ADVENTURE AT COVE HILL SCHOOL

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 291, 8 December 1937, Page 26

ADVENTURE AT COVE HILL SCHOOL

CHAPTER XVTT. L«t OK With a Caution. Floteher, arriving back at school before any of the others, entered the small atudy ho shared with Loriiner and Havlllc, tossed his cnp into a corner, and gave himself up to brooding thought. Always rather inclined to jump at ■wrong conclusions, ho was quite led to fttippuso that that picnic in the gravel tit was an outing carefully arranged eforohand, and to which ho himself had not. been Invited. As 0110 of the senior boys at Covo Hill, he regarded this as • snub. It would he impossible to follow all the workings of Fletcher's mind; suffice to say that, with a sort'of final grunt, JlO tugged out a drawer and took therefrom a blank sheet of impot paper. Then, after sticking * violet pencil for •bout three minutes—and Violet pencils have not a very nice taste I—he wrote •• carefully disguising his "To the Headmaster, "Dear Sir, —I feel It my duty to tell you that a partv from Core Hill School this afternoon broke bounds by entering and holding • picnle In one of those old gravel pits on Blindman's Heath. The names of those taking part in the picnic aro as followst* Fletcher, who had taken * careful note of tho banqueters, added all the names, Including those of Doris and Jessie. On reading the document over, however, he ■wished ho had made no mention of the girls. After all, he had no grudge against them, and, in any case, it was "pretty low to blab on a girl." By which it will bo noted that, despite Ms many shortcomings, Fletcher was not lacking in a certain idea of chivalry— and this feeling proved so strong that he made up his mind to write out the whole tiling again, omitting Jessie and Doris. This, of course, took up more time Hum lie had bargained for, and lie had scarcely finished before there were Bounds of other boys returning to their studies. In a, matter of three minutes tho Imi 11 would ring for roll. folding the second manuscript, Fletc ler thrfist it into his jacket pocket. But now| Clime the question of how tho first 1+ ?t destroyed. lie could not burn It then and there, for study fires had not riom'l 01 1 though tlicy had been promised for the morrow. lf°? m'° I "' l ' rr in hnlf ' wirtm J l . W ifc thrf >Hgh the ever |,„ . 8 , the fo "y of this, how HHine I ."tuff? l" ," W lmck - "" ,1 the wli-. h I 0 knew for" 8 "V'!" 0 -° rrldor ,ew lor certain to be wn?ej" Km;i M "" r " n ?. Mom -nt to be door In " i"f»i ''""k-cuplvtard 1 r\\ my for *»»» «i«rk m iiV On the bottom shelf he caught 11 I " f "' ,l winter boots which he never wore now. DespeniteW he snatched up one ot t Iwho and stuffed the cru in pled writ in st well into its toe. Then for greater security, lie sluug the old I'm>oi well out. of "iglit and reach on top nf the dusty cupnourd. Scarce had it settled there, amid many cobwebs, before I lie Joor burst open and Suville came hurriedly in.

"Hallo!" began Saville. "You been grousing indoors all the afternoon? Why didn't you join the run?"

"Didn't know there was one on," answered Fletcher shortly. "Nobody took the trouble to tell me." Having delivered which, he passed out and joined the stream of boys going down to answer roll.

' When this was over, instead of going 1 struight into the hall with the others, l lie slipped off to the headmaster's study. [ The door of this stood open, the room itself being vacant. Fletcher tiptoed in i and laid his sheet of writing on the desk. No one saw him either come or | go—and two minutes afterward ho was , in his usual seat at the teatable. , Nothing alarming happened until . evening work was over, when Hunter. the head Ik>v, received word that he was . to see Mr. Clare at once. I<ittle suspecti ing, Hunter picked up his books and , went off to answer the summons, i "Ah, there you are, Hunter," began Mr. Clare. "Please shut the door." Hunter did so, wondering what was "up"—for the headmaster's tone had a warning note in it. "I want to ask you about this afternoon," proceeded Mr. Clare. "Tell me, how did you occupy your time?" "I went for a mn, sir." "AJone ?" "No, there were about nine of us altogether; there would have been more, of course, only I got it up at rather short notice." "H'm. You understand, of course, that even in the case of training you are expected to stay within bounds?" "Of course, sir." "And you kept within 'bounds to-day?" "Oh, yes." "Be careful, Hunter. Let me explain exactly why 'I am asking these questions. On coming into my room just now I found lying on my blotting-pad a scrap of writing which stated, in a disguised scribble, that you and eleven others took part, to-day, in some sort of a picnic. This indictmcnt I speak of was unsigned, and in the ordinary way I should have treated it as it deserved— by throwing it promptly into the fire. But the matter, this time, was a little too serious to be ignored. Tell me, where was yr,ur picnic helrf?" "Well, sir. strictly speaking, it wasn't a picnic at all. We happened to meet with one or two others " "Where ?" "In the nearest of those old gravelpits, —" "On Blindman's Heath?" Hunter's face fell; first he flushed crimson, and then he became a little pa lc. "Oh, T -I'm sorry, sir, I —l'd forgotten all about that! Those gravel-pits used to be in bounds, and I'd forgotten that, when the whole of Blindman's Heath was barred, those pits were barred as well. I—l m dreadfully sorry; I own it was my fault."

N*o, I don't sny that; it appears that some Other boys were there before you, so I hold them as being equally to Name. I am not going to punish*you. Hunter; for one thing, I hesitate to di m > on the strength of an ill-natu: X, anonymous note-and for another thing 7L -J 0 " nrp I* rf e<*ly honest in saying that you ft-got.''

Ticking up the malicious missive from his desk, Mr. Clare slit it into several strips and dropped them on the fire. "So much for that." observed he. "But remember, Hunter, I shall wind up the incident very differently if ever again I hear of a boy setting foot on Bliiulman's Heath. Tell the others that." Yes, sir, I'll speak to them about it at once." Hunter did so, and what he had to import created no small sensation. The Head's action in letting them off wafi accounted "jolly sporting," but all this was soon drowned in a clamour of heated speculation as to who had "split" upon them. If the offender happened to be among them—as a {natter of fact he wasn't—his ears would surely have burned. As indignation waxed higher, some most dreadful penalties were proposed for him, in the event of his being caught.

It was in this mode that Cove Hill wont off to bed. Hick Middleton was specially perturbed, and he was still pondering the matter when, on turning down his bedclothes, he noticed Borne small object lying therein.

It was a key—the key to that linen press where, it will be remembered, they had hidden the first keg of tinstone brought from Trevanion Woodi^T

"Hallo!" murmured Rick. "How careless of me! I must lmve dropped the key out of mv pocket when I was dressing this morning. H'm—lucky thing I found it myself."

Crossing, he tried the linen press door, being relieved to find that it was still securely locked. However, to make sure, he used the key to open it at once, bringing over a candle, for there was no gas in this little room. Then Rick got » shock, for that empty cupboard was completely empty now—the keg was gonel

Rick stared around him in perplexity; the other three who shared this room with him were quite small boys, and not at all of the "larky" sort. He questioned them as guardedly as he could, and was satisfied from their answers that they kne'iv nothing about it.

Next morning, coming out of chapel, Rick buttonholed Bob and Spot. In a few seconds he had told them of the vanished keg, but before they could do more than show their astonishment the house lobby had been reached, beside which a little group had collected round a boy named Seldon. The latter had produced a shiny lump of something, which was being passed from hand to hatid. A heated argument was in progress. "Tosh!" cried one voice. "You must be an ass if you suppose that silver ever looks like that! I believe it's a raw pieqp of tin." "Well, the chap who gave it to me said it was silver," retorted Seldon, and ot that moment Rick Middleton pounced on the exhibit. "Where did you get it, Seldon?" demanded he sharply. "Why ?" "Because I've just lost some stuff like this, a whole kegful of it. I've had it stored away in my dormitory. Two days ago it was still there, all safe and sound, but by last night the keg had disappeared!" "Well, I didn't take it," answered Seldv.ii, trying to edge indoors. "Here, half a sec!" exclaimed Spot, catching the boy's arm. "You must know something. Where did you get this lump?" "I swapped it with another chap for a Trinidad stamp." "What other chap?" "I can't tell you; he made me promise not tA mention his name." '( "But—" J "I shan't tell you," repeated Seldon doggedly, and no amount of coaxing would induce him to say more. So there the matter had to remain; the young tinstone "miners" being left with an uncomfortable fear that their cherished secret would soon be a secret no longer. "As things stand," observed Rick, "we have only three barrels safely planted. So I vote we hurry up and get the other three filled right away, so as to make a quick finish." "Hear, hear!" agreed his companions, uiul phyns were made at once. —(Continued Newt Wednesday.)