CHAPTER IX
AT half-past nine, that night, Tom and Sid were sent to bed, as usual.
They said their prayers, and Sid was soon asleep.

Tom lay awake and waited, in restless impatience.

When it seemed to him that it must be nearly daylight, he heard the clock strike ten! This was despair.

He would have tossed and fidgeted, as his nerves demanded, but he was afraid he might wake Sid.

So he lay still, and stared up into the dark.
Everything was dismally still.