"Oh! I really didn"t think you"d be taken in by such an easy fake!"
shrieked Edward.
"Made it ourselves," explained d.i.c.k, between bursts of chuckles. "We modelled it in clay, after the pattern of those pictures in the mater"s antiquarian book, and baked it in the oven. Then we crumbled the top away, and stained the bottom with iron-water, and filled it with pigs"
bones and all the oldest coppers we could muster. We didn"t bury it too deep, because we knew you"d never f.a.g to dig half the mound away. I dare say the place _was_ soft! No doubt a rabbit _had_ been burrowing there!
Oh, I say! I feel quite weak with laughing!"
Cathy and I bore our chaffing with the best grace we could.
"It was really rather clever of them," said Cathy. "Of course it"s a dreadful sell, but we might find something genuine some day; only the next time we mean to go hunting for antiquities we won"t tell the boys beforehand!"
All the same the affair rankled in our minds, and we came to the conclusion that if we could possibly seize an opportunity we should like to play a trick upon these determined practical jokers, so as to pay them back to some extent in their own coin. It was rather difficult to hit upon anything fresh, Cathy scorning such stale devices as apple-pie beds or st.i.tched-up trousers.
"Those are as old as the hills," she said. "And would scarcely amuse them. I want to find something quite out of the common, and if possible to give them a good fright into the bargain."
"Ghosts," I suggested.
"Um! No. It"s rather hard to get up a clever ghost, they find it out directly. You see they"ve done it so often themselves to scare the servants. Stop! I have it! Oh, I"ve thought of a most glorious idea!
Didn"t you hear Edward reading out an account from the newspaper this morning of a robbery at Thistleton Hall? Why shouldn"t we have a sham burglar, and rouse them all in the middle of the night? It would make a splendid sensation."
Mr. and Mrs. Winstanley were away from home, spending a week in Scotland, and Edward considered himself to be the head and safeguard of the establishment during their absence, so the scheme really seemed very feasible.
"We can dress up the figure of a burglar with some of Father"s old clothes stuffed with straw," said Cathy, "and let it down through the trap-door in the end bedroom. But first of all we must pave the way.
Suppose we were to write a letter to Edward, as if it came from some poor person, warning him that there"s going to be an attack on the house? It would make them ever so excited about it first, and then they"d fall quite easily into the trap, and be ready to believe that someone was really breaking in. Can you keep the secret, Phil, absolutely tight and safe? We mustn"t betray even by a look what we"re meditating."
"I think I can," I replied. "I"m rather clever at hiding my feelings. I didn"t let George guess last night that I knew where d.i.c.k had put his cricket-cap, though I helped him to look for it everywhere except in the right place."
We set to work at once so that we might have time to carry out our plans before the squire and Mrs. Winstanley returned home. Cathy"s letter was a product of genius. It was written on the thinnest of village note-paper, with the vilest and scratchiest of pens; the handwriting was unformed and scrawling, and the tails of the letters were occasionally smeared, as if a large and dirty finger had industriously and laboriously pursued its way along the page. It ran thus, being guiltless of stops--
"honered sir "i take up my pen to tel you wot as bin on my mind and i ope you wil not considder it a liburty but Honored Sir i feel it is ony rite to warn you as your pa and ma is away and you the squire as is to be and i dont like to split on my pals but there is some as will ope to find your ouse not two well looked arfter at nite and i can tel you no more at present for i dont want to get into no trubble "this is from "one oo knows"
She addressed the envelope on the extreme top to--
"Mister edward winstanly marchelands near evverton",
put the stamp on upside down at the bottom, smeared the letter with her thumb previously rubbed in the dust-pan, and dropped the epistle herself into the village post-box.
It was extremely difficult to keep our faces the next morning when Edward opened this strange communication, especially when we saw that he took it in all seriousness.
"I say, d.i.c.k, look here!" he said, drawing his brother aside. "Just read this, and see what you make of it. It appears to me there"s going to be an attempt to break into the house, and someone has written to warn us.
Whom could it possibly be from? There"s no name or address on it."
d.i.c.k turned the dirty sheet of paper over and over in his hand, and examined the envelope closely, but it was evident he could make no more of it than Edward had done.
"What"s the matter?" asked Cathy innocently. "What are you two putting your heads together about?"
"I don"t know whether I ought to tell you girls," said Edward in his most fatherly manner. "I"m afraid you"ll be scared out of your senses.
But after all perhaps it"s wiser to let you know, for you"re both pretty plucky on the whole. Here, you may read the letter."
We seized it as if we had never seen it in our lives before, and looked at each other with much apparent consternation.
"It"s certainly meant for a warning," I said gravely.
"If I were you, Edward," remarked Cathy, "I should put it into the hands of the village constable."
"Put it into the hands of the village fiddle-stick!" growled Edward.
"What help would poor old Gaskell be, I should like to know? He"d run away if he saw the very tail of a burglar. I dare say he"s all right to lock up a drunken man on fair-day, or to slip the handcuffs on poachers when the gamekeepers are holding them tight, but he"d be of no earthly use in a case of this sort. Just you leave it to me. d.i.c.k and I will undertake to look after the house. You girls had better lock your bedroom door to-night; and be sure you don"t let the servants get a hint of it, or we shall have them all in hysterics."
So far our hoax had answered admirably, and Cathy and I retired upstairs after breakfast in fits of delighted laughter.
"He looked so solemn over it," chuckled Cathy; "that touch about his being the future squire was most effective. He feels he"s quite a man and must defend the family property."
"I nearly exploded when d.i.c.k sniffed the letter, and said he could tell it was written by a clodhopper, because it smelled of their abominable tobacco!" said I.
"We"d better get on with our burglar," said Cathy. "I have Father"s old tweed suit and his fishing-boots here, and I brought up a whole sackful of hay yesterday, it"s underneath my bed. Have you locked the door? No one must come in on any account."
We first securely st.i.tched the coat and trousers together, fastened the trousers firmly into the fishing-boots, sewed a pair of gloves on to the ends of the sleeves to represent hands, and then stuffed the whole figure tightly with hay. The head was a little more difficult to manage.
We tried at first to make it out of a sponge-bag, but that did not seem to answer at all; so in the end Cathy fetched a large mangold out of the field, which had a warty protuberance on one side very much resembling a human nose, and by the aid of two shoe-b.u.t.tons stuck in with hair-pins for eyes, and a slit cut with a penknife for a mouth, we really made a very creditable burglar countenance. We mounted it on a sharpened stick, which we rammed down into the body, crowned it with a soft felt hat, tied a silk handkerchief round its neck to cover up deficiencies, and then sat down and rejoiced over our handiwork.
"Doesn"t he look a splendid Bill Sykes?" cried Cathy. "In the dark I"m sure anyone would think he was real. Those fishing-boots look very clumping and murderous."
"He"s not very heavy either," I said, lifting the figure easily in my arms, "I think you"ll be able to manage him."
The place where we intended to spring our surprise on the boys was a large unoccupied bedroom at the end of the pa.s.sage, generally called the "north room". It had a trap-door in the ceiling which opened out on to a flat roof, and by climbing upon the edge of Cathy"s balcony it was extremely easy to step on to this roof; indeed we had often done so to watch the sunset, or to get a good view of the surrounding country. We arranged that about midnight Cathy should mount up here, I should then hand the burglar to her, and after opening the trap-door she should allow his legs to dangle through it as though he were in the very act of forcing an entrance into the room. When she was ready I was to give the alarm, and we trusted that in the faint moonlight the boys would not readily discover the imposture. We hid "Bill Sykes" safely away under the bed, and went downstairs again, feeling all impatience for the evening to arrive.
Edward was extremely particular about locking up that night--he examined every bolt and bar, closed all the shutters, put a screw in the back-kitchen window and a wedge in the cellar door, and finally went round the whole establishment with a lantern, peeping into pantries and china-closets, and even the housemaid"s cupboard under the stairs, to make quite sure that n.o.body was concealed there with nefarious intent.
He retired to bed at last with a revolver under his pillow; d.i.c.k took the air-gun, which he had borrowed from Captain Vernon, while George, not being able to obtain any firearms (the squire having wisely locked up his gun cupboard and taken the key away with him), was obliged to content himself with the garden syringe well charged with water, with which he could certainly give anyone a decidedly cold reception. It was past ten o"clock before we were all in our rooms, and Cathy and I decided that we would not go to bed, as we were much too excited to feel sleepy; so we sat eating apples and reading to pa.s.s the time, as we did not dare to talk much for fear the boys should overhear us. At ten minutes to twelve we opened our window and looked out. It was a beautiful moonlight night, just bright enough to make the room rather light without showing any object too plainly, and nothing could be more fortunate for the success of our plot.
Cathy climbed cautiously on to the roof, and I managed to hand up the burglar--with some difficulty, I own, for if he were not heavy he was decidedly bulky. She had tied a rope under his arms so that she might dangle him more securely, and she very soon unfastened the trap-door and let his legs down through the opening.
"Are you ready?" I called under my breath, as I watched her from the balcony.
"Hush! Yes, just got him right!" she whispered; "you may go now.
Remember, Edward first!"
It was an exciting moment. I ran down the pa.s.sage, and tapped softly at Edward"s door.
"Oh, do come quick!" I said in a low voice, which I am sure must have sounded most agitated. "We"ve heard such strange noises, and we can"t help thinking that someone"s trying to break into the north room!"
Edward appeared in an instant, fully dressed, and armed with his revolver. I am sure that even if he had lain down on his bed, he had neither removed his clothes nor closed his eyes. He looked rather white, but I must say very determined and self-possessed.
"Have you roused the others?" he whispered. "Don"t make any noise, and perhaps we may be able to catch him. You"d better go back to Cathy, and both of you stay in your room. This thing"s not fit for girls, and you might get hurt."
d.i.c.k and George, who slept in the adjoining bedroom, arrived on the scene with equal prompt.i.tude, and the three crept silently down the pa.s.sage, while I, after pretending to retire, followed at a little distance to watch the fun. Arrived at the north room they noiselessly opened the door, and sprang back for a moment, looking rather aghast, for dangling through the opening in the roof appeared the large fishing-boots of our burglar, moving about in such a natural and lifelike manner, that it was no wonder the boys were deceived.
"Hullo! Who"s that?" cried Edward in a firm tone, levelling his revolver at the figure.
The legs twitched, and came slightly lower, so that a portion of the body might be seen through the trap-door.