“Let us take them with us,” suggested Crofts.  “They won’t go if we tell them our purpose, but they will not peach if we take them with us upon some other excuse.  We’ll walk ahead of them, and—­but come with me to the fire.  I have a plan.  All I ask you to do, Wentworth, is to shake out your cloak, hang it before the fire, and speak of the rain and the bad night outside.  I’ll do the rest!  I’ll fetch them!  Come!”

Laughing boisterously, the three swaggered over to Hamilton and Churchill, who were sitting by the fireside.  Wentworth took off his coat, held it before the blaze to dry, and said, with a terrible oath:—­

“Bad night without!  Never saw it rain so hard!  Raw and cold for this time of the year!”

Crofts ordered a fresh bowl of Rack punch; then, turning to Wentworth, asked:—­

“Raining?  Who cares for a little rain?  I like to be out in it.  By the way, I have a wager to offer!  Ten pounds to the man to the table; winner to take the lump!”

“Hear!  Hear!” cried everybody.

“Let us all walk out on the St. Albans road without our cloaks, the last man to turn homeward wins the entire stake.”

“Good!” shouted Wentworth.  “I must owe my ten pounds to the pot until to-morrow.”

“And I’ll take the wager!  Here’s my money!” said Berkeley, throwing ten pounds to the table.

“Will you go?” asked Crofts, addressing Hamilton.

That evening George was in a mood for any adventure having action in it, for he was nearly out of money.  He did not suspect the real purpose of the absurd wager, and after a moment’s consideration of the forty pounds to be won, declared:—­

“I’ll win the pot if I have to go to Edinburgh!”

“And you, Churchill?” asked Crofts.

“You’re a pack of fools, but I’ll go,” replied Churchill, knocking the ashes from his pipe.

They drank their bowl of punch and immediately set off for the St. Albans road.

“The Oxford road is nearer than the St. Albans.  Why not take it?” asked George.

“You said you were going to Edinburgh,” returned Wentworth, “and, besides, the St. Albans road is our wager, and that is the one we’ll take, unless you want to turn back and forfeit your stake.”

To the St. Albans road they started, Crofts, Berkeley, and Wentworth walking perhaps two hundred yards in advance of Churchill and Hamilton.  The rain was pouring down in torrents, and the night was so dark that Hamilton and Churchill could not see the advance guard, though they heard a deal of talking, laughing, and cursing ahead of them.  This order of march was what Crofts and his friends desired, for of course the wager was not on their minds.  They were hoping for something greater, and would have been glad to release Churchill and Hamilton had they offered to turn back.  But lacking that good fortune, the valiant three evidently hoped to meet the coach and rob it before the others came up, in which case Crofts and his friends would deny the robbery, if accused, and would divide the gold into three parts instead of five.