HOW THE FLAG FOUND ITS WAY BACK TO THE TURRET
Paul got safely back to Garside with his prize. He mounted with it to
his dormitory and undid the covering in which it was encased. Yes, there
was the old flag, none the worse for its temporary absence from the
school. Paul's heart beat the quicker. He was as proud of the flag as
any boy at Garside, and as he looked at it he realized in some degree
the feelings of a soldier when he has recaptured the colours from the
enemy.
Folding it up again, he hid it under one of the cubicles, and went in
search of the boys who had been with him in the dormitory when the loss
of the flag was first discovered.
He was not long in finding Moncrief minor, who was wandering about the
ground like a lost spirit. He was unhappy at the absence of his
companion in mischief, the redoubtable Plunger. He began to think that
he had been left out in the cold. What a hero Plunger would be if,
through him, the flag were brought back again to the school!
As he was thus thinking he saw Paul coming towards him. He quickly
turned his head and walked off as though he had not seen him, but Paul
came up with him in a stride or two, and, clutching him by the arm,
twisted him round till he was in front of him.
"You needn't run away, Harry. I want you to do me a favour."
"What is it?" asked Harry, reluctantly.
"You remember that afternoon when the flag was lost?"
Harry looked up quickly. What was coming out about the flag now? Ha, ha,
he guessed what it was! Percival had begun to smell a rat. He meant
trying to pump him, so he answered cautiously.
"Of course I do, and so do most of the fellows here, I'm thinking. I
wonder if we shall ever get it back again?"
"I wonder. It was Viner who brought us the news, I remember, and besides
yourself there were several other fellows in the dormitory at the
time--Baldry, Plunger, Sedgefield, Bember. I want you to get together
again the same fellows if you can, and bring them to my dorm. Would you
mind doing that for me?"
"What for?" was the curious answer.
"Oh, I'll explain what for when you're there. Will you do it?"
Harry thought for a moment before answering. What was Percival's game?
He was curious to know; but there couldn't be any harm in doing as he
asked.
"I can't bring Plunger--he's got something special in hand, but I'll
hunt up some of the others, and bring them along with me, if I can."
So he ran off, and Paul returned to the dormitory. Half an hour elapsed
before he heard the welcome sound of footsteps on the stairs. Harry had
succeeded in capturing three out of the five, Sedgefield, Baldry, Viner.
They were just as curious as Harry was to know what Paul could want with
them.
"I'm much obliged to you for coming along," said Paul, "it's really very
good of you, considering the dead-set against me. But I wanted to get
together the fellows who were here when Viner brought up the bad news
about the flag. I wish all six were here, but I must be satisfied with
four out of them. At any rate, there's enough of you to remember what I
said. I said, you'll remember, that through me the school had eaten
dirt."
"Oh, yes, we remember that well enough," said Viner bitterly, "because
it was so true."
"So true; yes, Viner. As your memory's so good on that point, perhaps
you can remember what else was said?"
"Of course I do. We all do, for one or two of us have laughed over it
since. You talked some nonsense about the school suffering through you,
and through you being lifted up again."
"And that you meant getting the flag back again, and putting it in its
old place on the turret," added Sedgefield.
"You're right, Viner, and so are you, Sedgefield. I'm glad you remember
things so well. I made that promise, uncertain whether or not I should
be able to carry it out, but determined to do my best. Well, by God's
help, I'm able to keep my word."
To the profound amazement of the boys, he drew out the flag.
"Where did you find it? Where did you get it from?" cried Viner.
Harry did not speak. He could only stare at the flag. Was it really the
old flag? There could be little doubt about that. How, then, had
Percival come by it? Had he stolen a march upon Plunger and the others?
"Where did I get it from? Well, that's my secret for the present. I've
got the flag, and kept my promise. Now I want you to mount with me to
the turret, so that we can put it back again in its old resting-place."
He waved the flag over his head, and Baldry and Sedgefield gave a cheer.
Harry echoed the cheer in a dazed, bewildered fashion. He had not yet
recovered from his surprise. Viner remained silent. They followed Paul
to the turret, where once again the flag was placed on the summit with
another cheer.
Meanwhile Plunger was inside the shed, awaiting with no small
trepidation the arrival of the "Mystic Brethren." He had not long to
wait before six of the masked brethren entered. The foremost of these
was Mellor, followed by five of his companions. They had put on their
masks outside the door, so that Plunger was just as much in the dark as
to who they were as ever.
"Gargoyle with the eyebrows, greeting!" exclaimed Mellor.
"Greeting," repeated the other masks, bowing.
"Now, then, greet," came a peremptory cry, as Plunger received the point
of two or three knees in different parts of his body, which sent him
staggering round the circle. It revived painful memories of a similar
performance on his part on a previous occasion, and he hastily stammered
out, "Gr-gr-greeting," and jerked his head in imitation of the
brethren.
"We are glad thou hast obeyed the call; but where is thy brother
novice--Henry Moncrief?"
"He--he's otherwise--engaged," stammered Plunger, not knowing what to
say.
"Otherwise engaged! Know this, Gargoyle with the wiry thatch, no
engagement should keep him from answering the call of the Mystic
Brethren. It shall be inquired into."
As he spoke, Plunger saw, with fear and trembling, that one of the
number had drawn from the box the weapons he so well remembered--the
sticks with bladders attached to the ends. He guessed what was coming,
and it came.
"Describe the Mystic Circle!" cried Mellor.
It was useless resisting. Down flopped Plunger on his knees and hands,
and crawled round the ring as quickly as possible three times, while the
bladders showered upon his head with amazing rapidity. Then the brethren
joined hands, and galloping wildly round him, repeated as before:
"Beetles of the Mystic Band
Wind we round thee, hand in hand;
Whene'er thou hear'st thy chieftain's call,
Rest not, pause not, hither crawl,
Or to the realms of Creepy-crawly,
Shivery-shaky we will haul thee."
And once again, to the strains of this extraordinary incantation,
Plunger was sent whirling about the ring from side to side, as though he
were an indiarubber ball. The last time two of them--Harry and
himself--divided honours; but this time Plunger had it all to himself.
Owing to this fact the brethren were able to give him their sole and
undivided attention, and they did it with such effect that Plunger began
to wonder whether he was himself or someone else.
"Dost thou like the Mystic Circle?" inquired Mellor, when they paused.
"Oh, y-y-yes," stammered Plunger, with a painful attempt to laugh, "very
much." And then he added quickly, as he saw the uplifted bladders ready
to descend: "But--but if you've got any more of it, you might keep it
for my brother novice."
"It shall be as thou askest, Gargoyle with the eyebrows," said Mellor.
"And now to business."
"To business? Do they call what I've just gone through pleasure?"
thought Plunger, as he waited in fear and trembling what was to come
next.
"Thou belongest to the Third Form?"
Plunger nodded.
"A wonderful scholar art thou, Gargoyle with the wiry thatch," was the
cutting comment.
"Oh, I could be much higher in the school," exclaimed Plunger, blushing
to the roots of the "wiry thatch"; "but I don't like the boys in the
upper Forms, you know. They put too much side on for me."
"You look a modest, retiring kind of fellow. That's the reason the
Mystic Brethren have taken such a fancy to thee."
Down came the bladders on Plunger's back as tokens of brotherly
affection. Plunger felt flattered at this testimony of the brethren to
his virtues, but he wished at the same time they had expressed it in
some other way.
"It's very kind of you," he gasped.
"Though thou dost despise the bounders of the Upper Form, peradventure
thou wouldst not mind taking a small present from the Mystic Brethren of
the Fifth?"
"A present?" repeated Plunger, pricking up his ears. "Not at all. Shall
be delighted to make myself useful."
"Let me see. The head boy of the Fifth is one named Hasluck, is he not,
wearer of goggles?"
"Yes."
"Is there not also in that same Form one named Leveson, famous
timekeeper, owner of a stop-watch?"
Plunger nodded, marvelling at the accuracy of the brethren's
information. At a sign from Mellor, one of the masks, who was no other
than Crick, left the circle, and brought from the corner of the shed a
long parcel, wrapped in American leather-cloth--a facsimile, in fact, of
the parcel which Paul had received from Wyndham a little earlier.
"Give this to Hasluck, in the presence of the timekeeper Leveson and as
many other menials of the Fifth as thou canst find. It is a souvenir
from thy brethren to celebrate thy initiation to the Mystic Order. Dost
thou understand?"
Fluttering with excitement, Plunger clutched the parcel, and declared
that he understood perfectly.
He had not got far on the homeward road before he was rejoined by his
companions, who had been lying in wait for him behind the friendly
shelter of a hedge.
"I've got it!" he gasped.
"Got what?" demanded Newall.
"The flag!" he cried, flourishing the precious parcel.
"Bravo, Plunger!" exclaimed Newall.
"Hurrah!" shouted Parfitt. "How did you get it?"
"Presented to me in honour of my initiation to the Mystic Order."
"Let's have a look at it."
"It mustn't be opened till we get to the school. Hasluck's got to open
it, in the presence of Leveson."
As Plunger had faithfully followed out their instructions, they could
not very well object to this condition, so they ran by his side,
questioning him by the way as to what had happened to him in his
absence. Plunger answered to the best of his ability, colouring
considerably the part he had played in the ceremony, and the esteem in
which he was held by the brethren.
"Why--why, what's that?" exclaimed Stanley, coming to a dead stop. The
others did the same. Their eyes followed his to the turret. There was
the old flag flying from the top!
Plunger turned pale; then a sickly hue went over his face as he looked
from the flag to the parcel in his hand.