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"Locked, I declare! Some of the witty tricks of the widow O'Connor, or the hoyden Miss Callwells!" "How I hate hoydens!" cried Lady Geraldine: "but let us take patience; they will be back presently. If young ladies must perform practical jokes, because quizzing is the fashion, I wish they would devise something new. This locking-up is so stale a jest.
Locking-up was not till eight o'clock, and everybody was beginning to talk about what he would do in the holidays. The shell, in which form all our dramatis personae now are, were reading, amongst other things, the last book of Homer's "Iliad," and had worked through it as far as the speeches of the women over Hector's body.
The carts and gigs rolled away; the clatter of hoofs on the road ceased; there was then a dumb dull sound as of locking-up, and low, humming voices below, and footsteps mounting the stairs to bed, with now and then a drunken hiccough or maudlin laugh, as some conquered votary of Bacchus was fairly carried up to his domicile.
As Andy and his friends made their way through the throng to a car he heard someone call: "Dat's de guy what saved her!" "You're becoming famous, Andy, my boy!" whispered Tom. "Forget it," advised his chum. The boys reached their dormitory with a scant minute or so to spare before locking-up time, for the rules were rather strict at Milton.
A possibility had struck him, which had not struck any of the Channings; and it was curious that it had not done so. "I think not, sir," replied Tom. "Then, that's where Charles is, locked up in the cloisters!" said the master, the recollection of the former locking-up no doubt helping him to the conclusion.
In the evening, when the gravedigger came to lock the gates, he had to take the young man by the shoulder and shake him to his senses. "Locking-up time," he said. "You must go now." Peer rose and tried to walk, and by and by he was stumbling blindly out through the gate and down the street. And after a time he found himself climbing a flight of stairs above a stable-yard.
And so Tom descended, and wended his way drearily by the side of the keeper, up to the Schoolhouse, where they arrived just at locking-up. As they passed the School-gates, the Tadpole and several others who were standing there caught the state of things, and rushed out, crying, "Rescue!" But Tom shook his head; so they only followed to the Doctor's gate, and went back sorely puzzled.
"Do you remember, Tom, how you and East used to laugh at him and chaff him, because he said he was sure the rooks all had calling-over or prayers, or something of the sort, when the locking-up bell rang? Well, I declare," said Arthur, looking up seriously into Tom's laughing eyes, "I do think he was right.
Since I've been lying here, I've watched them every night; and, do you know, they really do come and perch, all of them, just about locking-up time; and then first there's a regular chorus of caws; and then they stop a bit, and one old fellow, or perhaps two or three in different trees, caw solos; and then off they all go again, fluttering about and cawing anyhow till they roost."
Nor would the fact of his being out excite remark, for it was the custom of the House-Prefects to take the air for the few minutes which elapsed between the opening of the door and the final locking-up for the night. The rest of his adventures ran too smoothly to require a detailed description. Everything succeeded excellently.
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