THIEVES BREAK IN AND STEAL
It was always the custom for such Austinians as went up to represent
the School at the annual competition to stop the night in the town. It
was not, therefore, till just before breakfast on the following day
that Tony arrived back at his House. The boarding Houses at St Austin's
formed a fringe to the School grounds. The two largest were the School
House and Merevale's. Tony was at Merevale's. He was walking up from
the station with Welch, another member of Merevale's, who had been up
to Aldershot as a fencer, when, at the entrance to the School grounds,
he fell in with Robinson, his fag. Robinson was supposed by many
(including himself) to be a very warm man for the Junior Quarter, which
was a handicap race, especially as an injudicious Sports Committee had
given him ten yards' start on Simpson, whom he would have backed
himself to beat, even if the positions had been reversed. Being a wise
youth, however, and knowing that the best of runners may fail through
under-training, he had for the last week or so been going in for a
steady course of over-training, getting up in the small hours and going
for before-breakfast spins round the track on a glass of milk and a
piece of bread. Master R. Robinson was nothing if not thorough in
matters of this kind.
But today things of greater moment than the Sports occupied his mind.
He had news. He had great news. He was bursting with news, and he
hailed the approach of Tony and Welch with pleasure. With any other
leading light of the School he might have felt less at ease, but with
Tony it was different. When you have underdone a fellow's eggs and
overdone his toast and eaten the remainder for a term or two, you begin
to feel that mere social distinctions and differences of age no longer
form a barrier.
Besides, he had news which was absolutely fresh, news to which no one
could say pityingly: 'What! Have you only just heard _that_!'
'Hullo, Graham,' he said. 'Have you come back?' Tony admitted that he
had. 'Jolly good for getting the Middles.' (A telegram had, of course,
preceded Tony.) 'I say, Graham, do you know what's happened? There'll
be an awful row about it. Someone's been and broken into the Pav.'
'Rot! How do you know?'
'There's a pane taken clean out. I booked it in a second as I was going
past to the track.'
'Which room?'
'First Fifteen. The window facing away from the Houses.'
'That's rum,' said Welch. 'Wonder what a burglar wanted in the First
room. Isn't even a hair-brush there generally.'
Robinson's eyes dilated with honest pride. This was good. This was
better than he had looked for. Not only were they unaware of the
burglary, but they had not even an idea as to the recent event which
had made the First room so fit a hunting-ground for the burgling
industry. There are few pleasures keener than the pleasure of telling
somebody something he didn't know before.
'Great Scott,' he remarked, 'haven't you heard? No, of course you went
up to Aldershot before they did it. By Jove.'
'Did what?'
'Why, they shunted all the Sports prizes from the Board Room to the
Pav. and shot 'em into the First room. I don't suppose there's one left
now. I should like to see the Old Man's face when he hears about it.
Good mind to go and tell him now, only he'd have a fit. Jolly exciting,
though, isn't it?'
'Well,' said Tony, 'of all the absolutely idiotic things to do! Fancy
putting--there must have been at least fifty pounds' worth of silver
and things. Fancy going and leaving all that overnight in the Pav!'
'Rotten!' agreed Welch. 'Wonder whose idea it was.'
'Look here, Robinson,' said Tony, 'you'd better buck up and change, or
you'll be late for brekker. Come on, Welch, we'll go and inspect the
scene of battle.'
Robinson trotted off, and Welch and Tony made their way to the
Pavilion. There, sure enough, was the window, or rather the absence of
window. A pane had been neatly removed, evidently in the orthodox way
by means of a diamond.
'May as well climb up and see if there's anything to be seen,' said
Welch.
'All right,' said Tony, 'give us a leg up. Right-ho. By Jove, I'm
stiff.'
'See anything?'
'No. There's a cloth sort of thing covering what I suppose are the
prizes. I see how the chap, whoever he was, got in. You've only got to
break the window, draw a couple of bolts, and there you are. Shall I go
in and investigate?'
'Better not. It's rather the thing, I fancy, in these sorts of cases,
to leave everything just as it is.'
'Rum business,' said Tony, as he rejoined Welch on terra firma. 'Wonder
if they'll catch the chap. We'd better be getting back to the House
now. It struck the quarter years ago.'
When Tony, some twenty minutes later, shook off the admiring crowd who
wanted a full description of yesterday's proceedings, and reached his
study, he found there James Thomson, brother to Allen Thomson, as the
playbills say. Jim was looking worried. Tony had noticed it during
breakfast, and had wondered at the cause. He was soon enlightened.
'Hullo, Jim,' said he. 'What's up with you this morning? Feeling
chippy?'
'No. No, I'm all right. I'm in a beastly hole though. I wanted to talk
to you about it.'
'Weigh in, then. We've got plenty of time before school.'
'It's about this Aldershot business. How on earth did you manage to
lick Allen like that? I thought he was a cert.'
'Yes, so did I. The 'ole thing there, as Dawkins 'ud say, was, I
knocked him out. It's the sort of thing that's always happening. I
wasn't in it at all except during the second round, when I gave him
beans rather in one of the corners. My aunt, it was warm while it
lasted. First round, I didn't hit him once. He was better than I
thought he'd be, and I knew from experience he was pretty good.'
'Yes, you look a bit bashed.'
'Yes. Feel it too. But what's the row with you?'
'Just this. I had a couple of quid on Allen, and the rotter goes and
gets licked.'
'Good Lord. Whom did you bet with?'
'With Allen himself.'
'Mean to say Allen was crock enough to bet against himself? He must
have known he was miles better than anyone else in. He's got three
medals there already.'
'No, you see his bet with me was only a hedge. He'd got five to four or
something in quids on with a chap in his House at Rugby on himself. He
wanted a hedge because he wasn't sure about his ankle being all right.
You know he hurt it. So I gave him four to one in half-sovereigns. I
thought he was a cert, with apologies to you.'
'Don't mention it. So he was a cert. It was only the merest fluke I
managed to out him when I did. If he'd hung on to the end, he'd have
won easy. He'd been scoring points all through.'
'I know. So _The Sportsman_ says. Just like my luck.'
'I can't see what you want to bet at all for. You're bound to come a
mucker sooner or later. Can't you raise the two quid?'
'I'm broke except for half-a-crown.'
'I'd lend it to you like a shot if I had it, of course. But you don't
find me with two quid to my name at the end of term. Won't Allen wait?'
'He would if it was only him. But this other chap wants his oof badly
for something and he's leaving and going abroad or something at the end
of term. Anyhow, I know he's keen on getting it. Allen told me.'
Tony pondered for a moment. 'Look here,' he said at last, 'can't you
ask your pater? He usually heaves his money about pretty readily,
doesn't he?'
'Well, you see, he wouldn't send me two quid off the reel without
wanting to know all about it, and why I couldn't get on to the holidays
with five bob, and I'd either have to fake up a lot of lies, which I'm
not going to do--'
'Of course not.'
'Or else I must tell him I've been betting.'
'Well, he bets himself, doesn't he?'
'That's just where the whole business slips up,' replied Jim, prodding
the table with a pen in a misanthropic manner. 'Betting's the one thing
he's absolutely down on. He got done rather badly once a few years ago.
Believe he betted on Orme that year he got poisoned. Anyhow he's always
sworn to lynch us if we made fools of ourselves that way. So if I asked
him, I'd not only get beans myself, besides not getting any money out
of him, but Allen would get scalped too, which he wouldn't see at all.'
'Yes, it's no good doing that. Haven't you any other source of
revenue?'
'Yes, there's just one chance. If that doesn't come off, I'm done. My
pater said he'd give me a quid for every race I won at the sports. I
got the half yesterday all right when you were up at Aldershot.'
'Good man. I didn't hear about that. What time? Anything good?'
'Nothing special. 2-7 and three-fifths.'
'That's awfully good. You ought to pull off the mile, too, I should
think.'
'Yes, with luck. Drake's the man I'm afraid of. He's done it in 4-48
twice during training. He was second in the half yesterday by about
three yards, but you can't tell anything from that. He sprinted too
late.'
'What's your best for the mile?'
'I have done 4-47, but only once. 4-48's my average, so there's nothing
to choose between us on paper.'
'Well, you've got more to make you buck up than he has. There must be
something in that.'
'Yes, by Jove. I'll win if I expire on the tape. I shan't spare myself
with that quid on the horizon.'
'No. Hullo, there's the bell. We must buck up. Going to Charteris'
gorge tonight?'
'Yes, but I shan't eat anything. No risks for me.'
'Rusks are more in your line now. Come on.'
And, in the excitement of these more personal matters, Tony entirely
forgot to impart the news of the Pavilion burglary to him.