and another, and right up, nearly to the ridge of the roof, a
leg came through, and then its fellow, in company with a shower of
broken tiles, which rattled upon the rough floor of the loft.

The owner of the legs began to make a desperate effort to withdraw them,
and they kicked about in a variety of peculiar evolutions; but before
they could be extricated, Peter had climbed up to an oaken beam, which
formed one of the roof ties, and from there reached out and seized one
of the legs by the ankle.

"I've got him," he cried gleefully. "Which shall we do, sir--pull him
through, or get the ladder up to the roof and drag him out?"

"Here, Daniel! Come up," said the doctor.

The old gardener came up eagerly; and one of his cast-iron grins
expanded his face as he grasped the situation.

"Brayvo, Peter!" he cried. "That's the way to ketch a ghost. Hold him
tight, lad!"

The doctor smiled.

"Don't let them hurt him, papa," whispered Helen.

"Oh no; they shall not hurt him," said the doctor quietly. Then,
raising his voice--"Now, sir, will you come down quietly, or shall I
send for the police to drag you out on to the roof?"

An indistinct murmur came down, after a vigorous struggle to get free.

"Woho! Woho, kicker!" cried Peter, speaking as if to a horse.

"What does he say!" said the doctor.

"Says he'll come down if I'll let go."

"Don't you trust him, sir," cried Dan'l excitedly.

"I do not mean to," said the doctor. "Will you come down quietly?" he
shouted.

There was another murmur.

"Says `_yes_,' sir," cried Peter.

"Then, look here," said the doctor, "you hold him tight, and you," he
continued to the gardener, "climb up on that beam and push off a few
tiles. Then you can draw him down through there."

"All right, sir," cried Dan'l; and as Peter held on to the leg, the old
gardener, after a good deal of grunting and grumbling, climbed to his
side, and began to let in daylight by thrusting off tile after tile,
which slid rattling down the side of the roof into the leaden guttering.

The opening let in so much daylight that the appearance of the old loft
was quite transformed, but the group on the worm-eaten beam was the
principal object of attention till just as Dan'l thrust off the fourth
tile, when there was a loud crack, a crash, and gardener, groom, and
their prisoner lay in a heap on the floor of the loft, while pieces of
lath and tile rattled about their heads.

The old tie had give