There was just one moment, the moment in which, on going down to thejunior day-room of his house to quell an unseemly disturbance, he wasboisterously greeted by a vermilion bull terrier, when Mr. Downing wasseized with a hideous fear lest he had lost his senses. Glaring downat the crimson animal that was pawing at his knees, he clutched at hisreason for one second as a drowning man clutches at a lifebelt.

　　Then the happy laughter of the young onlookers reassured him.

　　"Who--" he shouted, "WHO has done this?"[Illustration: "WHO--" HE SHOUTED, "WHO HAS DONE THIS?"]

　　"Please, sir, we don't know," shrilled the chorus.

　　"Please, sir, he came in like that.""Please, sir, we were sitting here when he suddenly ran in, all red."A voice from the crowd: "Look at old Sammy!"The situation was impossible. There was nothing to be done. He couldnot find out by verbal inquiry who had painted the dog. Thepossibility of Sammy being painted red during the night had neveroccurred to Mr. Downing, and now that the thing had happened he had noscheme of action. As Psmith would have said, he had confused theunusual with the impossible, and the result was that he was taken bysurprise.

　　While he was pondering on this the situation was rendered still moredifficult by Sammy, who, taking advantage of the door being open,escaped and rushed into the road, thus publishing his condition to alland sundry. You can hush up a painted dog while it confines itself toyour own premises, but once it has mixed with the great public thisbecomes out of the question. Sammy's state advanced from a privatetrouble into a row. Mr. Downing's next move was in the same directionthat Sammy had taken, only, instead of running about the road, he wentstraight to the headmaster.

　　The Head, who had had to leave his house in the small hours in hispyjamas and a dressing-gown, was not in the best of tempers. He had acold in the head, and also a rooted conviction that Mr. Downing, inspite of his strict orders, had rung the bell himself on the previousnight in order to test the efficiency of the school in savingthemselves in the event of fire. He received the housemaster frostily,but thawed as the latter related the events which had led up to theringing of the bell.

　　"Dear me!" he said, deeply interested. "One of the boys at the school,you think?""I am certain of it," said Mr. Downing.

　　"Was he wearing a school cap?""He was bare-headed. A boy who breaks out of his house at night wouldhardly run the risk of wearing a distinguishing cap.""No, no, I suppose not. A big boy, you say?""Very big.""You did not see his face?""It was dark and he never looked back--he was in front of me all thetime.""Dear me!""There is another matter----""Yes?""This boy, whoever he was, had done something before he rang thebell--he had painted my dog Sampson red."The headmaster's eyes protruded from their sockets. "He--he--_what_,Mr. Downing?""He painted my dog red--bright red." Mr. Downing was too angry to seeanything humorous in the incident. Since the previous night he hadbeen wounded in his tenderest feelings. His Fire Brigade system hadbeen most shamefully abused by being turned into a mere instrument inthe hands of a malefactor for escaping justice, and his dog had beenheld up to ridicule to all the world. He did not want to smile, hewanted revenge.

　　The headmaster, on the other hand, did want to smile. It was not hisdog, he could look on the affair with an unbiased eye, and to himthere was something ludicrous in a white dog suddenly appearing as ared dog.

　　"It is a scandalous thing!" said Mr. Downing.

　　"Quite so! Quite so!" said the headmaster hastily. "I shall punish theboy who did it most severely. I will speak to the school in the Hallafter chapel."Which he did, but without result. A cordial invitation to the criminalto come forward and be executed was received in wooden silence by theschool, with the exception of Johnson III., of Outwood's, who,suddenly reminded of Sammy's appearance by the headmaster's words,broke into a wild screech of laughter, and was instantly awarded twohundred lines.

　　The school filed out of the Hall to their various lunches, and Mr.

　　Downing was left with the conviction that, if he wanted the criminaldiscovered, he would have to discover him for himself.

　　The great thing in affairs of this kind is to get a good start, andFate, feeling perhaps that it had been a little hard upon Mr. Downing,gave him a most magnificent start. Instead of having to hunt for aneedle in a haystack, he found himself in a moment in the position ofbeing set to find it in a mere truss of straw.

　　It was Mr. Outwood who helped him. Sergeant Collard had waylaid thearchaeological expert on his way to chapel, and informed him that atclose on twelve the night before he had observed a youth, unidentified,attempt............