"You
will have to explain matters to Mr. Tulloch."

"So I suppose, Mr. Purfleet.

"Well, Jim, we'll go and have a good wash. The bell will be
ringing, in half an hour."

So saying, Bob went into the lavatory, followed by his companions;
while the usher returned upstairs. He was certainly disappointed.
Quietly as the boys had dressed, the slight noise they had made in
closing the door had woke him. He thought little of it but, just as
he was going off to sleep again, he heard the bolts of the door
below withdrawn. He at once got up and walked to the other end of
the dormitory, and discovered that the four boys were missing.

Chuckling to himself that he should now be able to repay the grudge
he owed to Bob, he put on his dressing gown and went downstairs;
and had sat there for three hours, momentarily expecting their
return. He had certainly felt chilly, but had borne it patiently;
comforted by the joyful expectation of the utter dismay that would
be felt, by the culprits, when they saw him. The meeting had not
passed off at all as he had anticipated, and he could only console
himself by thinking that his turn would come when he made his
report to Mr. Tulloch.

The four boys did not return to the dormitory but, after they had
washed, strolled about in the playground. There was quite a
ferment, in the dormitory, when their absence was perceived, and
the others noticed the four made-up figures in their place. The
operation of dressing was got through with much greater alacrity
than usual and, when they went downstairs and saw the four missing
boys in the playground, these were at once surrounded by an excited
throng. They refused, however, to answer any questions.

"You will hear it all, in good time," Bob said. "We have been out,
and we have been caught. That is all I am going to tell you."

At the usual hour the bell rang, and the boys assembled in the
schoolroom. The two ushers were in their places. They waited three
or four minutes for Mr. Tulloch to appear; then the door opened,
and the manservant entered and, walking up to Mr. Moffat, said a
word or two. The latter nodded.

"Lessons will begin at once," he said, in a loud voice. "The first
class will come up to me."

The boys of this class, who occupied the senior dormitory, at once
began their lessons; while Mr. Purfleet took the lower class. The
second class, including Bob and his friends, remained in their
places. In a quarter of an hour the door ope