e stood, though he knew it not,
at a great parting of the ways. Behind him lay his happy days of
triumph on the football meadow and the cricket field. How was he to
know that this dark, slight figure before him meant that a strange,
new life was opening out to him, a life of wild adventures in far-off
lands, in lands where the memory of English meadows would seem like
thoughts and dreams of another life. Jack Haydon knew nothing of this;
yet he paused for a moment as some strange prevision seized upon him
and held him in its grip. Then he brushed away this odd influence, and
was back at once in the present.

"For the last time, clear out," said Jack. The man laughed, and Jack
made a swift leap at him. They were not three yards apart, but Jack
never reached his man. Without a sign, without a sound, someone sprang
upon him from behind, flung a cord over his head, and seized him in a
strangling grip. Jack was as strong as a young bull, but in this
awful, noiseless clutch he was helpless. He fought madly to throw off
his unseen assailant, but he fought in vain. He felt a noose close
upon his throat, and his eyeballs began to start out and his head to
swim. In front of him stood the mysterious stranger, who had moved
neither hand nor foot, and Jack's last conscious recollection was of
the quiet, smiling face, and the mocking laugh once more rang in his
ears. Suddenly the frightful, strangling clutch seemed to tighten, the
blood drummed madly in his ears as if every vein was bursting; then he
knew no more.

When Jack Haydon came to himself, he found that he was in the same
spot, and that someone was chafing his hands and pouring water on his
face. He gave a deep sigh, and a well-known voice said: "Thank God,
Haydon's coming round. Whatever could have been the matter with the
poor lad? What does this mark round his throat mean?"

Jack opened his eyes and saw Dr. Lawrence, the headmaster of Rushmere
School, bending over him. Near at hand stood Colonel Keppel, a
gentleman residing in the neighbourhood. The Colonel had been driving
Dr. Lawrence back from Longhampton, and his trap stood close by. At
the present moment the Colonel held a hat from which water was
dripping. He had fetched it from a pool near at hand.

Jack gulped once or twice, then began to speak. The two gentlemen
heard his story with the utmost surprise.

"Garrotters!" cried Dr. Lawrence, "I never heard of such an outrage in
this neighbourhood before. What a