nst the front of the
opening, so that he was in the position of a four-footed animal. Then
his back raised up the hinged skylight higher and higher, till, holding
on to the cross-bar with one hand, and the ratchet fastening with the
other, he thrust up and up, till the skylight was perpendicular, and he
paused, panting with the exertion.

"All right, Mas' Don; I've got the rope. Now lower it down gently, till
it lies flat on the slope. That's the way; steady! Steady!"

_Bang_! _crash_! _jingle_!

"Oh, Mas' Don!"

"I couldn't help it, Jem; the iron fastening came out. The wood's
rotten."

For the skylight had fallen back with a crash, and some of the broken
glass came musically jingling down, some of it sliding along the tiles,
and dropping into the alley below.

There was a dead silence, neither of the would-be evaders of the
enforced king's service moving, but listening intently for the slightest
sound.

"Think they heared it, Mas' Don?" said Jem, at last, in a hoarse
whisper.

"I can't hear anything," replied Don, softly.

They listened again, but all was wonderfully quiet. A distant murmur
came from the busy streets, and a clock struck nine.

"Why, that's Old Church," said Jem in a whisper. "We must be close down
to the water side, Mas' Don."

"Yes, Jem. Shall we give it up, or risk it?"

"I'll show you d'reckly," said Jem. "You make that there end fast round
the bar. It isn't rotten, is it?"

"No," said Don, after an examination; "it seems very solid." And
untying the rope from his waist, he knotted it to the little beam.

The next minute Jem gave a heavy drag at the rope, then a jerk, and next
swung to it, going to and fro for a few seconds.

"Hold a ton," whispered Jem; and reaching up as high as he could, he
gripped the rope between his legs and over his ankle and foot, and
apparently with the greatest ease drew himself up to the bar, threw a
leg over and sat astride with his face beaming.

"They sha'n't have us this time, Mas' Don," he said, running the rope
rapidly through his hands until he had reached the end, when he gathered
it up in rings, till he had enough to throw beyond the sloping roof.

"Here goes!" he whispered; and he tossed it from him into the gathering
gloom.

The falling rope made a dull sound, and then there was a sharp gliding
noise.

One of the broken fragments of glass had been started from where it had
lodged, and slid rapidly down the tiles.

They he