jolly much mistaken."

"It would be an awful lark to bolt," said Gully, with a chuckle.
"But," he added, seriously, "if you really mean it, by George, I'll
go too! Wilson has just given me a thousand lines; and I'll be
hanged if I do them."

"Gully," said Cashel, his eyes sparkling, "I should like to see one
of those chaps we saw on the common pitch into the doctor--get him
on the ropes, you know."

Gully's mouth watered. "Yes," he said, breathlessly; "particularly
the fellow they called the Fibber. Just one round would be enough
for the old beggar. Let's come out into the playground; I shall
catch it if I am found here."






II





That night there was just sufficient light struggling through the
clouds to make Panley Common visible as a black expanse, against the
lightest tone of which a piece of ebony would have appeared pale.