lack of any signs of
danger lured him on. Ah! if he had only dimly suspected what a
wonderful reception awaited him in that same rabbit hutch, undoubtedly
Nick could not have been tempted to take that important step; indeed,
he would have turned and run for it with all speed.

But "when ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise," the old saying
runs; and Nick was happy in not having a glimmer of the truth.

He should not be long in making his entrance. The window was only five
feet from the ground, and within easy reach. Besides, Nick was an
unusually strong boy, which fact in itself had been one reason for his
having been able to play the part of town bully as long as he did.

The sounds changed their nature. Evidently, Nick had managed to pull
himself over the window-sill. He was now inside the hutch, perhaps
kneeling on the floor, and directly under the tilted tub that stood on
the shelf above!

Hugh gripped his cord still more firmly. It was almost time for
something to happen. Perhaps before another minute had passed the
avalanche would descend, and give two startled fellows the surprise of
their lives.

Now Nick was lending his companion a helping hand. It may not have
been through generosity that Nick acted thus; perhaps he dimly
suspected that the cowardly Leon might wish to draw back, and allow him
to carry out the nefarious business alone and unaided; and Nick was
bent on making his crony share in the act, so that he could not turn on
him and betray him in the future.

Yes, Leon was coming along. He made more noise than the other, for
Nick could be heard growling, and telling him to be careful if he
didn't want to fetch the owner of the rabbit hutch down on them with
blood in his eye, and perhaps a stout baseball bat for a weapon.

Thad softly chuckled on hearing this. No doubt, in his mind he was
saying that something in the way of a reception far less warm was
hovering over the heads of the two "innocents abroad." That made Thad
think of Mark Twain, and he wondered whether the illustrious Tom Sawyer
and his chum, Huckleberry Finn, had ever arranged a more fetching
reception committee than this one of Hugh's.

Leon seemed quite clumsy about climbing up; the fact of the matter was,
he came rather unwillingly, and might have held back only that the
determined Nick had taken a firm grip on his coat collar, and held on
tenaciously, bent on making sure of having company in his dark deed of
sl