I caught the rope as it came in through the window and fastened one end to the bed. Then I threw out the other end, climbed out myself, and shinned down.
"What's the matter?" I asked, as soon as I had reached the ground.
"Let's go around and untie the rope; then I'll tell you."
A few minutes later he was showing me a letter which he had from Mr. Norton, who was away on business. This is what the letter said:
"Dear Fellows:—I shall be at home in a few days and should like to have a meeting of Raven Patrol to talk up our camping trip. Are you thinking about it and planning where to go? The pasture above Peck's Falls would make an ideal camp. There is water and sunshine and shade and old Greylock. That would suit me pretty well, but it is so near home it might not suit you. If not, I have a regular trip over the mountain in mind, one that will take a hike of several days to get us there. Talk it over among yourselves and ask your folks about it. Then meet at my house next Saturday night. We'll decide the matter and begin to get ready. Yours sincerely,
"Charles Norton, Scoutmaster."
"Ain't he a brick?" said Skinny, when he had finished reading. "What do you say, old Scout?"
"I say hike," I told him. "That pasture above Peck's Falls is where Tom Chapin tried to paralyze a bull by the power of the human eye, like the school reader says, and got thrown over the stone wall by the critter. No more of that for muh!"
"We'd have a rope along, you know."