And now, as rumours rise in society we know not how, so there was suddenly
a flying report in this multitude, the origin of which no one in his alarm
stopped to ascertain, that a boy was drowned.

Every heart was agitated.

What boy? When, where, how? Who was absent? Who had been on the river to-
day? Buckhurst. The report ran that Buckhurst was drowned. Great were the
trouble and consternation. Buckhurst was ever much liked; and now no one
remembered anything but his good qualities.

'Who heard it was Buckhurst?' said Sedgwick, captain of the school, coming
forward.

'I heard Bradford tell Palmer it was Buckhurst,' said a little boy.

'Where is Bradford?'

'Here.'

'What do you know about Buckhurst?'

'Wentworth told me that he was afraid Buckhurst was drowned. He heard it
at the Brocas; a bargeman told him about a quarter of an hour ago.'

'Here is Wentworth! Here is Wentworth!' a hundred voices exclaimed, and
they formed a circle round him.

'Well, what did you hear, Wentworth?' asked Sedgwick.