s all!"

And, stretching out his long legs on a second chair, he took up a copy
of Punch, and resigned himself to ease and comfort.

"That's all jolly well for the fifth form," said Dick, "but it's a
little too good for us chaps. We're off now, and if Cathy and Phil like
to join the show, they can, and if they don't, they may stop at home and
hem dusters."

It was extremely naughty of us, but we wanted so much to see what
happened; so we thought if we followed the boys at a discreet distance
we should not be exactly aiding and abetting, and yet we should come in
for a full share of all that went on.

It was a dark evening, with only a fitful gleam from a watery moon which
occasionally showed itself behind the driving clouds, and the unlighted
village street seemed quiet and deserted.

The captain lived in the end house of an old-fashioned red-brick
terrace. Though he had a good garden at the side and back, his
front-door and the bow-window of his dining-room were flush with the
road, and by flattening our noses against the glass, we were able to
peep through a crevice in the red curtains and watch him, as he sat in a
particularly easy arm-chair, with a cigar between his lips and a
newspaper in his hand.

"Looks much too comfortable!" muttered Dick. "Just wait till I'm ready
and we'll make him sit up!"

He had been cautiously fastening a piece of cobblers' wax to the centre
of the window-frame. This wax had a hole in it, through which a long
piece of string was threaded, having a button at the end, and it was so
arranged that the button should hang down over the glass, while Dick,
standing under cover of the trees on the opposite side of the road, held
the other end of the string in his hand.

"Are you well out of sight?" he whispered. "Don't give the thing away by
flapping your skirts about and giggling. Now! Mum's the word, and you'll
see some sport!"

He pulled the string, and the button tapped smartly upon the window. It
evidently had some effect, for the red curtains were drawn aside, and
the captain peered out enquiringly into the darkness.

"Unearthed!" whispered George, but Dick gave him a severe pinch for
silence, and pulled the cord again. "Rap! Tap!" sounded the button on
the pane. This time our foe threw open the sash, and, thrusting out his
head, glanced up and down the street, muttering something we could not
catch. We could see him very plainly, his red face and long white
whiskers outlined ag