But he was not at all sure whether Carr knew of the suggestion yet. If so, he was a bigger fool than he had taken him for. He must know that if he went over to the enemy Coles would give away his secret without a second thought. Surely he could not be prepared for that. He considered the matter carefully from all standpoints. At last he decided to interrogate Carr himself. This reminded him that Carr had yet to be found. He began to grow angry again at once. Carr had got to be found. He was going to hold a party and Carr had to go down to the town and fetch the necessary goods. Also Carr had to be instructed in his behaviour when on guard that evening. Supposing, though, that Carr _did_ want to go and fag for Rouse? If he surrendered his only hold over him in a fit of spite he might regret it afterwards. No. He must keep Carr’s secret as long as possible. Only by having that always over his head would Carr be taught true obedience. The secret was a valuable possession. He must prevent Carr from going over to Rouse by some other means. The secret ought only to be a last resort. He dipped again into the recesses of his imaginative mind. There must be some other way. All he had to do was to find it. At last he went out like the man in a fairy tale to seek his fortune, and his success was appropriately rapid. Evidently, in spite of having been called an ass at a Rugger meeting, this was his lucky day. Out on the gravel path behind the school he came upon a small group. The group was composed of Henry and Carr and the fat boy whose name was Coppin. He stood aside for a moment unnoticed and watched what was happening. Henry was striking a favourite pose, that of the plain-clothes man interrogating a suspect. He had a stiff finger pressed against the fat boy’s waistcoat, and his eyes were turned up so as to look over the tops of his spectacles at the unhappy Coppin. His height was unimposing because he had adopted a crouch in order to place full emphasis behind the forefinger with which he was pinning the fat boy down. Bobbie Carr had the appearance of an interested spectator more than anything else, but he was talking at the time that Coles came upon them, and it was clear that he was accusing the fat boy of some misdemeanour. From the fat boy’s expression too it was clear that he was fairly and squarely cornered. Coles tumbled to the position of affairs with praiseworthy rapidity. He could identify the fat boy at once from Terence’s description at the meeting, and it seemed clear to Coles that the other two were accusing him of sneaking, or perhaps even of laying false evidence against Rouse. The fat boy’s countenance would have given away his guilt if nothing else had. Coles waited a minute or two in consideration of affairs and then came to a quick decision. There was very little time left before afternoon school. He must act quickly.