, which kept catching and the noise it
made as he had to shake and snatch to free it in its passage amongst the
lower branches.

But he persevered, and climbed and climbed with his task growing
lighter, the branches thinner, and he found himself right up the grand
old tree, which towered above the roof, leaving him now on a level with
the window from which he had lowered himself.

Godfrey paused, breathless, with one arm round a horizontal branch to
rest himself a little and listen; but all was still, and, untying the
rope from about his waist, he passed it round the tree, a comparatively
easy task now, for, embracing the trunk, his hands touched, and directly
after he was hauling upon the rope, had drawn it tight, so tight that it
was pretty well horizontal, when, passing it round the trunk again, he
knotted it firmly, forming a spider line ready for him to creep along to
his sanctuary in the roof.

It required a little nerve, but the lad was desperate, and, trusting to
his knots at either end being firm, he took hold of the rope, let his
feet glide down, and then began to travel hand over hand, swinging more
and more till his feet ceased to touch the nearest, boughs, when,
throwing them up, he hooked first one leg and then the other over the
giving rope, and, relieving the weight upon his arms, began to creep
more quickly over the ten or fifteen yards which separated the
tree-trunk from the house.

The rope, in spite of his efforts to tighten it, formed a deep bow as he
went along, easily at first, but with the difficulty increasing as the
depth of the curve was passed, and the latter part was somewhat of a
climb.

But almost before he could realise it, he was passing through the window
with his eyes closed, and his first intimation of the success of his
scheme was given by his right hand touching the knot which attached the
rope to the attic beam.

Dropping his feet to the floor, and trembling violently with excitement
and exertion, the lad took a step to the window and peered out,
listening; but all was still, and, taking his knife from his pocket, he
felt for, and mounted the stool again, sawed through the rope, and,
twisting it up till he had it tight from the tree, he leaned out, pulled
hard once more so as to get the spring of the fir, and then threw it
with all his might.

There was a faint rustle as, helped by the bend given to the upper part
of the trunk, the rope left his hand and fell amongst the n