In the meantime, Frank had struck the water and was swimming about, searching for the unfortunate proctor. It was dark down there under the bridge, and he could see nothing of the man.
“Heavens!” gasped Frank. “With his hands tied behind him, and that blanket over his head, Rudge must have sunk like a stone! He is drowned, and we are his murderers!”
The thought made Merry sick at heart. Never before in all his life had anything given him such a feeling. He saw himself, a wretched, guilty creature, with the blood of a fellow being on his hands. For an instant he thought of the just retribution that must follow the awful crime, but that thought was banished in his agony over the unfortunate death of the helpless man.
Frank heard voices above on the bridge, and seemed to realize that some one was looking down at the surface of the river, but he could not spend a moment to look up, for in that moment Rudge might rise to the surface and sink again.
He fought against the current for some moments, and then permitted it to carry him along, realizing that it must carry a helpless man in the same direction.
Frank prayed. He fancied his whole life being blighted in one moment by this reckless lark. He forgot that the man for whose salvation he was praying had been almost universally despised by the students. He forgot that Digby Rudge was a spy, a tattle-tale, a sneak and a manufacturer of trouble unmentionable for the students. He remembered that Rudge was a human being, and that was quite enough.
The water gurgled with the same choking sound that had been a warning to him—a warning to which he had paid no heed. For a moment his nerve seemed deserting him, and he longed to scream—to shriek for help.
He was angry with the current, and, almost as he prayed for the life of Digby Rudge, he cursed the strength of the water, for he felt that it had dragged the helpless proctor down—down.
A train came rushing along and passed over the bridge. Then he realized that the current had carried him a long distance away, and the despair that was crushing his heart grew stronger.
“Rudge! Rudge!”