make fool. _Ishinga 'nkulu_ not let you go out in day. _Au_! go
out at night. Why not?"

We regret to say that by the above epithet--which being interpreted
means "big rascal"--this descendant of generations of fighting savages
was of late wont to refer to the Reverend the Headmaster of Saint
Kirwin's.

"No one see you," he went on. "Quite easy. I go with you; we find lots
of nests. We go to Hangman's Wood again. Plenty of time. All night
long."

"Now, Cetchy, you young ass, how are you going to find nests in the
dark?"

"Not dark. Plenty moon. Besides," and here he looked round once more,
and said something in a quick, hurried whisper. Haviland started, and
his face flushed red with eagerness and excitement.

"The very thing," he exclaimed. "By George, won't we have fun? But I'm
not so sure about the other fellows in the room. Some of them hated me
while I was a prefect. What if they sneak?"

"They not sneak," tranquilly replied the other. "No; they not sneak. I
know."

Then the two plotters put their heads together and talked a good while,
but always cautiously. If any one came within earshot, why they were
only talking about bird-nesting.

We said that Haviland occupied a smaller room at the end of the big
dormitory, the said room containing ten other fellows, and from this it
had not been deemed necessary to shift him at the time of his
suspension; indeed, the same order prevailed therein as before, so great
the force of habit and his own prestige. Now, a night or two after the
above conversation, just before "lights out" time, Haviland remarked
meaningly:

"Any sneaks here?"

The boys stared, then tittered. What on earth was Haviland driving at?
they were all thinking.

"Don't stand grinning like a Cheshire cat, Smithson, you young ape,"
said the ex-prefect. "Why don't you answer, all of you? Are there any
sneaks here?"

"No," came the unanimous answer; while one or two added, "Of course not.
Why?"

"Ha! Any fellow sneak, I kill him!" said Mpukuza, otherwise Anthony, in
would-be blood-curdling tones, and rolling the whites of his eyeballs
hideously.

"There's no need for that, Cetchy," said Haviland, judiciously. "I know
none of these fellows are sneaks."

"Of course not," they repeated. "But why, Haviland?"

"You'll see, or, rather, you won't see, for you'll all be asleep.
You'll all be asleep, d'you hear?" he added significantly.

He turned out the gas. Not for a