Part 72 (2/2)

And as he moved here and there in the cold dark place, he realised how easily one trying to escape could avoid a would-be captor by keeping very still and away fro them Twice over he touched an arm, once a head, but their owner bounded aith a faint ejaculation at each touch, and the hunt went on round and round the place, till both stopped, listening for the other's nextperiod of painful silence

”He's close to the door,” thought To ca slowly and al hihtest sound In this fashi+on he had half covered the workshop toward the door, and was in the act of bounding forward the rest of the hen he heard a sound behind hi up the steps to reach the laboratory again

”Better than creeping about here in the dark,” thought Toan to ascend, to have the door banged in his face, and by the tih, his quarry was at the top of the next flight of steps, and had banged down the trap-door

To panting into the observatory, to stand in the darkness here too, listening and trying toin wait; and heedless of danger, he did not stop to take a necessary precaution

Then there ca towards the open shutter, convinced that his quarry had cliallery; but at the same moment he came heavily in contact with some one, and was taken so unexpectedly, that at the end of a brief struggle here and there upon the floor Toe of the trap-way, co his balance as his foot was checked on a stair eighteen inches below, and he fell heavily, bu down all of a heap to the lower floor, where he lay half-stunned, listening to the banging down of the trap once athered hiain ascended the steps, to thrust open the door with hands and head

This tih he closed the trap after hi that he was hurt, but unable to tell how much

A sound that he heard cleared his head the next h him which told him he could not be very bad, and he stepped quickly to the open shutter and began to get through

For the sound he heard was the rap of the top of the ladder against the little gallery rails; and as he crept out and into the little wooden construction, he felt for and touched the end of the ladder, which was quivering as if so down

There was no dizziness in To

Passing one leg over the rail, Toan to descend as rapidly as he could, feeling the ladder quiveras he was half-way dohisper Then he felt a jerk, one side of the slight ilided fro, and before he had tiround with a crash

CHAPTER FORTY ONE

Toround when he described an arc in the darkness, so that it was not a very serious fall, but bad enough to knock the sense out of hi so closely upon his bu down the upper steps Consequently he lay quite still with the ladder upon hi, scra, and then the patter of steps somewhere not far away

Those footsteps were still to be heard when the boy thrust the ladder over, rose very slowly to a sitting position, and tried to look round hi more stars than he had when he knelt at his bedroo motion of their ohich ot the best of ood to go after hian of order sufficiently developed to make hi it lying in the yard; but he felt shaken up, and the feeling of confusion ca for a few ate, listened a while, and then locked it after hiarden

The nextto clied hi to undress, threw himself on the bed and fell into a sound sleep, in which he drea black prison van and carried off Pete Warboys, as taken to the Old Bailey to be tried for stealing the round wooden dome-shaped structure which for soon after six by the pattering at hisof so off the bed he found David below on the lawn

”Here, look sharp and coardener excitedly

”What's the matter?” said Toht's business

”Soht and stole the tallowscoop”

”Nonsense!”

”But they have, sir It's as fact as fack There's the top woodenopen, and Jellard's long fruit-ladder lying in the yard”

Tom hurried down at once, to find the ladder just as he had left it; and on entering the mill, closely followed by David, he looked round for traces of the burglarious work that must have been done