nearly twelve o'clock before
`` They can catch me if they like , '' Ward replied , `` I ca n't run to-night . '' So the three of us walked back to St. Cuthbert 's , and Bunny complained bitterly that he could not come in and wait until Lambert and Dennison turned up . The first man to come into college after us was Collier , who said he had been dodging round the Radcliffe for a quarter of an hour , and soon afterwards Learoyd and Webb strolled in and pretended that they had been sitting under the table in the Sceptre , but they looked exceedingly warm . We all went to Ward 's rooms , which were a kind of club for any men he knew and very often used when he was not even in them , to wait for Dennison and Lambert ; but we had to stay until nearly twelve o'clock before either of them came , and then there was a tremendous thumping on the door , and Dennison , in a most exhausted condition , tottered in and nearly collapsed in the porter 's arms . It was some time before he had breath enough to walk across to Ward 's rooms , but when we had got him settled in an arm-chair he began to feel better . `` At any rate I did the brute , '' he said , `` that bulldog will remember me for the rest of his life . '' I should have given the whole thing away by laughing if I had said anything , and I moved to the window so that I could put my head outside if I really had to laugh , while Collier , who had been scored off by Dennison very often , began to ask him questions .