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twg_000000049900 | file towards those in authority. The Thurstonians, however, attempting to make the most of this temporary triumph, met with an unexpected disaster, which quickly turned the changing tide of public opinion. During a momentary pause in the hubbub which followed Thurston's address, Fletcher senior, with the usual smile upon his face, began to speak. "Thurston has just said that as | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049901 | regards these rows the fault lies with the prefects, and that they are culpable in trying to shift the blame on to other fellows without first getting sufficient evidence to warrant their so doing. As one of the prefects, I think it only fair to myself to mention that I was not in favour of this meeting being called. I | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049902 | suggested to my friend Allingford that this matter should be allowed to rest until some inquiries had been made--" "Stop!" cried the captain sternly. The two lines were deepening between his eyebrows, and the corners of his mouth were drawn down. The boys had seen that look before, as he stood at the wicket when runs were few and the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049903 | bowling dangerous. "Stop! Speak the truth: you're not my friend." "Allingford says we are not friends," continued the speaker, with the same eternal smile upon his lips. "I'm sorry to hear it. I know I've always tried to be his friend, ever--" "You're lying!" interrupted the other sharply. "Take care, or I'll prove it!" There was a dead silence all | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049904 | over the room. Fletcher did not know what was coming, and though he felt uneasy, he had gone too far to go back. "I can't understand," he began, "why you should have this unkind feeling towards me. I can only repeat, in spite of what you say, that I _am_ your friend." "Very well," returned the other, with an angry | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049905 | flash in his eyes, "as it was partly an attack on myself, I had meant to have said nothing about it; but since you persist in your miserable hypocrisy, I'll expose you.--You remember," he continued, turning to the audience, and speaking with a ring of bitter scorn in his voice, "that paltry rhyme that was fastened on the notice-board after | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049906 | the Town match? Well, allow me to introduce you to the author of it. He was too modest to sign his name to it, but here he is, all the same--a fellow who tries to bring ridicule and contempt on his own side; who stabs a man in the dark, and in the daylight professes to be his friend." A | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049907 | derisive groan rose from the crowd. "You can't prove it!" retorted Fletcher, turning first white and then red. "I can prove it up to the hilt. You had the confounded cheek to borrow from me the very book of songs you used when you wrote the parody, and you were fool enough to leave the rough copy in it when | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049908 | you brought it back. It's there now, in your writing. Shall I send for it? it's on my study table at this moment." The culprit muttered something about it's being "only a joke," but his reply was lost amid a storm of hoots and hisses. "Sneak!" cried one voice; "Turn him out!" yelled another; while the object of this outburst | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049909 | of animosity, recovering himself sufficiently to glance round with a contemptuous sneer on his face, fell back, and endeavoured to hide his confusion by entering into conversation with Gull and Thurston. Fletcher had come a nasty cropper, and reaped what, sooner or later, is the inevitable reward of double-dealing. Once more the sympathy of the meeting was enlisted on the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049910 | side of Allingford and the prefects, and the crowd dispersed, resolved to discover, if possible, who had made the attack on Browse, and determined that such acts of disorder were not to be tolerated in the future. "Hullo, old chap!" said Thurston, entering his friend's study a few moments later; "you made rather a mess of that speech of yours. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049911 | I'm inclined to think you've damaged your reputation." "I don't care," returned the other; "we're both leaving at the end of this term. As for Allingford, just let him look out: it'll be my turn to move next, and there's plenty of time to finish the game between now and Christmas." It was a bright, crisp afternoon. Almost everybody hurried | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049912 | away to change for football. "Where's Diggy?" asked Jack Vance, as he and Mugford strolled out to the junior playing field. "Oh, he said he wasn't coming; he's stewing away at that stupid cipher. He can't find any word except 'the;' he'll never be able to read the thing." It being a half-holiday, the games lasted a little longer than | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049913 | usual. At length, however, the signal was given to "cease fire," and a general cry of "Hold the ball!" put an end to the several contests. The crowd of players were tramping across the paved playground, and surging through the archway into the quadrangle, when Jack Vance and Mugford were suddenly confronted by Diggory. He held some scraps of paper | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049914 | in his hand, and appeared to be greatly agitated. "Come here," he cried, seizing each of them by the arm; "I've got something to show you." "Well, what is it?" asked the other two. Their friend, however, would vouchsafe no further reply than, "Come here out of the way, and I'll tell you." He dragged them along until they reached | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049915 | the deserted entrance to some of the classrooms; then, stopping and turning to them with an extraordinary look of mingled triumph, mystery, and excitement, exclaimed,-- "I've read the cipher!" "Pooh! what of that?" answered Jack, rather annoyed at being taken so far out of his way for nothing. "I expect it isn't anything particular after all." "It is, though," returned | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049916 | the other confidently; "and you'll say so too when you read it." "Well, tell us first how you managed to find it out." "That's just what I was going to do. You know I found that G was T, S was H, and V was E; well, I tried and tried, and I couldn't get any further. I wrote down | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049917 | the alphabet, and put V opposite E, and T opposite G, and S opposite H. I stared at it and stared at it, and all of a sudden--I don't know how I came to think of it--I noticed that E is the fifth letter from the _beginning_ of the alphabet, and V is the fifth letter from the _end_. The | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049918 | same thing held good with the next letter: G was seventh from the beginning, and T was seventh from the end." Diggory paused as though to see what effect this announcement would have on the faces of his friends. "Well!" they exclaimed; "go on!" "Why, then, I saw in a moment what they'd done: _they'd simply transposed the whole alphabet_--A. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049919 | was Z, and Z was A!" "Oh!" cried Jack Vance; "I see it now." "Of course, it was as plain as print. I put the two alphabets side by side, one the right way and the other upside down, and I read the cipher in two minutes, and here's what you might call the translation." As he spoke he held | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049920 | out a scrap of scribbling-paper. Jack Vance took it, and read as follows:-- "Meet in the 'gym' when the fellows pass on to supper. The two cans of water are standing inside the cupboard under the stairs." Mugford stared at Jack Vance, and Jack stared at Diggory. "D'you see?" cried the latter eagerly. "Yes." "Well, what then?" "Why, it must | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049921 | have something to do with this row about Browse." "Of course: the fellows who did it didn't want, I suppose, to be seen talking together too much just before it happened, and so they invented this way of making their plans." "But who can it be?" asked Mugford. "It seems to me it's just like one of those secret society | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049922 | things in Russia." "So it is, and we must find out who they are," answered Diggory, smacking his lips with great relish. "We'll see once more what can be done by the Triple Alliance." The more the three friends thought over the matter of the cipher letter, the more their curiosity and interest were excited. "I believe it's either Noaks | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049923 | or Mouler," said Mugford; "they were both of them siding with Thurston, and trying to kick up a row at the meeting." "Oh, they'd neither of them have the sense to invent a thing like this," answered Jack. "They may be in it, but there's some one else besides." Diggory scouted the idea of letting any other boys share their | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049924 | secret. The honour of having discovered and exposed the plot must belong to the Triple Alliance alone, and it must be said that they had accomplished their task unaided by any outsiders. That evening and the following day the greater portion of their free time was spent in discussing the great question as to what should be done. The cipher | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049925 | note evidently had direct connection with the attack on Browse, but the translation of the letter was in itself like finding a key without knowing the whereabouts of the lock which it fitted. The question was, by whom and for whom it had been written. Afternoon school was just over, and the three friends were standing warming their feet on | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049926 | a hot-water pipe, discussing the likelihood of making any other discoveries which might tend to throw more light on the subject, when suddenly a happy thought entered the head of Jack Vance. "Look here, Diggory. You said you found this note in a crack in the wall under one of the grub-room windows, and that you thought some fellows were | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049927 | using it as a sort of post-office. Well, have you been there to see if anything's been put there since?" "No!" cried Diggory. "Good idea! I'll go now at once." He walked quickly out of the room, and came back a few moments later at a run. "I've got one!" he exclaimed, in a low, eager tone. "Don't let any | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049928 | one see; come to my desk." The note this time was very brief:-- ZUGVIGVZFMWVIGSVKZE. Diggory hastily fished out his double alphabet, wrote down the proper letters as Jack read out those on the paper, and in a few seconds the translation was complete, and read as follows:-- "_After tea under the pav._" The three boys stared at it in silence. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049929 | "What does it mean?" asked Mugford. "Why," cried Diggory excitedly, "I see. Something's going to happen after tea this evening in that place under the pavilion--you know where I mean?" The other two nodded their heads. The pavilion at Ronleigh being raised some distance above the level of the field, there was a space between the floor and the ground | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049930 | used for storing whiting-buckets, goal-posts, and a number of forms, which were brought out on match-days to afford seats for visitors. The door of this den had no lock, and opened on the piece of waste turf at the back of the building. Small boys used it as a cave when playing brigands, and for so doing had their ears | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049931 | boxed by irate members of the Sports Committee. It was too low to admit of any one's moving about except in a stooping posture, and pitch dark unless the door was left wide open. "What do you think it is?" said Mugford. "I don't know," answered Diggory; "but I mean to go and see." "If they catch you prying about, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049932 | and find out that you've been watching them, you'll get an awful licking." "I don't care if I do; I mean to go." "Well, we'll go with you," said Jack Vance. "Remember it's the Triple Alliance, and we vowed always to stand by each other whatever happened." "Yes," answered Diggory, "and so we will; but there's less chance of one | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049933 | being seen than three. No; I'll go alone." . A SECRET SOCIETY. It was a clear, starlight night. Diggory was one of the first to leave the dining-hall, and, passing swiftly out of the quadrangle, was soon hurrying across the junior playing field. On reaching the pavilion, all was quiet and deserted, and he stood for a moment considering what | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049934 | should be his next step. The thin hedge dividing the two playgrounds was by this time bare of leaves, and afforded no hiding-place; the only chance of concealment was to take shelter inside the den itself--a place which has already been described. This, however, seemed rather like venturing into the lion's mouth. What was going to happen? Would anything take | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049935 | place, or was it only a wild-goose chase after all? "Here goes!" muttered Diggory to himself. He opened the door, pulling it to again after him as he crept inside; then taking a step forward in the pitchy darkness, promptly fell over a bucket with an appalling crash. Scrambling once more to his feet, he felt in his waistcoat pocket, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049936 | and finding there a fusee which he remembered to have taken from a box owned by "Rats," he struck it, and by the aid of its feeble glare crept behind the heap of benches which lay piled up close to the opposite wall. Hardly had he done so when there were a sound of footsteps and a murmur of conversation; | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049937 | the door was opened, and some one crept into the den. No sooner had the new-comer crossed the threshold than he stopped, sniffed audibly, and exclaimed,-- "Hullo! what a stink of fusees! Who's been here, I wonder?" Diggory instantly recognized the voice as belonging to Noaks, and the sound of it brought a momentary recollection of the time when he | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049938 | and Jack Vance had lain concealed behind the hedge opposite to Horace House. His heart beat fast, and he vainly wished that he had had sufficient forethought to come provided with some ordinary matches. Several more boys entered, and one of them struck a light. Diggory, peering through an aperture in the pile of forms, saw at a glance who | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049939 | they were--Fletcher senior, Thurston, Noaks, and Hawley. "There don't seem to be any one about," continued Noaks, peering into the corners; "yet it's rum there should be such a smell of fusees." "I expect it was the man," said Thurston, producing a candle-end, and sticking it in an empty ginger-beer bottle which lay on the ground. "He was in here | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049940 | this afternoon after some of those old boxes, and I expect he lit his pipe. The smell is sure to hang about when the door's shut." The four boys sat down on two upturned buckets and a couple of old hampers, with the candle in their midst, and Diggory gave vent to an inward sigh of relief. "Well," began Thurston, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049941 | "one reason we meet here to-night is because I wanted to explain to you fellows that we can't have any more of those pleasant little parties in my study--at all events, for the present. Until this row about Browse has blown over, every one'll be watching us like cats watching a mouse. We ought not to be seen speaking together, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049942 | and that's where that cipher business that old Fletcher invented will come in jolly useful. We can say anything we want to without appearing to meet." "By-the-bye," interrupted Noaks, "what became of that last note? Mouler told me about it, or I shouldn't have come. Some one had taken it away before I went to look." "Perhaps it was Gull," | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049943 | answered Thurston. "Where is he?" "He's got some turned work to do," answered Hawley. "Mouler's outside keeping _cave_" added Noaks. "We thought it would be well for some one to keep a look-out in case anybody came." "Well, what I was going to say," continued Thurston, "is, that for the present we'd better lie low, and not be seen going | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049944 | about together. It was a good thing Gull and I managed to turn the tables on Oaks at that inquiry; it would have been jolly awkward for the rest of you to have proved an _alibi_. Of course it was agreed that I should keep out of it, as it was a dead certainty they'd pounce down on me first; | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049945 | so I went and sat all the evening with old Smeaton. Ha, ha! the fool quite thought I meant it when I asked him to help me about my work. But I say, how did it come off? I haven't heard the particulars." "Oh, simply enough," answered Hawley. "Noaks and Mouler and Gull and I did the trick; young Grundy's | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049946 | was the voice that told Browse to go down to the 'lab.' Grundy hung about at the top of the stairs, and as soon as he saw Browse come back and make for Allingford's study, he let us know the coast was clear, so we unlocked the door and skedaddled. Gull went straight away to the matron's room, and asked | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049947 | her to sew the two buttons on his waistcoat; he'd pulled them off on purpose. He is a cunning beggar, that Gull. Fancy his staying behind to light the reading-room gas, and telling Lucas he'd only just come! Why, he did more of the wrecking than any two of us put together." "D'you think young Grundy's to be trusted?" asked | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049948 | Noaks. "Oh yes," answered Hawley; "he's been on our side all along. He had a fight with young what's-his-name not long ago, about that skit on the Town match. Besides, I've told him that if it gets out that he had a hand in that Browse business, he'll be expelled. So he'll keep his mouth shut right enough." "Oh, by-the-bye," | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049949 | cried Thurston, turning to his particular chum, "have you heard anything more about that poem of yours?" Fletcher senior, who had been sitting all this time scowling in silence at the candle, answered shortly, "No." "Hullo!" returned his friend, "what's the matter? You seem precious glum to-night. What's up? Are you going to chuck this business and turn good?" "You | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049950 | asked me whether I'd heard anything more about that rhyme I wrote," answered the other, rousing himself, and speaking with a thrill of anger in his voice. "I say no, but I've _seen_ a jolly lot." "How d'you mean?" "Why, there's not a fellow in the Sixth but gives me the cold shoulder. Allingford sets the example, and there's hardly | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049951 | one of them will give me a civil word. They'd like to oust me from the prefects like they did you, but they shan't, and, what's more, I'll get even chalks with some of them before I leave." "Hear, hear!" exclaimed Thurston; "that's just what I say. And now the question is, what shall we do?" "Nothing at present," answered | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049952 | the other. "We must wait until this affair's blown over. There's no need to run the risk of getting expelled; and, besides, we want some time to think of a plan." The faint _clang, ter-ang_ of a bell sounded across the playing field. Noaks and Hawley rose to their feet. "'Prep!'" exclaimed the latter. "We must be off." A new | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049953 | cause for anxiety now presented itself to Diggory's mind in the thought that he would be late in taking his place in the big schoolroom. He knew that Noaks and Hawley would have to be in time for the assembly; but the two Sixth Form boys were not amenable to the same rule, and might linger behind. Thurston, however, rose | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049954 | to his feet, blew out the candle, and the four conspirators groped their way in a body out through the low doorway. Diggory waited until he thought they must have reached the school buildings, and then prepared to follow. The bell had stopped ringing some minutes, and without looking very carefully where he was going, he ran as fast as | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049955 | he could out of the match-ground, and across the junior field. Suddenly, right in front of him, and within fifty yards of the paved playground, a dark figure seemed all at once to rise out of the ground. It was Noaks! The latter had dropped a pencil-case, and had been left by his companions searching for it on his hands | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049956 | and knees. "Hullo!" he exclaimed, catching the small boy by the arm. "Who are you? and where have you been?" "What's that to you?" answered Diggory boldly; "let me go." The remembrance of that mysterious smell of a fusee flashed across Noaks's mind. "Look here!" he cried sharply. "You tell me this moment where you've been." "In the other field." | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049957 | "What were you doing there?" "Running." There was a moment's silence. Noaks had a strong suspicion that the other knew something about the secret meeting; it was equally possible, however, that he did not. Young madcaps were often known to let off steam by careering wildly round the field after dark, and if this had really been the case in | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049958 | the present instance, it would be folly to say anything that should awaken suspicion. The big fellow hesitated; then a happy thought occurred to him: he dragged his captive across the paved playground, and stopping under the gas-lamp which lit up the archway leading into the quadrangle, began a hasty examination of the contents of the latter's pockets. There was | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049959 | no time to lose, and failing to find what he sought, Noaks gave the youngster a final shake, saying as he did so: "Look here, have you forgotten that coin robbery? Because, if you have, I haven't. I've got that knife still. Don't you fall foul of me, or you'll have reason to be sorry for it, d'you hear?" The | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049960 | two boys ran quickly across to the big schoolroom, and entered just in time to take their seats before the master on duty called, "Silence!" As might have been expected, none of the Triple Alliance put in an appearance at supper that evening; as a matter of fact, they were congregated in a quiet corner of the box-room, listening to | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049961 | a graphic account of Diggory's adventures. Noaks's threat about the pocket-knife revived all their former feelings of dread and uneasiness respecting their unfortunate expedition to The Hermitage, and there was a grave look upon their faces as the narrative concluded. "You see," said Diggory, as he brought his story to a close, "the thing was this: he wasn't quite sure | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049962 | whether I knew anything or not, but he said that to frighten me in case I did." "I don't see that we can do anything," began Mugford uneasily. "You say they aren't going to kick up any other row just yet, and it would be an awful thing if Noaks found it out, and sent my knife to the police." | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049963 | "No, I don't see very well what I can do," answered Diggory. "Somehow it seems rather mean to hide away and then go and tell what you've overheard. I think it's best to leave it, and keep a sharp look-out and see what happens next." "Fancy Fletcher inventing that cipher," said Jack Vance, "and being mixed up with that lot. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049964 | He is a double-faced beast; it was just like him making that underhanded attack on the football team." "Yes," added Mugford; "and fancy Gull being in both those rows, and making every one believe he wasn't! They must be a deep lot." "So they are," answered Diggory complacently; "but they aren't a match for the Triple Alliance." "I say, what | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049965 | made Noaks search your pockets?" asked Jack, as the three friends prepared to break up their "confab." "Oh, for a long time I couldn't imagine, and then all of a sudden I thought why it was. Don't you see, he wanted to find if I had any more fusees. My stars, I was glad 'Rats' had only given me one | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049966 | instead of the box!" . A CHAPTER OF ACCIDENTS. The firmest friendships, we are told, have been formed in mutual adversity; and among the many trials which served to strengthen and confirm the loyalty and unity of the Triple Alliance, a string of minor disasters which overtook them one unlucky day early in December must certainly not be overlooked. The | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049967 | after results of this chapter of accidents cause it to assume an additional importance as being the "beginning of the end," alike of this narrative and of an eventful period in the history of Ronleigh College. The reader will understand, therefore, that in turning our attention for a short time to an account of the afore-mentioned misfortune of the three | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049968 | friends, we are not wandering from what might be called the main line of our story. "It all came about," so said Jack Vance, "through Carton's having the cheek to go home some ten days before proper time." The latter certainly did, for one reason or another, leave Ronleigh on Wednesday, the eleventh of December; and by his own special | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049969 | request, our three friends came down to the station to see him off. "Have you got anything to read going along?" asked Diggory, as they stood lingering round the carriage door. "Yes," answered Carton. "Look here, you fellows, you might get in and sit round the window till the train starts; it'll keep other people from getting in, and I | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049970 | shall have the place to myself." The Triple Alliance did as they were requested. "Aha, my boys!" continued Carton, rubbing his hands together, "when you're stewing away in 'prep' this evening, think of me at home eating a rattling good tea, and no more work to prepare after it for old Greyling." "Oh, rubbish!" cried Jack. "I wouldn't go now | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049971 | even if I had the chance. Why, you'll miss all the fun of breaking up; and young 'Rats' is making up a party to fill a carriage, and we're going to have a fine spree. Then by the time we get home for Christmas it'll be all stale to you. Pshaw! I wouldn't--hullo!--here, stop a minute!--why, she's off!" Off she | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049972 | certainly was. There had been a sharp chirrup of the whistle, and at almost the same moment the train began to move. Diggory tried to let down the window to get at the handle of the door; but the sash worked stiffly, and before he succeeded in making it drop, the train had run the length of the platform, and | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049973 | the station was left behind. The four boys gazed at one another for a moment in blank astonishment, and then burst into a simultaneous roar of laughter. "You'll have to go as far as Chatton now," said Carton. "Never mind; you can get back by the next train." "Yes; but the question is if we've got any money," answered Jack | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049974 | Vance ruefully. "It's fourpence the single journey, so the fare there and back for three of us'll be two bob. Here's threepence; that's all the tin I'm worth.--what have you got, Diggy?" "Four halfpenny stamps, and half a frank on my watch-chain," was the reply. "But I don't think these railway Johnnies 'ud take either of those." On examination, the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049975 | only articles of value Mugford's pockets were found to contain were an aluminium pencil-case which wouldn't work, and a dirty scrap of indiarubber. "Look here," cried Carton, "I'll give you two shillings. It's my fault; and I've got something over from my journey-money." The offer was gladly accepted, and at length, when the train reached Chatton, the three chums wished | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049976 | their companion good-bye, laughing heartily over their unexpected journey. "What time's the next train back to Ronleigh?" asked Jack, as he paid the money for their fare to the ticket-collector. "Let's see," answered the official: "next train to Ronleigh--.." Jack's face fell. "Isn't there any train before that?" he asked. "We've got to be back at the school by half-past | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049977 | five." "Can't help that," returned the man; "next train from here to Ronleigh's .. And," he added, encouragingly, "she's nearly always a bit late." The boys wandered disconsolately through the booking-office of the little country station, and halted outside to consider what was to be done. "It's five-and-twenty past four," said Jack Vance, looking at his watch, "and it's a | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049978 | good six miles by road; we shall never walk it in the time." "It's a good bit shorter by rail," mused Diggory, "if we could walk along the line. That tunnel under Arrow Hill cuts off a long round." "We couldn't do that," said Mugford; "there are notice-boards all over the shop saying that trespassers on the railway will be | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049979 | prosecuted." "Oh, bother that," cried Jack Vance, suddenly smitten with Diggory's idea. "Who cares for notice-boards? We'll go home along the line. If we trot every now and then, we shall get back in time." "Well, we'd better walk along the road as far as that curve," said Diggory, "and then they won't see us from the station." The trio | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049980 | started off in the direction indicated, hurrying along the permanent way, hopping over the sleepers, and seeing how far they could run on one of the metals without falling off. At length they entered a cutting, the steep banks of which rose gradually until they towered high above their heads on either hand. Before long the mouth of the tunnel | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049981 | was reached, and, as if by mutual consent, the three friends came to a halt. There was something forbidding about the dark, gloomy entrance--the stale, smoky smell, and the damp dripping from the roof, all tending to give it a very uninviting aspect. "It's awfully long," said Mugford; "don't you think we'd better turn back?" In their secret hearts his | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049982 | two companions were more than half inclined to follow this suggestion; but there is a form of cowardice to which even the bravest are subject--namely, the fear of being thought afraid-- and it was this, perhaps, which decided them to advance instead of retreat. "Oh no, we won't go back," cried Diggory. "Come along; I'll go first." And so saying, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049983 | he plunged forward into the deep shadow of the archway. The ground seemed to be plentifully strewn with ashes, which scrunched under their feet as they plodded along, and their voices sounded hollow and strange. "My eye," said Jack, "it's precious dark. I can hardly see where I'm going." "It'll be darker still before we see the end," answered Diggory. | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049984 | "Some one was telling me the other day that there's a curve in the middle." "Hadn't we better go back?" faltered Mugford. "No, you fathead; shut up." The darkness seemed to increase, and the silence grew oppressive. The boys were walking in single file, Diggory leading, and Jack Vance bringing up the rear. "I say," exclaimed the latter, as he | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049985 | stumbled over a sleeper, "I shouldn't like to be caught here by a train." "That can't happen," retorted Diggory; "didn't you hear the man say there wasn't another till .?" "Yes," added Mugford; "but there might be a luggage, or one coming the other way." "Well, all you'd have to do would be to cross over on to the other | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049986 | line." Imperceptibly the boys quickened their pace until it became almost a trot. "Hurrah!" cried Diggory, a few moments later, as a far-distant semicircle of daylight came into view. "There's the other end." "Stop a minute," cried Jack, emboldened by the prospect of soon being once more in the fresh air; "let's see if we can make an echo." The | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049987 | little party halted for a moment, but instead of hearing the shrill yell for the production of which Jack had just filled his lungs, their ears were greeted with a far more terrible sound, which caused their hearts to stop beating. There was, it seemed, a sudden boom, followed by a long, continuous roar. Diggory turned his head, to find | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049988 | the far-off patch of light replaced by a spark of fiery red, and the terrible truth flashed across his mind that in the excitement of the moment he could not remember for certain which was the down line. It was well for the Triple Alliance that at least one of their number was blessed with the faculty of quick decision | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049989 | and prompt action, or the history of their friendship might have had a tragic ending. Diggory wheeled round, and catching hold of Mugford, cried in a voice loud enough to be heard above the ever-increasing din, "Quick! get into the six-foot way, and lie down!" What followed even those who underwent the experience could never clearly describe. They flung themselves | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049990 | upon the ground: there were the thundering roar of an earthquake, coupled with a deafening clatter, as though the whole place were falling about their ears, and a whirling hurricane of hot air and steam. In ten seconds, which seemed like ten minutes, the whole thing had come and gone, and Diggory, scrambling to his feet in the dense darkness | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049991 | of the choking atmosphere, inquired in a shaky voice, "Are you all right, you chaps?" There was a reply in the affirmative, and the three boys proceeded to grope their way along in silence, until the broad archway of the tunnel's mouth appeared through a fog of steam and smoke. "I say, you fellows," cried Diggory, as they emerged into | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049992 | the fresh air, "I wouldn't go through there again for something." "It was a good thing you gave me that shove," said Mugford; "I felt as though I couldn't move. And we were standing on the very line it went over." "Yes: I couldn't remember for the moment which was 'up' and which was 'down.' I thought, too, we should | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049993 | be safer lying flat on the ground when it passed; had we stood up in the six-foot way, we might have got giddy and fallen under the wheels." The conversation was suddenly interrupted by a strange voice shouting,-- "Hullo, you young beggars! what are you a-doing there?" The boys turned to see from whence this inquiry proceeded. Half-way up the | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049994 | cutting on their left was a little hut, and beside it stood the man who had spoken. The same glance showed them another thing--namely, that just beside this little shanty was one of the notice-boards Mugford had mentioned, warning the public that persons found trespassing on the railway would be prosecuted. "Come along," cried Jack Vance; "let's bolt." Unless they | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049995 | doubled back into the tunnel, their only way of escape lay in scaling the right side of the cutting, as a short distance down the line a gang of platelayers were at work, who would have intercepted them before they reached the open country. "Come along," repeated Jack Vance, and the next moment he and his two companions were clambering | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049996 | as fast as they could up the steep side of the embankment, clutching at bushes and tufts of grass, and causing miniature landslips of sand and gravel with every step they took. The man shouted after them to stop, and seeing that they paid no attention to his commands, promptly gave chase, rushing down the narrow pathway from the hut, | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049997 | and scrambling after them up the opposite slope. Jack Vance and Diggory, whose powers of wind and limb had benefited by constant exercise in the football field, were soon at the top; but Mugford, who was not inclined to be athletic, and who had already been pretty nearly pumped in hurrying out of the tunnel; was still slowly dragging himself | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049998 | up the ascent, panting and puffing like a steam-engine, when his comrades reached the summit. His pursuer was gaining on him rapidly, and it was in vain that his two friends (too loyal to make good their escape alone) stood, and with frantic gestures urged him to quicker movement. Just, however, as the capture seemed certain, a great piece of | 60 | gutenberg |
twg_000000049999 | loose earth giving way beneath the man's weight caused the latter to fall forward on his face. In this posture he tobogganed down the slope, with more force than elegance; and with a yell of triumph Jack and Diggory stretched out their hands, and dragged Mugford up to the level grassy plateau on which they stood. Close behind them was | 60 | gutenberg |
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