"Will you open that door? I'll pay you out for this! I'll—I'll——"
"Why—why, it's Newall!" whispered Plunger, aghast. "How's he got in there?"
"Don't ask me," said Viner, turning cold, for he had always been on particularly good terms with Newall.
"Can there be two of them in there, do you think?" suggested Bember.
"Ah, I see it all!" said Plunger, a light beginning to dawn upon him. "Moncrief minor's let us in for this. That's the reason he's bolted."
"Seems to me we'd better bolt too," exclaimed Bember. "There won't be much left of you, Freddy, if Newall gets hold of you."
"What price you? You're just as much in it as I am."
But Bember's advice commended itself to Plunger and Viner, neither of whom was desirous of meeting their captive when he was released, so, suddenly letting go their hold of the door, they bolted with all speed in the direction of the school.
Newall continued shouting his threats at the top of his voice for a few moments before he discovered that no one was on guard outside; then he flung open the door, and dashed through with a yell, just as Arbery, Parfitt, Hasluck, and others of the Fifth had started for the shed. They came to a sudden stop when they saw the extraordinary figure that rushed towards them in the darkness. And well they might, for Newall, smothered in feathers from head to foot, presented one of the most extraordinary sights it is possible to imagine.
"What is it?" asked Arbery, in an awestruck whisper.