"Oh, I will not forget," Tim returned. "No fear of that!"
After tea, he waited impatiently for darkness. The evenings were light until seven o'clock now, consequently it was nearly eight before he ventured to fetch the rabbit from the drawer and steal out of doors with it. In the tool-house he found a basket with a cover, into which he placed the little animal with some bits of bread he had smuggled from the tea-table, remembering it would require food during the night. And then, he procured the ladder, and a minute later, basket in hand, he was sitting astride the partition wall. It was the work of another minute only to transfer the light ladder from one side of the wall to the other, and to descend in the Glanville's garden.
For a few seconds Tim stood quite still listening intently. No one was about; the servants were in the kitchen, for he could see the reflections of two figures on the kitchen blind, and the rest of the household, he guessed, would be in the front part of the house. Very slowly and cautiously the little boy felt his way to the spot where he knew the rabbit hutch to be, and, having found it, he removed the rabbit and its supper from the basket to the hutch in safety, and closed down the lid. His errand thus accomplished, he was startled to hear Snip begin to bark furiously close inside the back door. Not a second was now to be lost, he told himself; and, with a wildly beating heart, he was making a hasty retreat towards the ladder when, to his dismay, the back door was flung suddenly open, and out flew Snip with the series of angry "yaps" to which he never failed to give utterance when in a hot pursuit of a cat.
Tim's dash for the ladder was favoured by success, and he had reached it and placed his right foot on the first rung of it before the little dog could scent him and discover his whereabouts in the darkness. But if the boy's movements were quick, master Snip's were quicker, and, springing at the intruder, he caught him by one of the legs of his trousers, fastening his teeth into it with so firm a grip that Tim knew no amount of kicking and shaking would induce him to drop off.
[CHAPTER V.]
A SPOILT PLAN.
ALTHOUGH startled, Tim was not frightened by Snip's attack upon him. The servants did not follow the dog to discover the cause of his excitement, no doubt taking it for granted that he was hunting a cat; and, relieved upon that point, Tim began to hope he might succeed in disabusing Snip's mind of the idea that he was there for an evil purpose, so he spoke to him in a conciliatory tone:
"Hulloa, Snip, old man! What's the matter with you, eh? Why, you know me right enough, don't you?"
Snip immediately recognised the voice as that of the boy next door, and his firm grip relaxed. Tim stooped and patted him gently, whereupon he gave a little wriggle of pleased surprise and dropped his hold of Tim altogether, realizing he had made a mistake and feeling rather foolish; and after that he stood quietly by whilst Tim mounted the ladder, pulled it up after him, and disappeared on the other side of the wall.
Tim did not linger in the garden; but, having put away the ladder, he entered the house, satisfied that he had carried out his plan as he had intended, and congratulating himself on the way in which he had conciliated Snip.