Even yet, he had not told them the whole of his plan, but they were learning to trust him and they were eager enough to do just as he said.
On the whole, they had at least learned soldierly obedience and good discipline in the school they were escaping from.
Down went Jim, hand over hand, to the eaves on the outer side of the engine house, and then he disappeared. They had hardly been able to see him, anyhow, and now they waited, half shivering, till a warning tug at the rope told them he had safely reached the ground. He had really found little difficulty in doing that and the hardest share really fell upon the last boy of all, for it seemed to him as if the other four had taken all night for it.
“Wait, now,” said Jim, as he untied the ends of the rope.
“Leave it,” said one of the boys. “We don’t want it any more.”
“I’ll show you,” said Jim, as he drew down the full length of the untied rope, coiled it and made a hank of it. “If they find it on the other side, they won’t know how we got down.”
He threw it with all his might; it cleared the roof-ridge and down it slid into the parade-ground to keep its own secret.
“What are we going to do, now, Jim?”
“Come on!” he said. “Follow me!—The lifeboat on the tug!”
“I just want to yell!” exclaimed the boy he had called Joe. “We’re going to beat ’em, this time.”