chairs, and was never opened except when prize-day or some similar event
occurred, when the chairs were needed. It was supposed to be locked at
other times, but never was. The door was just by the spot where he was
standing. As he stood there, half-a-dozen other vague forms dashed past
him in a knot. One of them almost brushed against him. For a moment he
thought of stopping him, but decided not to. He could wait.

On the following afternoon he slipped down into the basement soon after
school. It was as black as pitch in the cellar. He took up a position
near the door.

It seemed hours before anything happened. He was, indeed, almost giving
up the thing as a bad job, when a ray of light cut through the
blackness in front of him, and somebody slipped through the door. The
next moment, a second form appeared dimly, and then the light was shut
off again.

O'Hara could hear them groping their way past him. He waited no longer.
It is difficult to tell where sound comes from in the dark. He plunged
forward at a venture. His hand, swinging round in a semicircle, met
something which felt like a shoulder. He slipped his grasp down to the
arm, and clutched it with all the force at his disposal.




IX

MAINLY ABOUT FERRETS