It was the day after this strange new punishment had taken place. Bill, David and Nipper were having tea in the Play-room, when Miss Prince, who had looked anxiously out of the window many times during the last half-hour, heard the wheels of the dog-cart on the drive, and hurried downstairs. The cart had driven round to the stables, and there Miss Prince followed it.
As she came up, a boy had just jumped out, and was taking a kit bag from under the seat. He was a boy of fifteen, medium height, with a very sunburnt, cheery face, and eyes that looked straight at you when he talked, as if he had never had anything to hide or be ashamed of.
“Hullo, Miss Prince!” he cried, with a grin.
“Hullo, Danny!” she said. “How nice to see you again! You seem just like a bit of home!”
She led him into the house, through the great, oak-panelled hall, to her own little sitting-room. There they had a long talk. When they came out Danny was laughing.
“I think it’s a splendid plan,” he said. “I’ll do my best to make it come off successfully.”
CHAPTER V
IN THE WOODS
It was a glorious autumn morning—one of those mornings when the wind seems to have swept the world very clean, the sky is very blue and clear of clouds, the sun shines on the red-and-gold leaves, and you feel happy just to be alive. The boys woke up feeling almost good, but, remembering the campaign of frightfulness against Miss Prince which they were determined to carry out, they asked each other what they should do to-day.
“I’ll tell you what,” said David. “She said she was going to start a new plan for lessons this morning. It would annoy her awfully if we ran away all the morning, and she couldn’t start her precious plan! It’s such a ripping day, why should we sit in a stuffy schoolroom?”
“Right you are!” said Bill. “I vote we go and play wild buffaloes with Farmer Tomkinson’s calves. He’s just bought a lot of new ones, and if we let them out on to the heath, we could have some jolly good sport—especially if we take the dogs and the long carriage whip.”