There was a good deal more to the effect that now was the time for all good men to come to the aid of the party, and that the constituents of Sir Eustace Briggs must look to it that they failed not in the hour of need, and so on. That was what the Wrykyn Patriot had to say on the subject.
O’Hara managed to get hold of a copy of the paper, and showed it to Clowes and Trevor.
“So now,” he said, “it’s all right, ye see. They’ll never suspect it wasn’t the same people that tarred the statue both times. An’ ye’ve got the bat back, so it’s all right, ye see.”
“The only thing that’ll trouble you now,” said Clowes, “will be your conscience.”
O’Hara intimated that he would try and put up with that.
“But isn’t it a stroke of luck,” he said, “that they should have gone and tarred Sir Eustace again so soon after Moriarty and I did it?”
Clowes said gravely that it only showed the force of good example.
“Yes. They wouldn’t have thought of it, if it hadn’t been for us,” chortled O’Hara. “I wonder, now, if there’s anything else we could do to that statue!” he added, meditatively.
“My good lunatic,” said Clowes, “don’t you think you’ve done almost enough for one term?”
“Well, ’myes,” replied O’Hara thoughtfully, “perhaps we have, I suppose.”