Beneath that attic window was a kitchen annex of one story. And Tom made out, presently, that a lightning rod ran down the back of the main building close to that brilliantly lighted window on the third floor. The rod touched the roof of the kitchen annex, running thence down to the ground.
“It’s a job for stocking feet, anyway,” Halstead decided at last. Having removed his shoes and feeling about in the dark, the young skipper ran his hand against a coil of rope hanging on a peg.
“Good enough!” he cried inwardly. “I don’t believe there are many climbing jobs where a rope won’t come in handy.”
As he removed the coil of rope from the peg he discovered a few lengths of cord. These he stuffed into one of his pockets.
“For I can’t tell what kind of a sling I may need to rig before I get through,” he thought.
The busy eight were returning from still another trip to the water front. Halstead stopped all movement, remaining utterly quiet until they had started shoreward with the next load.
“Now I’ve got to work fast,” thought Captain Tom thrilling. “I reckon it’s about fifteen minutes between their arrivals here. That means fast work, my boy.”
Shoes in hand, the coil of rope fast at his waist, Halstead stole out toward the southern side of the kitchen annex. Leaving his shoes on the ground Tom found it an easy task to climb up onto the roof of the annex. Now he felt carefully of the lightning rod, next giving it harder and harder pulls, to make sure that it was strong enough to hear his weight. That point settled, Halstead began to ascend. It was not a difficult task for a boy trained aboard seagoing craft.
Up and up he went, making little if any sound. At last he was able to lean outward from the rod, resting one elbow on the ledge of the lighted window. Yet, on peering into the room the young skipper received a shock that almost caused him to lose his hold on the lightning rod.
At the further end of the bare-looking attic stood a plain pine table, which held a reading lamp that gave a strong light. With his back to the window, seated in a rocking chair and his feet on another chair, lounged a boy, reading.