The senior boy had gone to the head-master’s for the keys as usual, and now came down the cloisters7, clanking them in his hand.
“Has Charles Channing turned up?” he called out, before he was well abreast8 of them.
Pierce senior choked away his inclination9 to laughter, which the sound of the name excited, and saucy10 Bywater answered. “Where should he turn up from, Huntley? Has he been swallowed?”
“Hamish Channing came to our house last night, ages after I was in bed, saying they couldn’t find him,” replied Huntley. “What was in the wind last night with old Calcraft?”
The boys looked at him demurely11; and Huntley, receiving no reply, unlocked the schoolroom and entered it. They remained behind, winking12 at each other, and waiting still for Charles. It wanted yet a few minutes to seven.
“I say, what d’ye think?” whispered Bywater. “After I had got our sheet smuggled13 in, all right, and was putting it on the bed, I found two big holes burnt in it. Won’t there be a commotion14 when my old aunt finds it out! She’ll vow15 I have been reading in bed. That was you, Pierce senior!”
“I’m sure I never burnt it,” retorted Pierce. “It was the flame did it, if anything.”
“Here comes Bill Simms!” exclaimed Bywater, when their smothered16 laugh was over. “What has he been doing to himself? He’s as white as the ghost!”
Mr. Bill Simms assuredly did look white. He had a pale face at the best of times, and it was embellished17 with straw-coloured hair. But at the present moment it had turned ghastly, and his frame seemed shaking as he came along.
“What on earth has taken you, Simms?” demanded Hurst.
“Oh, goodness!” uttered Simms. “I wish I was well out of this! They are saying there’s a college boy drowned!”
“What?” cried the boys, gathering18 round him.
“There was a crowd down by the boat-house as I came along,” responded Simms, as well as he could speak for his chattering19 teeth. “I asked a fellow what it was, and he said he didn’t rightly know, but he thought one of the college boys had been found drowned in the water.”
Some of the gentlemen-listeners’ faces turned as pale as Mr. Bill Simms’s; as pale as each conscience. Bywater was the first to gather courage.
“It’s not obliged to be Charley Channing, if there is any one drowned.”
“But it’s sure to be him,” chattered20 Simms, his teeth as crazy as his grammar. “Griffin junior says Arthur Channing went to their house last night at twelve, and said they couldn’t find Charley.”
The consternation21 into which this news plunged22 the guilty ones is not easily described. A conviction that it was Charles Channing who was drowned, overtook them all. Schoolboys are not quite without hearts, and they would have given all they possessed23, in that moment, to see Charles come flying amongst them, as usual. Some of them began to wish they were without necks; for if Charles had come to an untimely end through their work, they might stand a chance of furnishing employment to the veritable Mr. Calcraft, on their own score. Tod Yorke came leaping up in delight.
“Oh, wasn’t it good! The young one—”
“Hold your noise, Tod! They are saying he’s dead.”
“Who’s dead?” wondered Tod.
“Charley Channing. A college boy was found in the river, drowned.”
“Oh, that be hanged!” exclaimed Tod, half in mocking disbelief, half in awful fear. “It can’t be, you know. Who says it?”
“There’s seven! We must go in, or Huntley will be on to us. Mind!” added Pierce senior, for he was the speaker, “we must all keep each other’s counsel, and be in one tale—that we know nothing at all about it.”
They slunk into school. But that the senior boy was occupied with his new duty—the calling over of the roll—he might have observed that something was wrong. To play up a bit of mischief is the legitimate24 privilege of college boys; but to have led to a companion’s death is a terror-striking affair; and their countenances25 betrayed that it was so.
Before the roll was finished, the head-master was in school. Tom Channing—it was late for him—entered afterwards. The master beckoned26 to him.
“Is Charles found?”
“No, sir. We cannot learn any tidings of him at all. We have not been to bed, any of us; and the police are searching also.”
Had Tom Channing come from the other side of the Boundaries, near the boat-house, perhaps he might have been able to give a different account.
The master made no comment then. He motioned Tom to his desk, and gave the word for prayers. As the boys were rising from their knees, Hamish Channing entered the school, attended by Mr. Ketch.
Hamish approached the master, who shook hands with him. Ketch remained snarling27 and grinning defiance28 at the door, shaking his fist and his old teeth covertly29 at the boys. If looks could have blown up a room, the college school had certainly gone aloft then.
“I hear you have not found the boy?” said the master to Hamish. “It is very singular.”
“We have not found him. Mr. Pye,” continued Hamish, gravely, “I come to demand of your courtesy an immediate30 investigation31 into the doings of the college boys last night. That the disappearance32 of Charles is in some measure connected with it, we cannot do otherwise than believe. I have brought Ketch with me that he may tell his own tale.”
Ketch was marshalled forward and ordered to tell his tale, and the business of the school was suspended. Ketch told it distinctly enough; but he could not forbear enlarging upon his cruel disappointment over the tripe33 and onions, and it sent the school into convulsions. In the midst of it, Tom Channing breathed freely; Ketch’s preferring the complaint, did away with the unpleasantness he had feared might arise, through having been forced to disclose it to the master.
“I should be sorry to have displeasure visited upon the boys,” resumed Hamish. “Indeed, I should esteem34 it a favour, sir, if you will not punish them for any disclosure that may arise through this step which I have taken. I dare say,” he added, turning his laughing gaze upon them, “that I should have been one of the ringleaders myself, in my school days, therefore it would not be fair for me to bring punishment upon them. I only wish to know which of the school were in it, that I may make inquiries of them whether Charles was one of them or not; and, if he was, what they know of his movements afterwards.”
The address was fair and candid35; so was Hamish’s face; and some of the conspirators36, in their good feeling, might have freely confessed, but for the something just whispered to them by Simms. That closed their lips.
“Do you hear?” said the master, speaking sharply, for he had rather, ten times over, that the school frankly37 avowed38 mischief, when brought to book: he was never half so severe if they were so. “Why are you silent?”
Bill Simms, who had the bump of conscientiousness39 largely developed, with a wholesome40 dread41 of consequences, besides being grievously timid, felt that he could not hold out long. “Oh, murder!” he groaned42 to Mark Galloway, next to whom he sat: “let’s tell, and have done with it.”
Mark turned cold with fear. “You’re a pretty fellow!” he uttered, giving him a tremendous kick on the shins. “Would you like us all to be tried for our lives?” A suggestion which made matters worse; and Bill Simms’s hair began to stand on end.
“Huntley, have you any cognizance of this?” demanded Mr. Pye.
“None, sir.” And so said the three seniors under him.
“Boys!” said the master, bringing his cane44 down upon the desk in a manner he was accustomed to do when provoked: “I will come to the bottom of this business. That several of you were in it, I feel sure. Is there not one of you sufficiently45 honest to speak, when required so to do?”
Certain of the boys drooped46 their conscious faces and their eyelids47. As to Bill Simms, he felt ready to faint.
“What have you done with Charles Channing?” thundered the master. “Where have you put him? Where is he gone? I command you to speak! Let the senior of those who were in it speak! or the consequences be upon your own heads.”
The threat sounded ominous48 in the ears of Bill Simms: he saw himself, in prospective49, exposed to all the horrors of a dungeon50, and to something worse. With a curious noise, something between a bark and a groan43, he flung himself with his face on the floor, and lay there howling.
“Mr. Simms,” said the master, “what has taken you? Were you the chief actor in this matter?”
All considerations had disappeared from Mr. Simms’s mind except the moment’s terror. He forgot what would be his own position in the school, if he told, or—as they would have expressed it—turned sneak51. Impelled52 by fear, he was hardly conscious of his words; hardly responsible for them.
“It wasn’t me,” he howled. “They all know I didn’t want the trick played upon him. I told them that it had killed a boy down by our farm, and it might kill Channing. They know I told them.”
The master paused. “Walk here, Simms.”
Simms picked himself up from the ground and walked there. A miserable53 object he looked; his eyes red, his teeth chattering, his face white, and his straw-coloured hair standing54 on end.
The master leaned his arms upon his desk, and brought his face almost into contact with the frightened one. “What trick did you play upon Charles Channing?”
“‘Twasn’t me, sir,” sobbed55 Simms. “I didn’t want it done, I say, O-o-o-o-o-o-h! I didn’t!”
“What trick was played upon him?”
“It was a ghost dressed up to frighten him, and he passed through the cloisters and saw it. It wasn’t me! I’ll never speak another word, if it was me!”
“A ghost!” repeated the master in astonishment56, while Ketch stretched his old neck forward, and the most intense interest was displayed by the school.
“They did it with a sheet and a blue flame,” went on Simms; who, now that the ice was broken, tried to make a clean breast of it, and grew more alarmed every moment. “It wasn’t me! I didn’t want it done, and I never lent a hand to the dressing57 up. If little Channing is dead, it won’t be fair to hang me.”
“Who was in the plot?” was the next question of the master. And Simms enumerated58 them. The master, stern and grim, beckoned to the several gentlemen to walk up, and to range themselves before him. “The lad has run some distance in his terror,” observed the master aside to Hamish, as he remembered what Judith had told him the previous night. “You will see him home in the course of the day.”
“I trust we may!” replied Hamish, with marked emphasis.
Bit by bit, word by word, the master drew the whole truth from the downcast lads. Pierce senior looked dogged and obstinate59: he was inwardly vowing60 unheard-of revenge against Mr. Simms. Probably most of them were doing the same.
“I knowed it was them! I knowed it couldn’t be nobody but them!” broke forth61 old Ketch, summarily interrupting the proceedings62. “You sees now, sir, what incorrigible—”
“Silence!” said the master, raising his hand. “I can deal with this without your assistance, Ketch. Hurst, who concocted63 this infamous64 plot?”
Hurst—who was the senior of the conspirators, with regard to his position in the school, though not so old as Pierce senior—could not answer it definitively65. It was concocted between them, he said; not by one more than by another.
“Did you not know that a trick, such as this, has deprived men of reason?” continued the master. “And you play it upon a young and defenceless boy! I am at a loss how to express my sense of your conduct. If any ill shall have happened to him through it, you will carry it on your consciences for ever.”
Remembering what they had just heard, the boys’ consciences had begun to suffer already.
“Who personated the ghost?” continued the master.
“Pierce senior.” The answer came from Simms. The others would not have given it.
“I might have guessed that,” was the remark of the master, who had no great love for the gentleman named. “I might have known that if there was a boy in the college school who would delight to put himself forward to trample66 on one younger and more sensitive than himself, it would be Pierce senior. I’ll give you something to remember this work by, Mr. Pierce. Yorke!”
Gerald Yorke knew what he was called for. He was the tallest and strongest of all. The school knew also; and a murmur67 of excitement went round. Pierce senior was going to be hoisted68.
Only in very flagrant cases was the extreme punishment of flogging resorted to by the present master. It had been more common with his predecessor69. Of course its rarity made it all the more impressive when it did come.
“Make ready,” said the master to Pierce senior, unlocking his desk, and taking out a birch as big as a besom.
Pierce turned green and white, without help from any blue flame, and slowly began to obey. There might be no resistance. The school hushed itself into suspense70, and Mr. Ketch’s legs were on the point of taking a dance of ecstasy71. A minute or two, and the group formed the centre of the upper part of the room. Yorke supported the great boy whose back was bared, while the daunted72 faces and eager eyes were strained eagerly from around. The head-master took his place, and his birch was raised in the air to come down with a heavy stroke, when a commotion was heard at one of the desks, and Stephen Bywater rushed forward.
“Stop, sir!” he said to the master. “If you will let Pierce go, I will take the punishment.”
The master’s arm with its weapon dropped by his side, and he turned his astonished gaze upon Bywater.
“I had more to do with planning the trick than Pierce had, sir, so it’s only just that I should be the scapegoat73. We fixed74 upon Pierce to personate the ghost because he was tall and lanky75. And a flogging is not much to my skin,” added honest, impudent76 Bywater.
“So you were the planner of it, were you, Mr. Bywater?” demanded the angry master.
“In a great measure I was, sir. If I do go in for mischief, it shall not be said that I let others suffer for it. Little Channing had offended me, and I wished to serve him out. But I never thought to do him harm.”
In the perplexity of deciding what he ought to do, when official proceedings were interrupted in this unprecedented77 way, the master hesitated. What he would have done is uncertain—flogged Pierce first and Bywater afterwards, perhaps—but at that moment there occurred another interruption, and a more serious one.
Diggs, the man who lived at the boat-house, had entered the school, and was asking to speak to the head-master. Catching78 sight of the signs of the ceremony about to be performed, he waited for no permission, but went forward at once, a college cap in his hand, and his voice trembling with excitement. Its excitement was not lessened79 when he recognized Hamish Channing.
“I am the bearer of bad news, gentlemen,” he said, addressing them both. “I fear one of the young college lads was drowned last night by my boat-house. We have picked up his cap this morning. It was poor little Master Channing.”
Hamish controlled his emotion better than did the Rev6. Mr. Pye. The latter turned his eyes on the horrified80 school, himself equally horrified, and then signified to Pierce senior to dress himself—to Bywater to retire to his place. “The affair has become serious,” he observed, “and must be dealt with differently. Poor child! Poor little Channing!”
And the boys, in their emotion, broke into an echoing wail81. “Poor little Channing! poor little Channing!”
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收听单词发音
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1
enveloped
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| v.包围，笼罩，包住( envelop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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watchful
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| adj.注意的，警惕的 | |
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mischief
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| n.损害，伤害，危害；恶作剧，捣蛋，胡闹 | |
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conspiracy
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| n.阴谋，密谋，共谋 | |
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inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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rev
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| v.发动机旋转，加快速度 | |
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cloisters
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| n.（学院、修道院、教堂等建筑的）走廊( cloister的名词复数 )；回廊；修道院的生活；隐居v.隐退，使与世隔绝( cloister的第三人称单数 ) | |
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abreast
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| adv.并排地；跟上(时代)的步伐，与…并进地 | |
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inclination
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| n.倾斜；点头；弯腰；斜坡；倾度；倾向；爱好 | |
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saucy
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| adj.无礼的；俊俏的；活泼的 | |
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demurely
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| adv.装成端庄地，认真地 | |
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winking
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| n.瞬眼，目语v.使眼色( wink的现在分词 )；递眼色（表示友好或高兴等）；（指光）闪烁；闪亮 | |
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smuggled
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| 水货 | |
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commotion
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| n.骚动，动乱 | |
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vow
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| n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓 | |
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smothered
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| （使）窒息， （使）透不过气( smother的过去式和过去分词 )； 覆盖； 忍住； 抑制 | |
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embellished
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| v.美化( embellish的过去式和过去分词 )；装饰；修饰；润色 | |
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gathering
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| n.集会，聚会，聚集 | |
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chattering
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| n. （机器振动发出的）咔嗒声，(鸟等)鸣，啁啾 adj. 喋喋不休的，啾啾声的 动词chatter的现在分词形式 | |
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chattered
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| （人）喋喋不休( chatter的过去式 )； 唠叨； （牙齿）打战； （机器）震颤 | |
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consternation
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| n.大为吃惊，惊骇 | |
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plunged
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| v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降 | |
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possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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legitimate
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| adj.合法的，合理的，合乎逻辑的；v.使合法 | |
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countenances
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| n.面容( countenance的名词复数 )；表情；镇静；道义支持 | |
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beckoned
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| v.（用头或手的动作）示意，召唤( beckon的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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snarling
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| v.（指狗）吠，嗥叫， （人）咆哮( snarl的现在分词 )；咆哮着说，厉声地说 | |
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defiance
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| n.挑战，挑衅，蔑视，违抗 | |
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covertly
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| adv.偷偷摸摸地 | |
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immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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investigation
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| n.调查，调查研究 | |
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disappearance
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| n.消失，消散，失踪 | |
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tripe
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| n.废话，肚子, 内脏 | |
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esteem
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| n.尊敬，尊重；vt.尊重，敬重；把…看作 | |
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candid
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| adj.公正的，正直的；坦率的 | |
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conspirators
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| n.共谋者，阴谋家( conspirator的名词复数 ) | |
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frankly
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| adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说 | |
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avowed
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| adj.公开声明的，承认的v.公开声明，承认( avow的过去式和过去分词) | |
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39
conscientiousness
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| 责任心 | |
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wholesome
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| adj.适合；卫生的；有益健康的；显示身心健康的 | |
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41
dread
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| vt.担忧，忧虑；惧怕，不敢；n.担忧，畏惧 | |
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42
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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43
groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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44
cane
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| n.手杖，细长的茎，藤条；v.以杖击，以藤编制的 | |
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45
sufficiently
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| adv.足够地，充分地 | |
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46
drooped
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| 弯曲或下垂，发蔫( droop的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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47
eyelids
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| n.眼睑( eyelid的名词复数 )；眼睛也不眨一下；不露声色；面不改色 | |
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48
ominous
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| adj.不祥的，不吉的，预兆的，预示的 | |
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49
prospective
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| adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的 | |
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50
dungeon
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| n.地牢，土牢 | |
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51
sneak
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| vt.潜行(隐藏,填石缝)；偷偷摸摸做；n.潜行；adj.暗中进行 | |
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52
impelled
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| v.推动、推进或敦促某人做某事( impel的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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53
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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54
standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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55
sobbed
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| 哭泣，啜泣( sob的过去式和过去分词 )； 哭诉，呜咽地说 | |
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56
astonishment
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| n.惊奇，惊异 | |
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57
dressing
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| n.(食物)调料；包扎伤口的用品，敷料 | |
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58
enumerated
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| v.列举，枚举，数( enumerate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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59
obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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60
vowing
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的现在分词形式） | |
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61
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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62
proceedings
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| n.进程，过程，议程；诉讼(程序)；公报 | |
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63
concocted
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| v.将（尤指通常不相配合的）成分混合成某物( concoct的过去式和过去分词 )；调制；编造；捏造 | |
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infamous
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| adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的 | |
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65
definitively
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| adv.决定性地，最后地 | |
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66
trample
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| vt.踩，践踏；无视，伤害，侵犯 | |
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67
murmur
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| n.低语，低声的怨言；v.低语，低声而言 | |
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68
hoisted
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| 把…吊起，升起( hoist的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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69
predecessor
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| n.前辈，前任 | |
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70
suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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71
ecstasy
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| n.狂喜，心醉神怡，入迷 | |
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72
daunted
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| 使（某人）气馁，威吓( daunt的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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73
scapegoat
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| n.替罪的羔羊，替人顶罪者；v.使…成为替罪羊 | |
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74
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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75
lanky
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| adj.瘦长的 | |
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76
impudent
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| adj.鲁莽的，卑鄙的，厚颜无耻的 | |
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77
unprecedented
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| adj.无前例的，新奇的 | |
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78
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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79
lessened
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| 减少的，减弱的 | |
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80
horrified
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| a.(表现出)恐惧的 | |
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wail
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| vt./vi.大声哀号，恸哭；呼啸，尖啸 | |
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