The others looked blankly at him. None of them had thought of bringing one from the yard.
“Why, ain’t there one ’ere?” asked Philpot.
“One ’ere? Of course there ain’t one ’ere!” snarled Crass. “Do you mean to say as you ain’t brought one, then?”
Philpot stammered out something about having thought there was one at the house already, and the others said they had not thought about it at all.
“Well, what the bloody hell are we to do now?” cried Crass, angrily.
“I’ll go to the yard and get one,” suggested Barrington. “I can do it in twenty minutes there and back.”
“Yes! and a bloody fine row there’d be if Hunter was to see you! ’Ere it’s nearly ten o’clock and we ain’t made a start on this gable wot we ought to ’ave started first thing this morning.”
“Couldn’t we tie two or three of those short ropes together?” suggested Philpot. “Those that the other two ladders was spliced with?”
As there was sure to be a row if they delayed long enough to send to the yard, it was decided to act on Philpot’s suggestion.
Several of the short ropes were accordingly tied together but upon examination it was found that some parts were so weak that even Crass had to admit it would be dangerous to attempt to haul the heavy ladder up with them.