d evidently been among
the latter; as, on the notice board that morning, among the names of the
fifteen who were to play the first match for the new clubs on Saturday
against Penchurch, was that of Rollitt. The excitement caused by this
discovery almost put into the shade for the time the equally remarkable
fact that Clapperton and Brinkman were included in the same team.

Where Rollitt had been, and what he had been doing, remained a mystery.
It was, of coarse, out of the question to ask him. Conjecture was rife,
and was greatly assisted by the juniors, who hazarded all sorts of
plausible explanations for the general benefit.

"Think he's been to Land's End?" said Wally. "I hear you can do it in a
week--sharp walking."

"You can get to America in that time," said Lickford.

"Yes--he does seem to have rather a twang on him. Perhaps that's where
he's been to," remarked D'Arcy.

"Penny bank coal-mine's only fifty miles away," said Percy. "It runs
under the sea ever so far. I should say it was a ripping place to hide
in."

From which and other similar remarks it was concluded that the juniors
had a much better notion as to where Rollitt had been than they chose to
admit.

They eagerly embraced the first opportunity of going to the shop, and
investigating the scene of the mystery for themselves. They carefully
locked the outer door against possible intruders, and then in Indian
file ascended the stone ladder, and after it the corkscrew staircase.

The room in which they found themselves was pretty much as Rollitt had
left it. It had evidently been made use of by a former lodge-keeper as
a dwelling-room, for there was a ragged paper on the wall, and an
attempt here and there to board over dangerous holes in the floor.
Besides which there was a rude shutter to the tiny window, by means of
which no doubt Rollitt had succeeded in concealing his presence at
night. The remains of a wood fire were on the hearth, and a candle-end
showed (what they already knew) that the hermit did not spend all his
evenings in darkness.

More than this, in one corner still lay some of the wraps which he had
evidently used to extemporise a bed. And an empty box on end in the
window convinced them he had sat down during part of his residence.
There was also a leaf of exercise paper and a Horace lying on the floor,
which evidently had not been brought there by the owls. Altogether, as
they looked round, they concluded that, but f