The Gold Bat

ice was a treble voice. This surprised O'Hara. It looked verymuch as if he had put up the wrong b

ra, who had beenfumbling all this while in his pocket for a match, found one loose, andstruck a

here?"Renford, however, continued to pursue the topic of his arm, a

broken it," he sa

ebody else. Who's that with you?""I

ow light lit up the more immediateneighbourhood

re, O'Hara, you won'tsplit, will you?""I'm not

se one isn't allowed down here, and there'd be a beastly row if itgot ou

they?" as

We couldn't keep them in the house, as they'd have gotdropped on in a second, so we had to think of somewhere else, andthought why not k

"And what do ye do with the rabbits?""We pot at them as they come out of the holes.""Yes, but when ye hit 'em?""Oh," said Renford, with some reluctance, "we haven't exactly hit anyyet.""We've got jolly near, though, lots of times," said Harvey. "LastSaturday I swear I wasn't more than a quart

rrets. We waited till they'd got well in, then wenipped out quietly. They didn't see us.""D

ns on the chairs. Switc

ppers? Quite tame, too.

y', you know. Don't let him nip yourfingers. This other one's Sherlock Holmes.""Cats-s-s--s!!" said O'

able to show his ferrets off

rvey, when the littleanimals had had their mea

plain, their curiositywould be roused, which would be fatal. And to give any reason exceptthe true one called for a display of impromptu invention of which hewas not capable. Besides,

s comment

ve!" he

more deeply in

think they meet do

don't see what object they could have down hereif they weren't the League holding a meeting.

ight?" asked Harvey. He had a great respect for O'Hara, whosereputation in the school for out-of-the-way doings was considerable. Inthe bright lexicon of O'Har

to a soul"--a warning whichextracted fer

l 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

ut-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 dis

play a wa

appened, that O'Hara lef

was 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, thegym

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

n the school were so

ed with sightseeing, yo

peculiar beauty of the

e 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 atsu

Consequently, certainlawless spirits would range the neighbourhood after lock-up, and, byputting in a quarter of an hour at

the vault when they arrived. Moriarty, to whom he confided between the

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