“Let’s sit at the window of the boys’ room,” said Nora. “The moon is very bright now, and if we use the field-glasses we can easily see what happens. It would be fun to see Prince Paul climbing down the rope-ladder we made!”
So Nora and Peggy pulled a blanket over themselves and sat at the window of the boy’s bedroom, keeping a watch on the window of the tower up the cliff. They took it in turn to use the field-glasses. How they wondered what the boys were doing!
Mike and Jack went silently up the cliff to the Old House. When they got there Jack whispered to Mike to stay outside the back gate whilst he went in to see if the dogs remembered him.
He slipped in softly. Tinker and Don were roaming about loose as usual. They smelt him and Don growled softly. Tinker came running up and licked his hand.
“Good dog, good dog,” said Jack in a low tone. He patted Tinker and then went softly to Don. Don sniffed round him, remembering the ham sandwiches and the biscuits that this boy had brought with him last time.
Jack took hold of the dogs’ collars and led them to the back gate outside which Mike was waiting. The dogs growled when they saw Mike, but they did not bark. Mike held out the bone to them.
They were very hungry and they took the bone at once. They let Mike pat them. This boy seemed to be a friend of Jack’s so they were not going to bark at him. They lay on the ground, growling and worrying at the big bone.
“Come on,” whispered Jack. Mike went with him to the bottom of the tower. A faint light shone at the top. Mike picked up a smooth round stone and took aim at the tower to warn Prince Paul they were there. The windows of the tower were open. Mike hoped to goodness he wouldn’t smash the glass and waken everyone! However, he was good at throwing, so the stone went through the open window and landed neatly inside.
At once Prince Paul appeared at the window. “Hallo,” he said, in a low voice. “I’m ready.”
Jack got hold of the stone to which the piece of string was firmly tied. It had a hole through the middle and the string was knotted through it. Jack took aim at the window.