"Can't you drive him over?" asked Bert, after a long wait.
"Won't come," said Freddie. "Wants to jump down, I guess."
Hearing this, Bert ran down to the lower floor and outside.
"Can't you get a ladder?" asked Flossie. "Perhaps Mr. Roscoe will lend you one."
Mr. Roscoe lived at the other end of the common. He was a very old and very quiet man, and the majority of the girls and boys in Lakeport were afraid of him. He lived all alone and was thought to be queer.
"I—I can see," said Bert hesitatingly.
He ran across the common to Mr. Roscoe's house and rapped on the door. Nobody came and he rapped again, and then a third time.
"Who's there?" asked a voice from within.
"Please, Mr. Roscoe, is that you?" asked Bert.
"Yes."