The King of the School, or, Who will Win? — page 74: what you’re looking at

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68 THE KING OF THE SCHOOL; OR, WHO WILL WIN? epee eee rene VP A I ——————————— in the field, Crawley and Baynes being beneath another. | As he watched he saw the elder of the two (Baynes) draw from his pocket an oblong slip of paper, which he held out to the view of his companion. “Tt looks like a bank-note or a cheque,” Mr. Sharp muttered to him- self, making a step forward. Then he resisted the impulse that urged him forward. | “On the other hand, it may be only an ordinary letter or a school exercise ; in which case I should be very wrong to interfere, for the news would in- stantly spread over the school, and then I should never catch this artful one.” So he resolved to wait and carefully watch. The next day he saw them enter the billiard-rooms together. ‘© Moss is at the bottom of all this,” Mr. Sharp thought to himself. “TI was wrong to say anything to him about the boys. Never mind, I’ve lost one trick, but ll win the game.” Qe RESD CHAPTER XVIII. A NIGHT CHASE, FIvE or six days passed away, and nothing had been discovered, except that a few of the pupils of Lexicon College were in the habit of going to the billiard-room in Catherine Street. Dr. Whackley, after grave delibera- tion, resolved to prohibit the place; not that he had any objection to the game, but because it was frequented by a queer set of people, and his pupils were sometimes induced to play for higher stakes than they could afford. Baynes and Crawley grumbled loudly. “Why, what is the matter with you two sore-headed bears?” Marsham asked. . “Its too bad to stop our billiards.” “The doctor has not stopped them. He has only prohibited a certain house ; and there is quite as good a table at the ‘ Six Bells.’ ” “ That’s an awful slow place.” “ How so ?” “You don’t meet the fellows. there who go to Catherine Street.” ‘So much for everybody—except the fellows you speak of.” “It may suit you to sneer at them, but I have met some jolly good men at Smith’s, in Catherine Street.” Marsham, not being inclined to argue the point, walked away, though he saw no harm in repeating the con- versation to his more immediate friends; consequently the matter was discussed. throughout the school. Mr. Sharp, the detective, heard of it, and his opinion of Baynes was not heightened. He watched that young gentleman more strictly than ever. Baynes was, to say the truth, in an awkward fix. He was, as we know, for some rea- son or other, afraid of the sham Captain Robinson, alias Moss, and wished to conciliate him. How that was to be done was more than the youth could say, for he dared not go to the billiard-rooms, and a let- ter to Robinson only resulted in a reply to the effect that Captain Robinson was too busy to be able to go to Lexicon College, and if Mr, Baynes wished to see him, he was to be found at the rooms in Catherine Street. Mr. Baynes (C(O) MAICLOOC (S(O) mn