds agents to sell the game for all the poachers round,
and some of the keepers too, if the truth were known, and that I had
been seen in Marriner's company; who is considered to make a regular
income out of Lord Woodruff's pheasants, and they would have some
grounds to go upon. But Buller is all right."
But though he spoke like this to quiet Edwards, Saurin did not care
whether Buller got into serious trouble or not. He was a friend of
Crawley's, had seconded him in the fight, and given him advice which
contributed as much as anything else to Saurin's defeat. If he were
expelled and sent to prison it would not break his (Saurin's) heart.
The only fear was that if Edwards blabbed--and he was so weak that he
could not be absolutely trusted--fellows would think it horribly mean to
let Buller be punished unjustly, for what he himself had done. And on
this account, and this account only, he hoped that Buller would get off.
Mr Elliot, the magistrate, lived at Penredding, the village where Mr
Rabbits had gone to lecture, and thither Tom Buller was driven in a
close fly, the doctor accompanying him. Lord Woodruff, who had come to
Weston on horseback, rode over separately. Mr Elliot was a man of good
common sense, though his opinions were not quite so weighty as his
person, which declined to rise in one scale when fifteen stone was in
the other. He was a just man also, though perhaps he was less dilatory
in attending to the wishes of a member of one of the great county
families than he might be in the case of a mere nobody. If a rich man
and a poor one had a dispute, he considered that the presumption was in
favour of the former, but he did not allow this prejudice to influence
him one iota in the teeth of direct evidence.
Just after the fly had left Weston some snow flakes began to fall.
"Ah!" thought Tom, "it may snow as hard as it pleases now. I have had a
good turn at any rate. I was not able to do the outside edge when the
frost set in, and now I can cut an eight. I wish, though, I could keep
my balance in the second curl of those threes. I must practise going
backwards, and stick to that next time I have a chance."
Dr Jolliffe, who saw that he was absorbed in reflection, thought that
he was dwelling upon the serious nature of the position, in which he
found himself, and would have been amused if he could have read the real
subject of his meditations. But he could not do that, so he read the
proof-sheets of his new treatise on the digamma. The snow fell thicker,
and by the time they reached Penredding the country was covered with a
white sheet.
Mr Elliot, who had been warned of their coming, was ready to receive
them, and Lord Woodruff came forward with an inspector of rural police,
and told his story, which was written down by a clerk and read over.
Then the whole party set out on their travels again and drove to the
cottage of the wounded gamekeeper, where they were received by a young
woman, who had been crying her eyes red, and to the folds of whose dress
two little children clung, hiding their faces therein, but stealing shy
glances now and then at the quality, and the awful representative of the
law, who had come to visit them.
"The doctor has told us that it would do your husband no harm to say
before me what he has already told Lord Woodruff," said Mr Elliot to
her. "I was rejoiced to hear that he is doing so well. It was a most
shameful, brutal, and cowardly attack, and we are most anxious that the
offender should be brought to justice."
"Yes, sir," said the woman. "Doctor thinks it may quiet him like to
have his dispositions took, and then he may go to sleep."
"Exactly. Will you be so kind as to tell him that we are here?"
She pushed the children into an inner room, ran up-stairs, and presently
reappeared, asking them to walk up. Bradley was in bed, propped with
pillows. A handkerchief was tied round his head, and his face was pale
from loss of blood. Either from that cause, or on account of the shock
to the nervous system, he was also very weak.
"How do you feel now, Bradley?" asked Lord Woodruff gently, going to the
bed-head.
"Rayther queer as yet, my lord," was the reply.
"No doubt. But you have a good hard head, and there is nothing serious
the matter, the doctor says. But it may be some days before it will be
prudent for you to go out, so, as we want to get on the traces of the
fellow who struck you at once, Mr Elliot has kindly come over to take
your deposition here, instead of waiting till you were fit to go to
Penredding."
When Tom Buller saw the woman and children, and then afterwards their
strong bread-earner reduced to such a condition, he indeed felt heartily
glad that there was no truth in the accusation against him. To have had
any part in bringing about such a scene of family distress would have
been too much for him.
The wounded man told his story clearly enough, and then Tom Buller was
told to stand in the light where he could see him clearly.
"Noa," said the wounded man, "I could not say who it wor. There was a
bright moon, but the boy was in the shadow, and I got no clear look at
his face; but he wor one of the Weston young gentlemen, I am sartin of
that. A bit bigger than him, I should say, but I couldn't say for sure.
He wor a strong un, I know that."
When all this was written down, back they went to Penredding again,
slower now, for the snow was getting deep, and assembled once more in
Mr Elliot's study, where Buller was warned against criminating himself,
and then allowed to speak. He had been out that night, but in a
contrary direction, skating; no one had seen him, and he had no
witnesses.
"There is hardly any case," said Mr Elliot. "The boy owns that he was
out the night of the assault, and the gamekeeper swears he was
struggling with a boy, whom he thinks was rather bigger. But there are
no marks of any struggle having taken place upon the lad. There may be
reason for suspicion, but nothing more."
"Exactly; and I do not ask for a committal, but only for a remand, to
give the police an opportunity of collecting further evidence," said
Lord Woodruff.
"And I do not oppose the remand," said Dr Jolliffe. "I am perfectly
convinced of the boy's complete innocence; but in his interest I should
like the matter to be gone into further, now the accusation has once
been made."
"Very good; this day week, then. And I will take your bail for his
appearance, Dr Jolliffe."
And it being so arranged, everybody went home through the snow; and the
police took up a wrong scent altogether, that, namely, of the gang that
had been taking game in another part of the preserves earlier in the
night, and to which it was somewhat naturally supposed the other two
belonged. And one of them was traced, and a reward, together with
impunity, was offered to him if he would turn queen's evidence, and say
who had struck down the keeper. But the man, of course, could tell
nothing about it.
As for Tom Buller, he went back to his lessons as usual, and was a hero.
It was something novel to have a fellow out of prison on bail at
Weston, and the boys racked their brains for some evidence in his
favour. His flogging was put off _sine die_, for the doctor felt it
unjust to deal with his case scholastically while the question of his
punishment by the laws of the country was still pending. The only boy
who thought of anything practical was Smith, "Old Algebra," as they
called him. He went up privately to Mr Rabbits one day and said, "I
beg your pardon, sir, but might I speak to you for a moment?"
"Certainly, Smith," said Mr Rabbits; "what is it?"
"When you saw Buller getting in at the window by the light of your
magnesium wire, did you notice his skates?"
"Bless me!" cried Mr Rabbits; "now you mention it, I think--nay, I am
sure I did. They were hanging round his neck. To be sure; why, that
tends to corroborate his assertion that he went skating."
"Will it not be enough to clear him, sir?"
"Well, not quite, I fear. You see, they may say that he might have
started to go skating, and met with this poacher, and gone off with him
out of curiosity. But still it is worth something, and I shall make a
point of appearing before the magistrate and giving evidence on the
point. It was a very good idea of yours--very."
When the snow ceased, the boys took brooms with them to the gravel-pits
and cleared a space, which grew larger every time they went to skate on
it, some of the hangers-on of the school helping forward the work, for
what coppers and sixpences they could pick up. But they were lazy,
loafing dogs, and the boys did most of it for themselves. Buller did
not go to the ice any more, however; though not expressly forbidden, he
thought the doctor would not like it; it would look as if he did not
take his position seriously enough. It was for the sake of skating that
he had broken out at night and got into this scrape, and so now he would
deny himself.
The week passed, and Buller again went over with Dr Jolliffe to Mr
Elliot's house at Penredding, Mr Rabbits this time accompanying him.
The frost still held, and the boys went skating.