"That wouldn't do," objected Hal. "He'd be too frightened to get into it. He wouldn't let go his grip on the pipe."
"Somebody get a ladder," cried Reddy.
"We haven't one that would be long enough to reach him," said Bart.
Frank's keen eyes and alert mind had been judging the situation. Now he spoke.
"We can get him from that window, fellows," he said pointing to a window about six feet above the cat and a little to one side.
"I don't know," said Bart, dubiously, as he eyed the window. "Seems to me like a forlorn hope. A fellow would have to have the arms of a gorilla to reach the cat from there."
"Never mind about that," responded Frank. "Let's get up there quick and I'll show you what I have in mind."
The crowd raced pell-mell up the stairs and then through an old storeroom on the upper floor until they reached the window.
It had not been opened all winter, and had been so warped by sleet and snow that it yielded to the pressure of their arms groaningly and reluctantly. But at last, just when they were about ready to give up, they accomplished the feat and looked out.
Oliver saw them and hailed them evidently as his last hope, for he broke into a storm of wails.