"Oh! that would have been the queerest thing ever, had he done it. But now about the other clue you have—tell me about it, Paul," continued the anxious one. Paul had seated himself where he could keep an eye down the street in front of the house. And while his chum was talking he had smiled as if he might have discovered something out there that pleased him very much.
"Come right up to your den with me, Jack, and leave Carlo shut in here," he said, rising; "and when we get upstairs open the window to air the room. Then I shall ask you to let me hide there behind something, while you go downstairs, pass out, and along the street in plain view."
"Say, that's a mighty queer thing to do," ventured the other.
"It's all a part of my plan. You must leave the door of the den open too. And Jack, after you get around the corner I want you to sneak back to the rear of the house, and come up again, crawling into the den here, if everything is quiet."
"Oh! all right, if you say so, Paul," Jack observed; "but you've sure got me guessing to beat the band, right now. Here's the window open. Now shall I get busy, and meander off?"
"Right away. Please carry it out just as I said. You ought to be back here inside of six or seven minutes; and I guess that will be time enough before the circus begins, Jack."
So the owner of the little den at the top of the house gave his chum one last look of bewilderment, and turning, hastened down the stairs.
Paul, with a glance around, chose a certain corner for his hiding-place. Here he could see without exposing himself to view; and squatting down he prepared to await developments.
A minute later he got up, and moved an old screen partly across the floor, so that it hid the open door. When Jack returned, he could crawl alongside the hiding boy without showing himself to any one in the room, or beyond the window.
Hardly had five minutes crept by when Paul heard a slight sound. It came from the stairs, and he smiled, knowing that his chum had lost no time in carrying out his part of the plot.