"Be very careful. You don't want to fall."
Cautiously Phil put out one leg and placed his foot on one rung of the ladder. Then clutching firm hold of the side he put out the other, and now he had both feet on the rung.
"Now come down carefully!" said Albert.
Phil followed directions. He was only ten years old, and he certainly did feel a little timid, but he felt that behind him was a prison and before him was liberty, and he did not hesitate. So rung by rung he cautiously descended, till he stood on the ground beside the ladder in the company of his two friends.
"Bravo, Phil!" said Arthur Burks. "You've done splendidly. Now, Albert, let's get away before old Sprague hears us."
The ladder was carefully taken down, and the two boys walked off with it. Albert at the head and Arthur at the foot, while Phil followed behind.
"We'll go to your house first, Albert, and take the ladder," said Arthur. "Then Phil will go home with me."
The two boys lived not far apart, and this arrangement proved convenient.
"I wonder what old Sprague will say in the morning," laughed Albert. "He'll wonder how in the world Philip got away."
"Perhaps he'll think he jumped out of the window."