elf-
defence. Then as his eyes dropped once more on the motionless form over
which Mr Freshfield was bending, he took half a step forward and
gasped, "I did not--"

Whatever he had intended to say was drowned by another howl of
execration. The sound of his voice seemed to have opened the floodgates
and let loose the pent-up feelings of the onlookers. A score of boys
rushed between him and his victim and hustled him roughly out of the
ring.

"Murderer!" cried Scarfe as he gave the first thrust.

And amidst echoes of that terrible cry the Cad was driven forth.

Once he turned with savage face, as though he would resist and fight his
way back into the ring. But it was only for a moment. It may have been
a sudden glimpse of that marble face on the grass, or it may have been
terror. But his uplifted hand fell again at his side, and he dragged
himself dejectedly to the outskirts of the crowd.

There he still hovered, his livid face always turned towards the centre,
drinking in every sound and marking every movement, but not attempting
again to challenge the resentment of his school-fellows by attempting to
enter the awe-struck circle.

It seemed an age before help came. The crowd stood round silent and
motionless, with their eyes fixed on the poor lifeless head which rested
on Mr Freshfield's knee; straining their eyes for one sign of
animation, yearning still more for the arrival of the doctor.

Mr Freshfield did not dare to lift the form, or even beyond gently
raising the head, to move it in any way. How anxiously all watched as,
when the water arrived, he softly sponged the brow and held the glass to
the white lips!

Alas! the dark lashes still drooped over those closed eyes, and as each
moment passed Bolsover felt that it stood in the shadow of death.

At last there was a stir, as the sound of wheels approached in the lane.
And presently the figure of the doctor, accompanied by Mr Frampton,
was seen running across the meadow.

As they reached the outskirts of the crowd, Jeffreys laid his hand on
the doctor's arm with an appealing gesture.

"I did not mean--" he began.

But the doctor passed on through the path which the crowd opened for him
to the fallen boy's side.

It was a moment of terrible suspense as he knelt and touched the boy's
wrist, and applied his ear to his chest. Then in a hurried whisper he
asked two questions of Mr Freshfield, then again bent over the
inanimate form.

They could