sher minor took what comfort he could from the assurance, and trooped
in with his fellow-adventurers to call-over.

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.

"BURY THE HATCHET!"

Notwithstanding Yorke's exploit, and the prevailing hopefulness of the
juniors, the feeling of gloom deepened on Fellsgarth when another day
ended, and no news was forthcoming of the lost boy.

To a great many it was a shock to hear he was not on the mountain. From
what was known of his eccentricities and recklessness, it seemed as
likely as not he would retreat up there and remain till he was fetched
down.

When it was found he was not there, there seemed to be nowhere else left
to look. The lake (quite independently of the eventful cruise of the
"Cock-house") had been thoroughly searched; Penchurch had been
ransacked; every cottage and home in the neighbourhood had been called
at. The river-banks, up and down stream, had been searched too, and
daily communication with Rollitt's home made it increasingly clear he
had not gone there.

The incident of the six Abernethys and the 6 pence was not seriously
considered. There was no evidence that Rollitt had effected the
mysterious purchase, and the eccentricities of the young shopmen left it
very doubtful whether more than half of that story was not a sensational
fiction of their own.

Masters and boys alike went to bed full of trouble and foreboding.

Fisher major, more perhaps than any one, took the situation to heart.
He had never ranged himself with Rollitt's accuser; yet, had it not been
for his bad management and stupidity, all the trouble would never have
come about. Now, if anything grave had happened to the missing boy,
Fisher major felt that on his shoulders rested all the blame.

But his misery was turned into rage when, just before bedtime, a fag
came over with the following letter from Dangle:--

"I am not surprised you should be so ready to be imposed upon. You have
done mischief enough already; but you have been robbed all the same.
Any one but a simpleton would see that the turning up of the money just
when it did was a suspicious coincidence. What could be easier than for
the thief either to impose on Widow Wisdom, and get her to bring back
the money with the story about the shirt; or else, during one of his
frequent visits there, as soon as he saw that he was found out, to slip
it into the pocket himself! Where he got it from I don't pretend to
guess; but I don't mind betting t