The Gold Bat Page 11

  "Rather. Do you think O'Hara will catch them?"

  "He must if he waits down there long enough. They're certain to comeagain. Don't you wish you'd been here when the League was on before?"

  "I should think I did. Race you over to the shop. I want to getsomething before it shuts."

  "Right ho!" And they disappeared.

  O'Hara waited where he was till six struck from the clock-tower,followed by the sound of the bell as it rang for lock-up. Then hepicked his way carefully through the groves of chairs, barking hisshins now and then on their out-turned legs, and, pushing open thedoor, went out into the open air. It felt very fresh and pleasant afterthe brand of atmosphere supplied in the vault. He then ran over to thegymnasium to meet Moriarty, feeling a little disgusted at the lack ofsuccess that had attended his detective efforts up to the present. Sofar he had nothing to show for his trouble except a good deal of duston his clothes, and a dirty collar, but he was full of determination.He could play a waiting game.

  It was a pity, as it happened, that O'Hara left the vault when he did.Five minutes after he had gone, six shadowy forms made their waysilently and in single file through the doorway of the vault, whichthey closed carefully behind them. The fact that it was after lock-upwas of small consequence. A good deal of latitude in that way wasallowed at Wrykyn. It was the custom to go out, after the bell hadsounded, to visit the gymnasium. In the winter and Easter terms, thegymnasium became a sort of social club. People went there with a verysmall intention of doing gymnastics. They went to lounge about, talkingto cronies, in front of the two huge stoves which warmed the place.Occasionally, as a concession to the look of the thing, they would doan easy exercise or two on the horse or parallels, but, for the mostpart, they preferred the _role_ of spectator. There was plenty tosee. In one corner O'Hara and Moriarty would be sparring their nightlysix rounds (in two batches of three rounds each). In another, Drummond,who was going up to Aldershot as a feather-weight, would be putting ina little practice with the instructor. On the apparatus, the members ofthe gymnastic six, including the two experts who were to carry theschool colours to Aldershot in the spring, would be performing theirusual marvels. It was worth dropping into the gymnasium of an evening.In no other place in the school were so many sights to be seen.

  When you were surfeited with sightseeing, you went off to your house.And this was where the peculiar beauty of the gymnasium system came in.You went up to any master who happened to be there--there was alwaysone at least--and observed in suave accents, "Please, sir, can I have apaper?" Whereupon, he, taking a scrap of paper, would write upon it,"J. O. Jones (or A. B. Smith or C. D. Robinson) left gymnasium atsuch-and-such a time". And, by presenting this to the menial whoopened the door to you at your house, you went in rejoicing, and allwas peace.

  Now, there was no mention on the paper of the hour at which you came tothe gymnasium--only of the hour at which you left. Consequently, certainlawless spirits would range the neighbourhood after lock-up, and, byputting in a quarter of an hour at the gymnasium before returning totheir houses, escape comment. To this class belonged the shadowy formspreviously mentioned.

  O'Hara had forgotten this custom, with the result that he was not atthe vault when they arrived. Moriarty, to whom he confided between therounds the substance of his evening's discoveries, reminded him of it."It's no good watching before lock-up," he said. "After six is the timethey'll come, if they come at all."

  "Bedad, ye're right," said O'Hara. "One of these nights we'll take anight off from boxing, and go and watch."

  "Right," said Moriarty. "Are ye ready to go on?"

  "Yes. I'm going to practise that left swing at the body this round. Theone Fitzsimmons does." And they "put 'em up" once more.