It was during one of these false alarms that a cry from young Master Box attracted the general attention within-doors.
"Robbers! thieves! murder!" he shrieked, withdrawing his hand from under the bed, from whence there now began to issue the most dismal succession of howls.
"The Eds!" exclaimed Mr. Rovering.
"The trundle-bed!" moaned his wife, and at that moment the parade began to appear.
Meanwhile the two Eds had been released from their odd prison-house, and were staring about them with wondering eyes.
"Is it the circus?" queried Edgar, seeing the crowd in the room and hearing the music in the street.
"Where are the pea-nuts?" demanded his brother; but as at that instant Mrs. Rovering recovered, and bethought herself that her sons were still in their night-clothes, they were hurried behind the screen to be dressed.
It appeared on examination that the only reason the two Eds had not been smothered outright was that the mattress in the trundle was a very thin one, having, in fact, been expressly manufactured for a boarding-house, and thus there was room for enough air to come in over the sides to keep breath in the boys' bodies until Freddie Box woke them up.
But now everybody's attention was turned to the street again, for torches were waving wildly, boys shouting, men cheering, and the crowd pushing in a way that everybody loves to watch.
The young Rollups, who were not particularly little if they were young, hung half out of the window in solid double layers; then behind them, and clutching their sacks and jackets to prevent accidents, were the Honorable and his wife; next stood Mr. and Mrs. Box, each very short, trying to see over the shoulders of Mr. and Mrs. Rollup, who were both very tall; and in the rear of them tip-toed Mr. and Mrs. Rovering, who had by this time overcome their political scruples, and were now trying by every possible means to obtain a glimpse of the reflection from a lantern or to spell out a word now and then on a banner, which by dint of dodging to look under this one's elbow, over that one's head, and around another's arm, they sometimes succeeded in doing.