between them anywhere, and reached as
far as she could see. They were all heights, all shapes, all
varieties--some being level, others coming to a point at one corner, a
few ending in a tower. One tower, on the outer-most edge of the Zoo, was
square, and tapered.

"Jane?" she said indifferently. "Oh, she's only a top."

"Only a top!" It was the little old gentleman. "Why, that makes her all
the _more_ dangerous!"

"Because she's spinning so fast"--the Policeman balanced on one arm
while he shook an emphatic finger--"that she'll stir up trouble!"

"Well, then, what shall I do?" asked Gwendolyn. For, elated over seeing
Thomas disposed of so completely--and yet with so much mercy--she was
impatient at hearing that she still had reason to fear the nurse.

The Piper took his time about replying. He sharpened one end of a
match, thrust the bit of pine into the stem of his pipe, jabbed away
industriously, threw away the match, blew through the stem once or
twice, and turned the bowl upside down to make it _plop, plop_ against a
palm. Then, "Keep Jane laughin'," he counseled, "--_and see what
happens_."

Jane was alongside, spinning comfortably on her shoe-leather point. Now,
as if she had overheard, or guessed a plot, sudden uneasiness showed on
both her countenances, and she increased her speed.

"You done up Thomas, the lot of you," she charged, as she whirled away.
"But you don't git _me_."

"And we won't," declared Gwendolyn, "if we don't hurry up and trip her."

"A _good_ idear!" chimed in the Piper.

"If we only had some string!" cried the little old gentleman.

"String won't do," said the Policeman. "We need rope."

There was a high wind sweeping the roofs. And as the three began to run
about, searching, it fluttered the Policeman's coat-tails, swelled out
the Piper's cap, and tugged at the ragged garb of the Man-Who-Makes-Faces.

"Here's a piece of clothes-line!"

The Policeman made the find--catching sight of the line where it dangled
from the edge of a roof. The others hastened to join him. And each
seized the rope in both hands, the Piper staying at one end of it, the
little old gentleman at the opposite, while Gwendolyn and the Policeman
posted themselves at proper distances between. Then forward in a row
swept all, carrying the rope with them. It was a curious one of its
kind--as black as if it had been tarred, thick at the middle, but
noticeably thin at one end.

Jane saw their design. "Ba-a-a!"