'Where'd it come from?' asked Dick, nodding to the dangling cord. 'Who fixed it?'
'I did. Jong is outside; he threw it up to me.'
'Then you could have slipped down then and there, and got clear away? Ain't that it?'
'I suppose so,' admitted David grudgingly.
'My uncle! Then why didn't you?'
Dick turned sharply upon him, his face serious, a flush on his cheeks.
'Why didn't you?' he demanded fiercely.
'Because—oh, look here,' said David lamely, 'we're wasting time. What's the good of jawing?'
'Why didn't you?' demanded Dick again, his manner resolute, ignoring his comrade's efforts to change the conversation; then, finding that David did not answer, he clapped a hand on his shoulder.
'All right,' he said, with a curtness which matched that of the lad who had released him. 'I know well enough. It's one up for you, anyway. Could have escaped, but wouldn't, simply because there was a wretched beggar owning to the name of Dick still left in the building. Right, my boy, I'm not going to forget it. Now, what orders?'