Charley
answered the whistle, and set off at a run. Which of the boys it was he
could not tell; the outline of the form and the college cap were
visible enough in the moonlight; but not the face. When he gained the
cloister entrance he could no longer see him, but supposed the boy had
preceded him into the cloisters. On went Charley, groping his way down
the narrow passage. "Where are you?" he called out.
There was no answer. Once in the cloisters, a faint light came in from
the open windows overlooking the graveyard. A very faint light, indeed,
for the buildings all round it were so high, as almost to shut out any
view of the sky: you must go quite to the window-frame before you could
see it.
"I--s-a-a-y!" roared Charley again, at the top of his voice, "where are
you all? Is nobody here?"
There came neither response nor sign of it. One faint sound certainly
did seem to strike upon his ear from behind; it was like the click of a
lock being turned. Charley looked sharply round, but all seemed still
again. The low, dark, narrow passage was behind him; the dim cloisters
were before him; he was standing at the corner formed by the east and
south quadrangles, and the pale burial-ground in their midst, with its
damp grass and its gravestones, looked cold and lonely in the
moonlight.
The strange silence--it was not the silence of daylight--struck upon
Charles with dismay. "You fellows there!" he called out again, in
desperation.
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