‘Well, what did you hear, Wentworth?’ asked Sedgwick.
‘I was at the Brocas, and a bargee told me that an Eton fellow had been drowned above Surley, and the only Eton boat above Surley to-day, as I can learn, is Buckhurst’s four-oar. That is all.’
There was a murmur of hope.
‘Oh! come, come,’ said Sedgwick, ‘there is come chance. Who is with Buckhurst; who knows?’
‘I saw him walk down to the Brocas with Vere,’ said a boy.
‘I hope it is not Vere,’ said a little boy, with a tearful eye; ‘he never lets any fellow bully me.’
‘Here is Maltravers,’ halloed out a boy; ‘he knows something.’
‘Well, what do you know, Maltravers?’
‘I heard Boots at the Christopher say that an Eton fellow was drowned, and that he had seen a person who was there.’
‘Bring Boots here,’ said Sedgwick.