“Ladder, of course,” cried Gusset eagerly. “They have got long ones here that they use for the apples and stacks. You must get up out at the back.”
“Oh, oh, oh!” groaned Waller to himself. “I should like to have you out at the back!”
“Oh, very well,” said the sergeant. “Out with you, my lads, and let’s get it over,” and, as the men marched out, following the constable, who seemed quite at home in the geography of the house, the sergeant stopped to speak to Waller.
“There, sir, you see I can’t help myself, so don’t blame me.”
“No,” said Waller; and, in spite of his efforts, his voice sounded very strange. But the man had turned away, and did not heed.
Gusset led the way into the big, open yard at the back, and, acting under his directions, the soldiers followed to a low shed, beneath which one of the long, thin, tapering ladders with straddling legs, used in country places, hung upon two great iron pegs against the wall.
“There you are,” said Gusset. “Bring it out! Quick!”
“Here, I say,” snarled one of the men he addressed, “who are you ordering about? You are not our sergeant.”
“There, don’t talk, my lads,” cried that individual, coming up. “Bring the ladder out and heave it up against that side of the house where the roof slopes.”
At that moment the gardener, who had, as it were, been taken by surprise, and in the rear, came hurrying round from where he had been waiting by the porch in a great state of excitement.