tened. Save for a light breeze that
was moving gently among the trees, there was no sound. It was as quiet
as the grave.

"My word! That's one of the greatest mysteries I've ever struck,"
thought Paul. He withdrew a pace or two, and took up his position
beneath a decayed elm. Possibly Mr. Weevil might make his reappearance
in the same mysterious way in which he had disappeared. He waited a few
minutes, but his patience was not rewarded. Nothing happened.

Paul began to fear that he might be locked out unless he hastened back,
so he reluctantly retraced his footsteps, determined to visit the spot
at the earliest opportunity.

He got back to Garside without mishap or incident, but when he lay down
to rest that night it was not to sleep. He could not help wondering what
had become of Mr. Weevil, and whether he had spent a night on Cranstead
Common. He was still thinking when the school clock chimed the hour of
midnight. About five minutes later he heard a quiet footstep in the
corridor.

"That's Mr. Weevil," he said to himself. "I am quite sure. I could swear
to his footsteps anywhere."

He listened till they disappeared in the corridor, then he turned on his
pillow, and tried to sleep. But he did not succeed for a long time. The
events of that night had banished sleep.

The next day Mr. Weevil was at his post as usual, and closely as Paul
watched him he could see nothing unusual in his demeanour. He was as
grave as ever--the eyes opened and closed in the same manner, most
wakeful when they seemed most sleepful; and he was as prompt and
diligent as ever in the discharge of his duties in the school.

"Was it all a dream?" Paul asked himself, as his mind went back to what
had happened on the previous night.

As that afternoon was a half-holiday, he had some idea of paying a
second visit to the spot, and continuing his examination of it. But he
remembered that there was a still more important duty before him. He had
pledged himself in the presence of Sedgefield and his companions that he
would get back the school flag, and that once again they would see it
flying from its old place on the turret.

So far, he had done nothing to redeem his pledge. Those Third Form
fellows who had cheered him so lustily would think there was no meaning
in his words, that his boast was an empty one. The time had come for him
to do something to make good his promise.

He would begin to carry out his plan that very afternoon.