of all stood
still, and then went on by leaps and bounds, like the good work in
missionary magazines.

For, down below us, in the tower where the man whose beard grew down to
his toes after he was dead was buried, there was a noise--a loud noise.
And it was like a door being banged and bolts fastened. We tumbled over
each other to get back into the open sunshine on the top of the tower,
and Alice's hand got jammed between the edge of the doorway and H. O.'s
boot; it was bruised black and blue, and another part bled, but she did
not notice it till long after.

We looked at each other, and Oswald said in a firm voice (at least, I
hope it was)--

'What was that?'

'He HAS waked up,' Alice said. 'Oh, I know he has. Of course there is a
door for him to get out by when he wakes. He'll come up here. I know he
will.'

Dicky said, and his voice was not at all firm (I noticed that at the
time), 'It doesn't matter, if he's ALIVE.'

'Unless he's come to life a raving lunatic,' Noel said, and we all stood
with our eyes on the doorway of the turret--and held our breath to hear.

But there was no more noise.

Then Oswald said--and nobody ever put it in the Golden Deed book, though
they own that it was brave and noble of him--he said--

'Perhaps it was only the wind blowing one of the doors to. I'll go down
and see, if you will, Dick.'

Dicky only said--

'The wind doesn't shoot bolts.'

'A bolt from the blue,' said Denny to himself, looking up at the sky.
His father is a sub-editor. He had gone very red, and he was holding on
to Alice's hand. Suddenly he stood up quite straight and said--

'I'm not afraid. I'll go and see.'

THIS was afterwards put in the Golden Deed book. It ended in Oswald
and Dicky and Denny going. Denny went first because he said he would
rather--and Oswald understood this and let him. If Oswald had pushed
first it would have been like Sir Lancelot refusing to let a young
knight win his spurs. Oswald took good care to go second himself,
though. The others never understood this. You don't expect it from
girls; but I did think father would have understood without Oswald
telling him, which of course he never could.

We all went slowly.

At the bottom of the turret stairs we stopped short. Because the door
there was bolted fast and would not yield to shoves, however desperate
and united.

Only now somehow we felt that Mr Richard Ravenal was all right and
quiet, but that some one had done it for