“Isn’t it dangerous for him?” whispered Godfrey.
“Not it. Bunny can climb like a cat. He’ll be right up in the big gutter directly.”
The lad was quite correct, for, with wonderfully little noise, considering, the active fellow climbed up by the huge old stems of the ivy, and a couple of minutes later he was standing in the stone gutter, holding on by the division between the open casements.
“Catch hold of this ’ere bundle—on my back,” he whispered. “It’s only hanging on by the strap over my neck.”
Waller did as he was told, and, pulling the strap over the man’s head, he drew a big soft bundle into the room.
“That’s your sort,” whispered Bunny. “If I tried to clamber in with that on it would have ketched.”
The next moment he was gliding in over the window-sill, slowly and softly like a huge black slug, and ended by seating himself cross-legged on the floor.
“Anybody hear me if I talk?”
“No, but speak low,” whispered Waller, while Godfrey’s breath was quite audible as he breathed hard in his excitement. “We were beginning to think that you did not mean to come.”
“What call had you got to think that?” grumbled the man in a hoarse whisper. “I went directly.—How are you, young gentleman?—My brother-in-law Jem had gone to sea, and I had to wait; and here I am now, large as life and twiced as ugly.”