"What does it mean, lad? What on earth is that boy doing there? I could not see which it was."
"I think it is Ashford," Cyril said. "The figure in front seemed the smaller of the two."
"But where on earth can Tom have got to?"
"I should fancy, sir, that Robert has lowered him so that he can get his feet on the crane and swing it outwards; then he might sit down on it and swing himself by the rope into the loft if the doors are not fastened inside. Robert, being taller, would have no difficulty in lowering himself—There!" he broke off, as another flash of lightning lit up the sky. "He has gone, now; there is no one on the roof."
John Wilkes was by this time standing beside them, having started up at the first flash of lightning.
"Do you go up, John, into their room," the Captain said. "I think there can be no doubt that these fellows on the roof are Ashford and Frost, but it is as well to be able to swear to it."
The foreman returned in a minute or two.
"The room is empty, Captain; the window is open, and there is a rope hanging down from it. Shall I cast it adrift?"
"Certainly not, John. We do not mean to take them tonight, and they must be allowed to go back to their beds without a suspicion that they have been watched. I hope and trust that it is not so bad as it looks, and that the boys have only broken out from devilry. You know, boys will do things of that sort just because it is forbidden."
"There must be more than that," John Wilkes said. "If it had been just after they went to their rooms, it might be that they went to some tavern or other low resort, but the town is all asleep now."