“How could they be?” he asked. “They can’t get out to get anything to eat, for the doors and windows are all fastened.”
“Well, you never can tell what boys are going to do,” she said. “I’d be on the watch.”
“I will,” agreed her husband, and he and the other monitors looked well to the fastening of the doors and casements.
“All ready now, boys?” asked Tom, as it grew darker.
“All ready,” answered Jack. “I don’t believe they can see us now.”
“Go easy,” advised Tom. “Hold on tight going down, and don’t slip. One at a time, and we’ll meet at the twin oaks on the far edge of the campus, and tramp into town. The car line is blocked, I guess, with all this snow.”
One by one the boys slid down the improvised ropes, going from rooms where they could drop to the ground unobserved from any of the lower windows.
“Are we all here?” asked Tom, when the escape was finally concluded, and the crowd of students had assembled under the oak trees, the few brown leaves of which rustled in the wintry blast.
“I guess so,” answered Jack. “But I didn’t see Sam Heller.”