the discomfited plotters were forced into a confession of all their deeds for the past few days, and a party headed by mr. fitz-williams set out to scour the country for the missing boy. then, contrite and woebegone, the evildoers slunk into their respective homes, there to receive what punishment their outraged parents should see fit to inflict.
it is not best to enter into details; it would be too[343] harrowing. it is sufficient to say that when their weary heads at length sought their pillows, sleep refused to come to their relief, and such a night of torture few of them ever passed.
“if it wouldn’t make us appear guiltier than we are,” henry said, with feverishly bright eyes, “you and i would pack up, too, will, and run away, and travel all around the world.”
as henry did not deign to state how this might be accomplished, we are left to infer that he had an idea of a flying-machine in his mind.
stephen and charles wore out the night in wondering what they should do with themselves if sent to prison. the former resolved that he would undermine the prison foundations with his jack-knife, and make his escape to robinson crusoe’s island.
“there i shall spend my life,” he sighed heroically, “thinking of marmaduke. robinson lived alone twenty-eight years; i’m only sixteen, i shall probably live alone about sixty years, if the cannibals don’t catch me and eat me up.”
poor dreamer! he was not sufficiently well versed in geography to know that robinson crusoe’s island is not now so desirable a place to play the hermit in as it was in the seventeenth century.
george, who was of an inquisitive disposition, finally left his bed, broke into the lumber-room of his ancestral home, and after diligent search, found a bulky tome, which, years before, had been consigned to that dreary region as being more learned than intelligible. this tome was entitled “every man his own lawyer.”
with this prize he returned to his bedroom, muttering, “now i shall see just what the law can do to us boys, and all about the whole business, and what we ought to do and say.”
after an hour’s careful study of this neglected “mine of wealth,” the sage let it slip out of his hands, and tumbled into bed again, muttering: “yes, one of us is guilty of the crime of arson. that is very clear. all of us are liable to be sent to prison. that is pretty clear.[344] as i make it out, the sentence ranges between six months and a hundred years. which will the judge conclude we deserve, six or one hundred? oh, well, it will be hideous to live in a prison at all, for there will be no books there!”
according to the sage’s notions, the worst fate that could possibly overtake him would be to be deprived of his books.
“but, o dear,” he pursued, “i should be willing to give up all my books if marmaduke could be found.”
morning dawned on the reformed plotters with mocking serenity. there could be no enjoyment for them while such a cloud of mystery hung over their companion’s fate.
the searchers were not so successful on this occasion as when they used to rove over land and sea for will and his companions; not the slightest clew to marmaduke’s whereabouts being found.
the news of the preceding day’s doings was already known throughout the neighborhood, and the boys were spoken of in no flattering terms. those villagers whose phraseology was refined, called them “whimsical juveniles, wise beyond their years;” while those villagers whose phraseology was terse and expressive, brutally gave them greek and japanese nick-names for the evil one.
as the hour of dinner approached, a grim-visaged man, who looked like the descendant of a long line of executioners and muleteers, so grave and stern were his features, called on each one of the five boys who had had an interview with mr. stolz, and delivered to each one a formidable envelope that bore the impress of the law, and a single glance at which was sufficient to freeze one’s blood. having done this, the “minion of the law,” as the terrified boys supposed he was, left the village at a round pace, looking less and less grave with every step. reader, this person was a bosom-friend of b. f. stolz’s, disguised with a lawyer’s neck-tie, hat, and cane, or cudgel.
fearfully the awe-inspiring seals were broken, and the legal missives were found to run as follows:
[345]
“having observed a party of urchins prowling around my place up stream, and having, by the merest accident, learned the contents of a certain ‘letter’ written by a certain william, i was so long-headed as to put this and that together; and i resolved to make myself acquainted with what was going on. accordingly, i watched, and waited, and hovered lovingly near you, when you knew it not. i discovered your plot. last night i was hidden away up-stairs, within earshot, prepared to spring among you suddenly as a ghost, when i had an unexpected meeting with jim. the rest i believe you know. don’t be at all alarmed about the fire; jim alone is responsible for that; i will take no further notice of the affair. i wished to punish you, however, and hit on this little plan. whether i have succeeded or not, you yourselves know best. if you were kept awake by uneasiness last night as much as i was by laughter, i am more than indemnified for the loss of ‘nobody’s house.’
“in the matter of marmaduke, i believe he is keeping house in the big barn on the road to——. i have already notified his parents of this. to the rescue, o ye heroes!
“i have the honor, your excellencies, to sign myself your humble servant.
“b. f. stolz.”
this stolz was a remarkable man—almost a genius. professionally a farmer, he was wholly taken up with the pastime of playing practical jokes. no subject, no person, was too exalted to escape him; and, as his letter proves, he stooped to play off his tricks on even boys! in this instance he had actually spied on them, and let them make free with his house, intending to electrify them as a hobgoblin when they should have worked themselves up to a proper pitch of excitement.
but, like every one else concerned in this scheme, he himself was a sufferer.
the boys were relieved. no more haunting fears of being sent to penitentiary; no more ingenious speculations as to how they should occupy themselves there. better than all else, they had news of marmaduke.
when marmaduke discovered the imposition, and fled,[346] he was almost beside himself with grief, horror, and anger. it seemed to him that boys who could deliberately contrive and execute so base a scheme must be exceedingly depraved—cruel, and lost to all sense of honor. it seemed to him, in short, that they were worse than they were. after having been duped so completely by them, he could not endure the thought of ever seeing them again, and so resolved to abandon his country.
poor marmaduke! he was of a sensitive temperament, and believed that his heartless school-fellows would ridicule him for evermore.
he wandered on till he came to a large and empty barn, and then it occurred to him that it would be proper for him, as an exile, to take up his quarters in it for a short time. he reasoned, also, that if he should be looked for, it would be well to keep hidden till the search was over, when he could continue his flight towards the sea-coast, or any other place, in peace and safety.
“i am resolved that they shall not take me,” he said in himself, “for i could not survive another attack from those boys. no, i shall wander off to some happy land, where my merit will be appreciated. then i shall set to work, become rich and famous, and after long years have passed i shall return for a few days to my insulting countrymen, a great man! then people that think it is hardly worth while to say ‘good-day’ to me now, will be glad to catch a glimpse of me from behind a window-curtain; and that horrible old woman that says i look a little like her son, the carter, will discover that the governor of the state looks just like me! then those boys—they will be men then—will remember that i used to be marmaduke, that they used to sit in the same seat with me, and that they used to study out of my books sometimes; and they will come around me, humble and cringing, and try to get me to recognize them. but i won’t recognize them—by even a look or a turn!”
full of his future triumph and of his most original manner of slighting his persecutors, marmaduke effected an entry into the old barn in a very burglarious way, not at all compatible with his dignity. to speak plainly, he[347] picked the lock with a pair of tweezers, which he had used a few hours previous for a different, a very different purpose.
here he spent the night, dozing, fuming against his school-fellows, and speculating on his future glory; while his nearly distracted parent was dragging ponds, snappishly replying to the impertinent questions of curious old women, sending little boys and big men hither and thither on a fool’s errand, and goading sleepy knights of the telegraph almost to frenzy.
next morning as mr. stolz was passing the old barn, he fancied he heard strange sounds within. he slid off his horse, warily drew near, and looking through a knot-hole, discovered the missing boy lying on the floor, holding quiet converse with himself, as he matured his plans for the future.
stolz hurried back to his horse, almost beside himself with laughter, and thinking that the boys’ plot was most sublimely ridiculous.
just as the dreamer was in the midst of composing an elaborate letter of farewell to his mother, his sterner parent appeared on the scene, and poor marmaduke’s trip to “some happy land” was postponed indefinitely.
strange as it may at first seem, marmaduke was more pleased to return home than he cared to acknowledge. life as an exile in a gloomy old barn was decidedly monotonous; and his curiosity as to who the prisoner represented by sauterelle could be, was becoming excited. it was a mystery which he must fathom.
his poor mother and his remorseful companions welcomed him with heart-felt joy; and twenty-four hours after he and henry first met, they were debating—with considerable constraint, it is true—whether there is more fun in fishing with a spear than with a pole and line.
such is life—among school-boys.
what effect did this have on the tricksters, in a moral point of view? only a slight one, certainly not a lasting one. though shocked and conscience-smitten for a time, they were soon as reckless and perverse as ever; and the lesson their suffering should have taught them was unheeded.
[348]
considering the leniency with which mr. stolz treated them, they should have felt grateful towards him. on the contrary, whenever this practical joker hove in sight on his goggle-eyed old charger, instead of advancing to touch their hats to him respectfully, they regarded him with such deep-seated rancour that they invariably jumped over the handiest fence, and strolled off somewhere through the fields.
the gossiping villagers had a new subject of comment, and they took delight in jeering at the “french lords,” as they insultingly called the ex-plotters. for that reason it was dangerous, as long as the holidays lasted, to say anything to them about france or frenchmen; and stephen fell into such a habit of looking furious that his left eye was permanently injured.
as for henry, he became so home-sick and heart-sick that, after a visit of only ten days, he packed his valise and returned.
