“Y-yes,” replied Struthers doubtfully. “I hope we can hold it!”
“So do I,” replied Hugh grimly as he squirmed his body across the sill. “If you can’t I’ll get down quicker than I fancy. Hold tight now. I’m going to put my weight on it.”
There was a breathless moment of suspense, a moment during which the garments made threatening sounds of giving at the seams, and then Hugh’s head disappeared from sight, the two boys on the floor, feet braced against the wall, held on for dear life and——
“All right!” called a cautious voice from outside. There was a sound of a thud on the bricks and the two juniors simultaneously toppled over backwards.
There was one thing, though, which Hugh had neglected to take into consideration, and that was the probability of the door of School Hall being locked. And when, a bit jarred but quite unhurt, he climbed the steps and tried it, he realized the fact, for the portal was fast. Flattening himself against the door in the shadow, he wondered how he had bettered the condition of his fellow prisoners. They couldn’t follow him by the window, of course, and he, it seemed, was unable to unlock the door to the corridor for them! And, to add interest to the situation, he was sensible of being most unconventionally clad—or, rather, unclad—and didn’t at all relish standing down there in the light and calling up for his trousers to be thrown to him! Meanwhile it was quite within the possibilities that one of the masters might come prowling past and find him!
But something had to be done, and the only thing that occurred to him was to try the windows in the hope of finding one unlatched. So, making certain that no one was in sight, he scuttled from his place of concealment and fled around to the back of the building, where the possibility of being observed at his burglarous task was not so great. It was as dark as pitch back there, but after waiting a minute to accustom his sight to the gloom he was able to discern a window. The sill was at the height of his chin and he wondered whether, even if he was lucky enough to find one unlatched, he could get through it.
The first resisted all his pushing and heaving, and so with the second and third, but when he thrust upward on the next the sash gave readily, but with a fearsome screech that brought his heart to his mouth. After waiting a moment there in the darkness, however, he pushed the window as high as he could reach and then set about the next step. There was nothing to put his feet on, but by getting his arms over the sill he finally managed to work his body up and was soon inside.
The first thing he did was to walk squarely into a desk, and after that it seemed to him hours before he found the door into the corridor. Once outside, his troubles were by no means over, for when he had at last discovered the stairway and descended the first flight he couldn’t think in which direction the room he sought lay. He found it at last, though, turned the key and entered to be greeted by exclamations of mingled relief and displeasure. It was Struthers who expressed relief, and Twining who voiced displeasure.
“Seems to me you took your time,” said the latter. “You must think it’s lots of fun waiting up here——”
“Stow it!” interrupted Hugh, his temper not improved by the adventures of the past ten minutes. “It would serve you jolly right to make you shin down the coats and trousers!”