“Good. You’ll go in a minute. Here are last instructions. You will seat yourself in that swinging seat that Bill is holding. The cable to which it is attached runs through the pulley at the end of the crane’s arm. This building is nine stories high. The Jordans’ flat is on the seventh floor, you remember, so Janet’s window is the third one down.” He moved to the low parapet and leaned over. “The window is dark, so everything is O.K.,” he said, coming back to her. “Pull your seat in with you when you enter, Dorothy, and pull down the shade, of course, when the light is turned on. When Janet is ready, switch off the light again and have her give a couple of pulls on this guide rope.” He placed the rope in her hand. “Then we will hoist her up. Ready for your hop now?”
“Yes, thanks.”
“Good luck, then. And remember that although you may not see us, I or some of my men will be near you all the time.”
Dorothy shook hands with her three friends and stepped into her swinging seat. She sat down, steadying herself with a grip on the cable.
“All serene?” asked Bill.
“Shove off!” said Dorothy.
Bill motioned to the stranger, there came the low whir of an electric motor. Her feet left the roof and she felt herself swung upward. Then the ascent stopped, the arm of the crane swung outward and with it her pendant seat. Her feet cleared the parapet and she was over the narrow airshaft.
Blurred lights from closed windows of the various apartments gave her a glimpse of many empty ashcans in the small courtyard far below. But the crane was lowering her now close to the wall of the building. She was facing the wall, and looking upward she made out four heads leaning over the parapet at the edge of the roof.
The descent was slow, but at last she passed two windows and came to rest beside the third, whose lower sash she saw was open. Then two arms caught her about the knees and she was pulled into the room.
“Dorothy—oh, Dorothy!” sobbed an excited voice so like her own that Dorothy gave a start.