CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR.
"BURY THE HATCHET!" Notwithstanding Yorke's exploit, and the prevailing hopefulness of the juniors, the feeling of gloom deepened on Fellsgarth when another day ended, and no news was forthcoming of the lost boy.
To a great many it was a shock to hear he was not on the mountain.

From what was known of his eccentricities and recklessness, it seemed as likely as not he would retreat up there and remain till he was fetched down.
When it was found he was not there, there seemed to be nowhere else left to look.

The lake (quite independently of the eventful cruise of the "Cock-house") had been thoroughly searched; Penchurch had been ransacked; every cottage and home in the neighbourhood had been called at.

The river-banks, up and down stream, had been searched too, and daily communication with Rollitt's home made it increasingly clear he had not gone there.
The incident of the six Abernethys and the 6 pence was not seriously considered.

There was no evidence that Rollitt had effected the mysterious purchase, and the eccentricities of the young shopmen left it very doubtful whether more than half of that story was not a sensational fiction of their own.
Masters and boys alike went to bed full of trouble and foreboding.
Fisher major, more perhaps than any one, took the situation to heart.
He had never ranged himself with Rollitt's accuser; yet, had it not been for his bad management and stupidity, all the trouble would never have come about.