ned, was naturally a little confused in his
ideas. He had not seen Jack. He had merely heard the noise, and thought
he saw the door moving. But of this he was not certain. To make sure,
however, he got out of bed, and opening wide the door of his room,
called out, "Is anybody there?"

Jack had excellent reasons for not wishing to volunteer an answer to
this question. One advantage of the opened door (for there was a small
oil lamp burning in the room) was to reveal to him the nature of the
mistake he had made, and to show him the front door in which, by rare
good fortune, he could discover the key in the lock.

Meanwhile the old man, to make sure that all was right, went up-stairs,
far enough to see that the door of the apartment in which Jack had been
confined was closed. Had he gone up to the landing he would have seen
the aperture in the door, and discovered the hole, but he was sleepy,
and anxious to get back to bed, which rendered him less watchful.

"All seems right," he muttered to himself, and re-entered the
bed-chamber, from which Jack could soon hear the deep, regular breathing
which indicated sound slumber. Not till then did he creep cautiously
from his place of concealment, and advancing stealthily to the front
door, turn the key, and step out into the faintly-lighted street. A
delightful sensation thrilled our hero, as he felt the pure air fanning
his cheek.

"Nobody can tell," thought he, "what a blessed thing freedom is till he
has been cooped up, as I have been, for the last week. Won't the old man
be a little surprised to find, in the morning, that the bird has flown?
I've a great mind to serve him a little trick."

So saying, Jack drew the key from its place inside, and locking the door
after him, went off with the key in his pocket. First, however, he took
care to scratch a little mark on the outside of the door, as he could
not see the number, to serve as a means of identification.

This done Jack made his way as well as he could guess to the house of
his uncle, the baker. Not having noticed the way by which Peg had led
him to the house, he wandered at first from the straight course. At
length, however, he came to Chestnut Street. He now knew where he was,
and, fifteen minutes later, he was standing before his uncle's door.

Meanwhile, Abel Crump had been suffering great anxiety on account of
Jack's protracted absence. Several days had now elapsed, and still he
was missing. He had been unable