and formidable as
a wolf, and that under circumstances and amid surroundings which, acting
on the imagination, should render the affair more terror-striking--viz.,
at midnight, and in the heart of a wood; yet they had faced and fought
the monster, hand to hand, and with very inadequate means of defence,
and had overcome and slain it. In his heart of hearts the feat
commanded his admiration, and moreover, he was devoutly thankful they
had not sustained serious injuries, for the sake of his own
responsibilities and the credit of the school. Yet none of these
considerations would be suffered in any way to mitigate the penalties
due to their very serious offence. He had further been secretly amused
at the scene between Anthony and the keeper, though outwardly the
grimness of his expression showed no trace of any relaxation.

"That will be a matter for future discussion," he replied to the keeper.
"Now I shall not require your further attendance. I have sufficient to
go upon to put my hand on all concerned, and you can rest assured that
they will be most severely punished."

"I hopes you'll flog 'em well, Doctor, sir," was the keeper's parting
shot, "and especially that there young blackamoor rascal. Good-day,
sir."

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

SENTENCE.

The big room was full. Every form room, always occupied at morning
preparation, was emptied of its contents, for all had been convened, by
special proclamation, to the large schoolroom, now to become, for the
time being, a species of hall of justice. So, even as at prayer time,
arranged in the rows of lockers according to dormitories, the whole
three hundred and fifty or so of boys chattered in a continuous and
undertoned buzz--restrained, but not silenced, by the prefectorial
calls:

"Quiet there!"

"You, Jones. I've spoken to you before already."

"Brown, come to me afterwards in the fourth form room."

"Now, then, that bottom row. Stop that shoving about! D'you hear?"

And so on.

Yes, the excitement was intense. There had not been such a row on, said
some one, since that in which Thurston's gang had been caught smoking.
They had set up a kind of divan in a dry ditch, which, being
unexpectedly raided, they, and their pipes and tobacco, had been seized
in close conjunction the one with the other--and Thurston and five other
big fellows had been flogged. Or, said others, since a far worse case
of another kind, wherein some fifteen fellows of all ages