XIX.
A puzzling Position.—How to meet the Emergency.—A strange Suggestion.—Diamond cut Diamond, or a Donkey in a Garret.—Surprise of Jiggins on seeing the Stranger.—The fated Moment comes.—The Donkey confronts the Garret Noises.—The Power of a Bray.
THE boys remained in the cupola for some time longer. Once Bruce had the satisfaction of feeling the string become suddenly tight in his hands. He held it thus for a moment, as though to assure himself of the fact and then gave it a sudden pull.
It yielded!
The whole string was in his hands.
Bruce fell down on the floor, and his whole frame shook with smothered laughter.
“What in the world’s the matter with you, Bruce?” cried Bart.
“The string! ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! The string!—ha, ha!—The string!”
“The string? Well, what about the string?”
“Why, I’ve got it. I felt it grow tight,—ha, ha, ha!—and I gave it a jerk,—ha, ha, ha!—and it came,—ha, ha, ha, ha!—and now Pat’s wondering what’s become of it,—ha, ha, ha, ha!—and he’s thinking that the ghost he was shamming must be a real one, after all!”
Either Bruce’s laughter was contagious, or else the boys saw something irresistibly funny in Pat’s supposed consternation at losing the string; but whatever was the cause, the boys burst forth also into fits of laughter, which, however, they tried to smother as well as they could.