A breath-taking second over a hard pavement, and he dropped, still clinging to the chain, safely upon the roof at the other side.
Wrapping the chain about a flagpole, without turning to look back, he disappeared among the chimneys at the top of the broad apartment building.
Ten minutes later, still breathing hard, he entered his own home and went at once to his room.
“I’d give a lot to know what they wanted,” he thought soberly. “But that’s one time when the old thought-camera didn’t help a bit.”
After a full hour of serious thinking he decided on a very definite course of action which, he assured himself, should be begun on the very next day.
He had decided to confide all his secrets to someone older and he believed, much wiser than himself. This, we have reason to believe, is a wise course of action for any boy who finds himself bewildered by the strange circumstances that surround his life.
“But first I’ll keep my promise to Meg,” he assured himself before he fell asleep.
CHAPTER XVIII
THE FLYING BALL TEAM
At the heart of The Pines next morning, Johnny found Meg seated on a log waiting. This spot, so quiet and secluded, disturbed only by the chirp of a robin and the chatter of a squirrel, held for them many pleasant memories. Here, as small children, they had tumbled on the grass. Here, in early ’teens, together with other playmates, they had done cart wheels and wild, hilarious Indian dances. Now it was a sober-faced, eager Meggy who awaited him.
“Johnny,” she exclaimed with a little catch of breath, “what are you going to tell me?”