ark we all of us are!" said Sam, in a rage. He was so angry
that John Stebbins began to think he had made Jane understand where they
were, and he tried to calm Sam down. Jonas proposed that Dick should be
put through the cold-air box again. With a little squeezing from behind
he must be able to get through. Everybody but Dick thought it such a
nice plan that he was obliged to agree. But what was their horror when
they reached the place to find some boards nailed across the outside!

"A regular siege!" said Sam. "Well, if they can stand it I guess we
can." His mettle was up. "We'll stay till relief forces come. It is some
trick of the boys. Lucky there's no school. They can't hold out long."

"A state of siege! What fun!" cried the boys.

"I only wish we had brought two pies," said John Stebbins. "But there's
plenty of gingerbread."

Now they would ransack the house at their leisure. There was light
enough in the attics to explore the treasures hidden there. They found
old coal-hods for helmets, and warming-pans for fiery steeds, and they
had tournaments in the huge halls. They piled up carpets for their
comfort in their bedroom,--bits of old carpet,--and Jonas and Sam
discovered a pile of old worm-eaten books. The day seemed too short,
and the provender lasted well.

The night, however, was not so happy. The candles were growing short
and matches fewer. Sam and Jonas had to economize in reading, and told
stories instead, and the stories had a tendency to ghosts. Dick and Jack
murmured to John Stebbins it was not such fun after all; when, lo! their
own talk was interrupted by noises below! A sound of quarrelling voices
came from the rooms beneath. Voices of men! They went on tiptoe to the
head of the stairs to listen.

Tramps, indeed!

How had they got in? Was it they who had locked the door? Did they come
in that way?

"Suppose we go down," said Sam, in a whisper. But John Stebbins and the
little boys would not think of it. The men were swearing at each other;
there was a jingle of bottles and sound of drinking.

"It's my opinion we had better keep quiet," said Jonas. "It is a poor
set, and I don't know what they would do to us if they saw we had found
them out and would be likely to tell of them."

So they crept back noiselessly. In a state of siege, indeed! John
Stebbins, with help of the others, lifted the sofa across the door and
begged Sam to sleep on it. But that night there was not much sleep! The
sto