e moments in coming home to
him. At first he merely thought that somebody had moved it to another
part of the bank, as the authorities at the inn had done once or twice
in the past, to make room for the boats of fresh visitors. Walking
along the lawn in search of it, he came upon the stake to which
Dunstable's submerged craft was attached. He gave the rope a tentative
pull, and was surprised to find that there was a heavy drag on the end
of it.

Then suddenly the truth flashed across him. "Heavens!" he cried, "it's
sunk."

Joe Bevan and other allies lent their aid to the pulling. The lost boat
came out of the river like some huge fish, and finally rested on the
bank, oozing water and drenching the grass in all directions.

Joe Bevan stooped down, and examined it in the dim light.

"What's happened here, sir," he said, "is that there's a plank gone
from the bottom. Smashed clean out, it is. Not started it isn't.
Smashed clean out. That's what it is. Some one must have been here and
done it."

Sheen looked at the boat, and saw that he was right. A plank in the
middle had been splintered. It looked as if somebody had driven some
heavy instrument into it. As a matter of fact, Albert had effected the
job with the butt-end of an oar.

The damage was not ruinous. A carpenter could put the thing right at no
great expense. But it would take time. And meanwhile the minutes were
flying, and lock-up was now little more than half an hour away.

"What'll you do, sir?" asked Bevan.

That was just what Sheen was asking himself. What could he do? The road
to the school twisted and turned to such an extent that, though the
distance from the "Blue Boar" to Seymour's was only a couple of miles
as the crow flies, he would have to cover double that distance unless
he took a short cut across the fields. And if he took a short cut in
the dark he was certain to lose himself. It was a choice of evils. The
"Blue Boar" possessed but one horse and trap, and he had seen that
driven away to the station in charge of a fisherman's luggage half an
hour before.

"I shall have to walk," he said.

"It's a long way. You'll be late, won't you?" said Mr Bevan.

"It can't be helped. I suppose I shall. I wonder who smashed that
boat," he added after a pause.

Passing through the inn on his way to the road, he made inquiries. It
appeared that two young gentlemen from the school had been there to
tea. They had arrived in a boat and gone away in a