I went to fetch him back, an' all the other goats come too,' Dick answered.
'Who helped ?' 'Just a dog--a sheep an' cattle dog.' 'What boys ?' 'Dunno !' The examination might as well have ended there.

It is a point of honour amongst all schoolboys never to 'split' on mates.

The boy who tells is everywhere regarded as a sneak--at Waddy he speedily became a pariah--and Dick was a stickler for points of honour.

To be caned was bad, but nothing to the gnawing shame of long weeks following upon a cowardly breach of faith.

To all the questions Cann or Peterson could put with the object of eliciting the names of the participators in the big raid, Dick returned only a distressing and wofully stupid 'Dunno! Peterson scratched his head helplessly, and turned an eye of appeal upon the master.
'Very well,' said Cann, 'we'll just have to guess at the other boys, an' their fathers'll be prevailed on to deal with 'em; but this boy what's been the ring leader ain't got no father, an' it don't seem fair to the others to leave his punishment to a weak woman, does it ?' Peterson's eye appealed to the master again.