Was it one of the boys who had been up to mischief, or, it seemed absurd, was some thief breaking in? Thieves did not, as a rule, break into schools! He was half inclined to raise an alarm. But the thought came, that if this was some midnight escapade on the part of some of the boys, to do that might be to get them into disgrace--to make more enemies, and to interfere in what did not concern him. That was a window just outside the Fifth-Form dormitory, too! Elgert might be in it, and he did not want to be the means of getting him into any more trouble. But suppose that it was a thief? Ralph crept to the door and opened it noiselessly. He peered down the corridor, but nothing was to be seen or heard. Stop! Surely he did hear a faint sound--a very faint sound! He felt that he must go and see; a strange, uneasy feeling had possessed him; a strange presentiment that all was not right. He crept down the passage, and turned towards the Fifth-Form dormitory, and a breath of cold air met him. The window was open, and the top of a ladder could be seen--and the door of the dormitory was open also! With cautious, stealthy steps he crept on, pausing once when the boards creaked beneath his weight. There was something eerie in being here alone at midnight; it was worse than being out alone on the plains. He reached the door, and peered into the dormitory with its long row of sleeping boys there. There was nothing here in the shape of a lark going on. All was still and silent. There was his enemy lying asleep, his handsome face just catching a glimmer of moonlight which found its way through the blind; and as Ralph looked he saw a strange apparition--a man slowly appeared, rising at the side of the bed! A man with pillow in his hands, which he was about to press down upon that sleeping boy! A man going to murder Horace Elgert! Like a flash the truth burst upon the watching boy, and, with a loud cry, he threw the door wide open and rushed into the dormitory. CHAPTER IX ALTOGETHER BEYOND EXPLANATION "Thieves!" "Fire!" "Help! Help!" The whole house was aroused. The cries of confusion and alarm coming from the Fifth Form dormitory were repeated by others who, entirely ignorant as to what was the matter, and aroused from slumber by the noise, tumbled from their beds and rushed out wildly, under the impression that nothing less than the house being ablaze could account for the cry. The doctor and masters came hurrying to the spot; and while the Head ran to the Fifth Form room, the master got the other boys into something like order, ready to be marched quietly downstairs if the alarm of fire should prove to be well founded.