These and a score of kindred questions were asked; and when Ralph answered that he thought he had managed all right, and that he had answered every question, a hearty cheer followed.
"Hurrah for Rexworth and the Fourth!"
Dobson and Elgert heard it, and the latter laughed quietly, and said, with a sneer upon his handsome face—
"Go on; cheer away. You will have something to cheer for presently."
The evening wore away—tea, and preparation, and recess, and finally bed; and after the usual chatter and skylarking when monitors' backs were turned, the boys of Marlthorpe College were all snugly in bed, the gas had been turned out in the dormitories, save for one faint glimmer at the end of each room, and silence reigned throughout the old school.
Perhaps it was because he was so anxious for Ralph's success, perhaps it was that he was thinking of Dobson and Elgert, or of his poor father away there in that dreary ruin, but somehow Charlton could not get to sleep. He lay there thinking, thinking, long after the regular breathing from Ralph, and the occasional gurgle and snore from Warren, announced that his two chums were fast asleep.
Would Ralph get the medal? Would his father ever get safely away? Or, better still, would he ever be proved to be innocent? Would——
A stealthy movement caused him to open his eyes. A boy, higher up the dormitory, had got out of bed; and that boy was Dobson!
Charlton held his breath and felt himself trembling with excitement. Elgert and the bully had plotted something, after all, then; and—and—why, Dobson was dressing! And now he crept out of the dormitory with careful, noiseless steps!