“And what was that?”
“It seemed so much better to go through the bottom, so I have been at work at the bamboos.”
“Where—where?” cried Hilton, excitedly.
“Take it quietly, old fellow, or you may excite attention,” said Chumbley, spitting through the window. “Well, the fact is, I’ve been at work night after night, when you were asleep, upon the bamboos under my bed.”
“And you have cut through them?”
“Yes; through two of them, so that one has only to pull my bed aside, lift the two pieces of wood—”
“Chumbley!” ejaculated Hilton, joyously.
“Hullo!”
“Why, I’ve been giving you the credit of being ready to settle down here in the most nonchalant way.”
“Yes, I saw you did. That’s why I chiselled away so, to get through those bamboos.”