CHAPTER IX
CATHCART, PROCTOR
Hugh thrust his body through the window again. No one was in sight along the front. By leaning well out he could see the lighted windows of Number 29 Lothrop, and he smiled as he reflected that Bert was probably wondering what had become of his roommate. Then he viewed the next window, some five feet distant.
The sills were broad and extended a few inches beyond the casements, but Hugh doubted that he would be able to stretch his legs far enough to reach, even could he find anything to hold on to. He crawled out on the sill, to the alarm of the hysterical Twining, and, while keeping a firm hold of the window sash, felt about over the bricks in search of some projection to cling to. In the end he had to return to the classroom defeated. [That avenue of escape was out of the question.] The distance to the ground didn’t look far, but it must be, he realized, about twenty feet, and that meant a drop of fifteen feet, enough to shake one up considerably. But by knotting their coats together it might be done.
[“That avenue of escape was out of the question.”]
“Let me have your coats, fellows,” he said, pulling his own off. They emptied the pockets first, stowing the treasures away in their trousers, and then handed the garments over. Hugh tied the three sleeve to sleeve, testing each knot, but when the task was completed the result was disappointing, for the improvised rope measured only about five feet in length, a portion of which would have to remain across the sill and, since there was nothing to tie it to, be held by the juniors. Hugh studied a moment. Then he unbelted his trousers.
“I don’t know how strong these things are,” he said, “but I fancy they’ll stand the strain all right.”
He made a pile of his pocket contents on the floor and knotted the end of one leg to a sleeve of a coat, adding another three feet to the length of the whole.
“Now,” he said cheerfully, “you chaps lay hold of this end, d’ye see? Pull it tight across the sill and you won’t have any trouble. Better sit down on the floor, the two of you, eh? That’s the idea. If you happen to find you can’t hold on, or the thing starts to rip, shout out to me so I can drop. All right now?”