must defend the family property."

"I nearly exploded when Dick sniffed the letter, and said he could tell
it was written by a clodhopper, because it smelled of their abominable
tobacco!" said I.

"We'd better get on with our burglar," said Cathy. "I have Father's old
tweed suit and his fishing-boots here, and I brought up a whole sackful
of hay yesterday, it's underneath my bed. Have you locked the door? No
one must come in on any account."

We first securely stitched the coat and trousers together, fastened the
trousers firmly into the fishing-boots, sewed a pair of gloves on to the
ends of the sleeves to represent hands, and then stuffed the whole
figure tightly with hay. The head was a little more difficult to manage.
We tried at first to make it out of a sponge-bag, but that did not seem
to answer at all; so in the end Cathy fetched a large mangold out of the
field, which had a warty protuberance on one side very much resembling a
human nose, and by the aid of two shoe-buttons stuck in with hair-pins
for eyes, and a slit cut with a penknife for a mouth, we really made a
very creditable burglar countenance. We mounted it on a sharpened stick,
which we rammed down into the body, crowned it with a soft felt hat,
tied a silk handkerchief round its neck to cover up deficiencies, and
then sat down and rejoiced over our handiwork.

"Doesn't he look a splendid Bill Sykes?" cried Cathy. "In the dark I'm
sure anyone would think he was real. Those fishing-boots look very
clumping and murderous."

"He's not very heavy either," I said, lifting the figure easily in my
arms, "I think you'll be able to manage him."

The place where we intended to spring our surprise on the boys was a
large unoccupied bedroom at the end of the passage, generally called the
"north room". It had a trap-door in the ceiling which opened out on to a
flat roof, and by climbing upon the edge of Cathy's balcony it was
extremely easy to step on to this roof; indeed we had often done so to
watch the sunset, or to get a good view of the surrounding country. We
arranged that about midnight Cathy should mount up here, I should then
hand the burglar to her, and after opening the trap-door she should
allow his legs to dangle through it as though he were in the very act
of forcing an entrance into the room. When she was ready I was to give
the alarm, and we trusted that in the faint moonlight the boys would not
readily discover the imposture. We hid "Bill Sy