"Certainly, my friend. And it's not the maddest I've done this night--by
a long chalk. I'll tell you all about it later on, when there's more
time and less chance of being overheard. Now, then, step softly, you
two. If there's any one there, we don't want to let 'em think an army's
approaching. You gave Inspector Petrie the word if we needed him? That
I'd ring Rhea's bell in case of immediate help required?"

"Of course. And that one toll would mean one man, and _two_ tolls,
three; and three tolls, as many as they could spare from the duty of
guarding the house and letting no one go out or in."

"And they've already let almost every inmate of the place roam about at
their leisure this night--to prove their trustworthiness!" threw in
Cleek, with a short laugh. "A fine lot of disciplinarians up in this
part of the world, I must say--though of course the country's difficult,
and you want about fifty men up here to one in London. I'll have a word
with the Inspector before I leave--with your permission, Mr. Narkom."

"Certainly."

"We'll get along now, Dollops. You stand here under the gate, and keep
watch _toward_ the Castle; Mr. Narkom, you stand here, and guard the
road-end, and make the usual signal of a night owl's hoot if you see any
one approaching. I'll slip on my rubber sand-shoes to grip with, and
shin up in a moment."

And suiting the action to the word, that was practically what he did
do--though the climb up there in the darkness was certainly more than
momentary. For with no light and very little moon it was a more
difficult task than Cleek had anticipated, and he had to tread carefully
to avoid slipping on the narrow shelves of stone and iron that girt it
about.

Up, up, up he went, like some dark fly crawling across the face of the
night, and to those watching below, their hearts in their mouths at
sight of his perilous progress (which at times they could not follow for
the pitchy darkness, and knew not if he were safe or not), those moments
seemed hours indeed.

But Cleek had been in tighter corners and more difficult places than
this in the course of an adventurous lifetime, and the poise and
sureness of the man were amazing. Up, and along the stone parapet he
went, sliding face toward the stone wall of it, until he could lean back
a little and look up at Rhea standing out against the midnight sky like
a monstrous splotch of black ink in a lake of indigo-blue. The bronze
bell swung beneath him. He k