There was a pause. “I like the plan,” said Wooden, “but that does rather interfere with it, doesn’t it?”
They all looked at Peggy as if they expected her to find a way out of the difficulty; and she did so at once. “I think there are sure to be birds flying about,” she said, “and some of them will be flying towards the sea.”
Their faces brightened, and Wooden’s aunt slapped her knee. “Now, doesn’t that beat all?” she said. “How she do think of things, to be sure! Well, go on, soldier.”
“Directly he says, ‘What bird, where?’” proceeded Colonel Jim, “that’s my sign. I get behind him. I whip off my cloak. I throw it over his head. I tie the cord—it’s got a cord, you see—round his arms, so that he can’t move. Then I say to him, ‘Your keys, please.’ Then I come downstairs with the keys, unlock the doors, and off we go. Well, that’s the plan, and if it all goes right I don’t think a better plan was ever invented. It’s Teddy bear’s plan chiefly, but it was me who thought of saying, ‘Your keys, please,’ instead of ‘Hand over your keys.’ More polite.”
The plan was not received with the pleasure that Colonel Jim seemed to expect. Wooden said doubtfully, “Mr. Emma is a very nice man. He might not like to have a cloak thrown over his head.”
“Don’t you think he would?” asked Colonel Jim, in a disturbed way. “I never thought of that. What do you say, Peggy?”
“If you were to treat him as gently as you could,” said Peggy, “and tell him that he might go downstairs to Mrs. Emma and the baby in five minutes, when we had all got away, he might not mind so much.”
“He couldn’t do that,” said Colonel Jim. “His legs would be tied up too. I forgot to say that. Can’t keep everything in your head at once.”
“Try again, dear,” said Wooden hopefully.
“Well, supposing we told Mrs. Emma she could go up and untie him, as we went out!” suggested Peggy.