The Gold Bat | Page 8

Ye know the gallery windows? They open at the top,
an' it's rather hard to get out of them. But we managed it, and dropped
on to the gravel outside."
"Long drop," said Clowes.
"Yes. I hurt myself rather. But it was in a good cause. I dropped first,
and while I was on the ground, Moriarty came on top of me. That's how
I got hurt. But it wasn't much, and we cut across the grounds, and over
the fence, and down to the river. It was a fine night, and not very dark,
and everything smelt ripping down by the river."
"Don't get poetical," said Clowes. "Stick to the point."
"We got into the boat-house--"
"How?" asked the practical Trevor, for the boat-house was wont to be
locked at one in the morning. "Moriarty had a key that fitted,"
explained O'Hara, briefly. "We got in, and launched a boat--a big
tub--put in the tar and a couple of brushes--there's always tar in the
boat-house--and rowed across."
"Wait a bit," interrupted Trevor, "you said tar and feathers. Where did
you get the feathers?"
"We used leaves. They do just as well, and there were heaps on the
bank. Well, when we landed, we tied up the boat, and bucked across to
the Recreation Ground. We got over the railings--beastly, spiky
railings--and went over to the statue. Ye know where the statue stands?
It's right in the middle of the place, where everybody can see it.
Moriarty got up first, and I handed him the tar and a brush. Then I went
up with the other brush, and we began. We did his face first. It was too

dark to see really well, but I think we made a good job of it. When we
had put about as much tar on as we thought would do, we took out the
leaves--which we were carrying in our pockets--and spread them on.
Then we did the rest of him, and after about half an hour, when we
thought we'd done about enough, we got into our boat again, and came
back."
"And what did you do till half-past seven?"
"We couldn't get back the way we'd come, so we slept in the
boat-house."
"Well--I'm--hanged," was Trevor's comment on the story.
Clowes roared with laughter. O'Hara was a perpetual joy to him.
As O'Hara was going, Trevor asked him for his gold bat.
"You haven't lost it, I hope?" he said.
O'Hara felt in his pocket, but brought his hand out at once and
transferred it to another pocket. A look of anxiety came over his face,
and was reflected in Trevor's.
"I could have sworn it was in that pocket," he said.
"You haven't lost it?" queried Trevor again.
"He has," said Clowes, confidently. "If you want to know where that
bat is, I should say you'd find it somewhere between the baths and the
statue. At the foot of the statue, for choice. It seems to me--correct me
if I am wrong--that you have been and gone and done it, me broth av a
bhoy."
O'Hara gave up the search.
"It's gone," he said. "Man, I'm most awfully sorry. I'd sooner have lost a
ten-pound note."

"I don't see why you should lose either," snapped Trevor. "Why the
blazes can't you be more careful."
O'Hara was too penitent for words. Clowes took it on himself to point
out the bright side.
"There's nothing to get sick about, really," he said. "If the thing doesn't
turn up, though it probably will, you'll simply have to tell the Old Man
that it's lost. He'll have another made. You won't be asked for it till just
before Sports Day either, so you will have plenty of time to find it."
The challenge cups, and also the bats, had to be given to the authorities
before the sports, to be formally presented on Sports Day.
"Oh, I suppose it'll be all right," said Trevor, "but I hope it won't be
found anywhere near the statue."
O'Hara said he hoped so too.

IV
THE LEAGUE'S WARNING
The team to play in any match was always put upon the notice-board at
the foot of the stairs in the senior block a day before the date of the
fixture. Both first and second fifteens had matches on the Thursday of
this week. The second were playing a team brought down by an old
Wrykinian. The first had a scratch game.
When Barry, accompanied by M'Todd, who shared his study at
Seymour's and rarely left him for two minutes on end, passed by the
notice-board at the quarter to eleven interval, it was to the second
fifteen list that he turned his attention. Now that Bryce had left, he
thought he might have a chance of getting into the