"Let me see," said the doctor, as he and Railsford met once during the
day, "I have two of your boys to see this evening. One, a prefect. Was
it necessary to send him up?"
"It was, sir. If I saw the slightest prospect of dealing properly with
him myself I would have done so. He is an enemy to the order of our
house, and, as you know, our house just now cannot afford to have more
enemies than it has."
"Your enemies are those of your own house," said the doctor sternly. "I
had expected long before this that it would have been possible to
restore it to the ordinary rights of Grandcourt. An impenetrable
mystery is a bad thing for a school."
"It is," said Railsford, feeling uncomfortable. And here the
conservation ended.
Railsford had not been long in his room that evening when Sir Digby
Oakshott knocked at the door and entered with a long face.
"Please, sir, have you seen anything of Herapath?" said he. "He's not
turned up."
"What--are you sure?"
"I've asked them all. All the others have come. I expect he'll get
pretty drenched if he's lost his way."
"He can't have lost the way--it's too simple. What was he doing at the
abbey when you last saw him?"
"Going after owls," said Dig.
"Where?"
"On the big window. We got to the top, you know; and I came down as
soon as I saw you all starting; and he shouted that he would be down in
a second, and was going to walk home; and we weren't to wait. I say, I
wonder if he's got stuck up there, or come a cropper?"
Dig's face was pale as the thought flashed across his mind. Railsford
was not a bit less concerned.
"Go quickly and see if Mr Roe has sent away his trap, and, if not, keep
it. If it has gone, go to Jason's and get one directly, Oakshott."
In five minutes the baronet returned.
"I can't get a trap anywhere," said he dismally, "but I've got Jason to
send a horse."
"That will do," said Railsford, hurrying down.
"Will it do?" groaned Dig. "_I_ can't go too! Oh, Mr Railsford,"
shouted he, as the master was jumping into the saddle, "what road shall
you come back by?"
"Maiden Hill," said the master, digging his heels into the horse's side.
With a heavy heart Digby watched him start, and then putting on his cap
determinedly, followed him on foot into the night and rain.
"I shall do it in two hours and a half," said he to himself, "if I trot
part of the way. What a cad I was to leave him up there!"
It was not till bed-time at Railsford's that fellows generally became
aware that the master and two of the boys were missing. Railsford and
Oakshott had both been seen in the school after their return from the
picnic. Railsford had, of course, depended on the boy to explain his
sudden absence, and Dig had been too miserable and excited to think of
telling anybody as he started on his weary tramp.
The first inquiry for the missing ones came from the doctor, who, after
his interview with Felgate, sent a messenger over to the Master of the
Shell to request his presence in the head-master's study at once. The
messenger returned to report that Mr Railsford was not in, and no one
knew where he was gone. Then, the hue and cry being once raised, it
appeared that Arthur and Dig's study was also empty and that its owners
were nowhere to be found.
Presently the school gatekeeper reported that on coming up from the town
just now he had seen Mr Railsford galloping on one of Jason's horses in
the direction of the London road! And Munger, who had been out of
bounds, reported in private (because the disclosure might get him into
trouble if it came to the ears of the authorities) that just as he was
sneaking in at the gate he met Sir Digby Oakshott, Baronet, sneaking
out.
The doctor, who might never have heard of the affair, had he not chanced
to want to see Railsford particularly that evening, walked over to the
house about bed-time and interviewed Ainger.
"Have you the slightest idea what it all means?" asked the head-master.
"Not the slightest, sir," said Ainger shortly. If he had had, he would
have spoken long ago, as the doctor knew--or should have known.
"No one is to stay up," said the doctor, "and I wish you to take charge
of the order of the house in Mr Railsford's absence, Ainger.
Circumstances have occurred which may make it necessary to remove
Felgate to another house, meanwhile he has forfeited his prefecture
here."
And the doctor went away, leaving the captain of Railsford's with a new
perplexity piled up on all the others.
Whereupon Ainger sent his house to bed; and threatened them with all
sorts of penalties if lights were not out and all quiet by 9.30. It was
a sleepless night for a good many in Grandcourt. Mr Roe and Grover sat
up together in the rooms of the former, anxious and perplexed about
their missing friend. Mr Bickers walked about his room too, and
wondered if his game was to slip through his fingers after all. And
Felgate lay awake and laughed to himself in the conviction that to him
belonged the glory of hunting the scoundrel from Grandcourt. And Maple,
Simson, Tilbury, and Dimsdale, in the Shell dormitory lay awake too, and
strained their ears at every sound in the court below, and wondered
ruefully what had become of their two missing comrades.
Dig, as he ploughed his way footsore and weary through the rain and mud
of Maiden Hill, down which he had shot at such a glorious pace not
twelve hours before, thought wistfully once or twice of that warm dry
bed in the dormitory and the friendly voices of his allies there
assembled. But he would never return there without old Arthur! In the
times of their prosperity and security those two boys had often
quarrelled, often neglected one another, often forgotten all about one
another; and a casual onlooker might have said, "They are not friends--
they are no more to one another than any other two boys in the school."
Ah, but if the critic could have looked into Dig's heavy heart as he
floundered through the mud that night he would have told a different
tale. Often enough our friend seems to us like an ordinary friend. We
have our little tiffs and our little reconciliations; we have our mutual
jokes and our time-honoured arguments. We say good-bye with unruffled
spirits, and meet again with an unimpassioned nod. But now and again
the testing time comes. The storm breaks over our heads, the thunder
rolls round us. Then the grip of our hands tightens, we find that, we
are not friends, but brothers; and the lightning flash reveals to us,
what we never suspected before, that there is something in the world
dearer to us even than life; and as our hearts sink we envy those happy
people, who, by their simple trust in their Saviour and in the all-
pervading Goodness, are able to face with courage both Life and Death.
Dig stumbled on, dead beat, losing heart, at every step, and stopping
sometimes to take breath with a gasp which sounded ominously like a sob.
The long hill seemed interminable; there was no glimmer of a light
anywhere to cheer him; no clatter of a horse's hoofs to ring hope into
his heart. All was black, and wet, and dreary. What if he should find
the abbey deserted, and have to walk home--alone! He had nearly reached
the ruin when he stumbled against two men conversing in the middle of
the road. To his inexpressible relief one of them was Railsford.
"Mr Railsford!" gasped the boy, springing upon the master with a
suddenness which made both men start, "is that you? Where's Arthur?
Have you found him?"
"He's all right--he's on the top of the window still, and we can't get
him down till daylight. I'm just arranging with Farmer White to bring a
ladder."
Dig made a dash in the direction of the abbey gate.
"Where are you going?" said Railsford.
"I'm going to hop up beside him," shouted Dig, almost beside himself
with relief.
The master caught him firmly by the arm.
"If you think of such a thing, Oakshott, I shall get Farmer White here
to cart you straight back to Grandcourt."
This terrible threat sobered Dig at once. He waited impatiently till
the two men had made their arrangements, and then, with beating heart,
accompanied the master to the ruin.
"He is safe up where he is," said the latter, "and says he has room to
sit down and a back of ivy to lean against. But he must be half drowned
and frozen. It will do him good to know you are here. Now stay where
you are, while I get on the wall and shout to him. He cannot hear us
down here." Dig waited, and listened to the master scrambling up the
ivy and feeling his way on his hands and knees along the wall to the
bottom of the arch.