"Thieves!"  
"Fire!"
 
"Help! Help!"
 
The whole house was aroused. The cries of confusion and alarm coming from the Fifth Form dormitory were repeated by others who, entirely ignorant as to what was the matter, and aroused from slumber by the noise, tumbled from their beds and rushed out wildly, under the impression that nothing less than the house being ablaze could account for the cry.
 
The doctor and masters came hurrying to the spot; and while the Head ran to the Fifth Form room, the master got the other boys into something like order, ready to be marched quietly downstairs if the alarm of fire should prove to be well founded.
 
The first thing that the doctor noted was the open window and the ladder, and the next, that a confused babel of sound was going on in the Fifth's room; and as he strode to the door he was met, full tilt, by a boy with torn clothes, apparently seeking to free himself from the grasp of half a dozen Fifth Form boys.[Pg 85] To his bewilderment, the Head saw that this boy was his new scholar, Ralph Rexworth.
 
His strong hand gripped the boy's arm, and his voice thundered out a command for silence, which the boys obeyed all save Ralph, who cried—
 
"If you do not follow him at once, he will be off, sir! These fellows stopped me, and he has got a good start!"
 
"He! Who?" cried the Head. And the boy replied—
 
"The man who was in the Fifth, sir. He knocked me down, and bolted; and then the boys woke, and got me, and would not let me go!"
 
"You have been dreaming, boy. Silence, all! Kesterway, you are head monitor. Explain to me! All boys from other Forms back to their rooms; there is no cause for any alarm. At once, please! Now, Kesterway!"
 
"I can tell you nothing, sir. I heard a noise, and woke; and there was Elgert, and one or two others holding a boy who kicked and struggled; and just as I jumped out of bed and ran round, he broke away and rushed for the door."
 
"It was Rexworth, sir!" cried one boy. "He was in our room trying to play some trick upon Elgert. They have been having a row, sir."
 
"Will you have the goodness to hold your tongue, sir!" exclaimed the master, a trifle irritably; and the boy subsided at once.
 
[Pg 86]
 
"Elgert, what have you to say? Did this boy attempt to play any tricks on you?"
 
"Yes, sir! I was asleep and I was aroused by a violent cry and a blow, and some one was struggling on my bed, as if he had jumped on and was trying to hold me down; I gripped hold of him, and found it was Rexworth. The other fellows woke, and began crying out; and then, when they found who it was that had made the row, they got angry and went for him!"
 
"That will do. Now you, sir, what have you to say? Speak up, and tell the truth! Why have you disturbed the whole household in this disgraceful manner?"
 
So the doctor asked, and terribly angry did he look; but very different was his expression when he had heard Ralph's story. It sounded incredible that any one should attempt to enter the school for the deliberate purpose of injuring any boy; and he would have put the story down as a fabrication, but there was the plain evidence in the shape of the open window and the ladder.
 
If Ralph had invented it, he must have managed to leave the house, drag the ladder across the playground, raise it to the window, and then go back and open that window; and that also seemed absolutely impossible.
 
"I saw the man, sir!" the lad said; "he was creeping on his hands and knees, and when he got to Elgert's[Pg 87] bed he got up, and he had a pillow. He was going to smother Elgert. He dropped the pillow when I shouted and ran in. It is by the bed now. I tried to clutch him, sir, but he was too strong. He struck me, and knocked me over on top of Elgert, and then they held me and actually let him escape. He darted away like a flash, sir; and I expect that he is far enough away by now!"
 
Bewilderment, incredulity, wonder, all were depicted upon the faces of those who listened; but Elgert actually laughed in the Head's presence, and asked how any one could be expected to believe such a story.
 
"Who is there who would want to harm me, sir?" he said. "Why, it is really absurd to think of such a thing! I have had a row with this boy, as you know, and I suppose that he wanted to play a trick on me, and quite forgot the row that would be made."
 
"Be good enough to keep your remarks to yourself, until I ask for your opinion, Elgert!" said the Head sternly. "Now, all you boys, back to bed! In the morning I will go into the matter properly. To bed at once!"
 
It was all very well to say "to bed," but "to sleep" was quite another matter. Sleep seemed banished from most eyes; and in the Fourth, Ralph was plied with question after question, until at last he positively refused to talk any more.
 
Truth to tell, Ralph was somewhat disgusted. He[Pg 88] had done more than most boys would have risked; and had it not been for him, Elgert would have been murdered, and this was the best thanks he received!
 
And yet, as he thought of it, it seemed quite natural to him. After all, it was a very mysterious business; and if people did not believe it, it was not to be wondered at. He would wait patiently until the morning; and then, if the doctor did not believe him, it would not be his fault.
 
And when morning came, and breakfast was over, the Head sent for Ralph, and again listened to his story, and questioned him closely; and he felt convinced that the boy was indeed speaking the truth.
 
That only perplexed him the more; a foolish joke would be understandable, but a deliberate attempt to harm one of the boys under his charge was a thing which he could not by any means comprehend.
 
He went into the playground and surveyed the ladder; it had been left just where it was. He went to the boundary wall and examined that, and there was a stain of blood—some one, in hastily getting over, must have cut his hand upon the broken glass with which it was finished off. He felt, beyond question, that Ralph's tale was true. Some one had been there, but who that some one was, was a mystery indeed.
 
But the doctor was a just man, and as he had thrown some doubt upon Ralph's story, he summoned the entire sc............