know
very well!"

"Yes, sir," said Jack, doggedly. "But that's in winter, or after a heavy
storm--not in fine weather like this. I never knew the wire to be out of
order before when it was the way it is now."

"Well, there's nothing to be done, in any case," said the vicar. "Be off to
bed, and wait until morning. There's nothing you can do now."

Dick looked as if he were about to make some protest, but a glance at Jack
restrained him. Instead he got up, said good-night and followed Jack
upstairs. There he took his bath, except that he substituted cold water for
the hot, for he could guess what Jack meant to do. They were going out
again, that was certain. And, while it is easy to take cold, especially
when one is tired, after a hot bath, there is no such danger if the water
is cold.

"Do you know where the telephone wire runs?" he asked Jack.

"Yes, I do," said Jack. "I watched the men when they ran the wire in. There
are only three telephones in the village, except for the one at Bray Park,
and that's a special, private wire. We have one here, Doctor Brunt has one,
and there's another in the garage. They're all on one party line, too. We
won't have any trouble in finding out if the wire was cut, I fancy."

Their chief difficulty lay in getting out of the house. True, Jack had not
been positively ordered not to go out again, but he knew that if his father
saw him, he would be ordered to stay in. And he had not the slightest
intention of missing any part of the finest adventure he had ever had a
chance to enjoy--not he! He was a typical English boy, full of the love of
adventure and excitement for their own sake, even if he was the son of a
clergyman. And now he showed Dick what they would have to do.

"I used to slip out this way, sometimes," he said. "That was before I was a
scout. I--well, since I joined, I haven't done it. It didn't seem right.
But this is different. Don't you think so, Dick?"

"I certainly do," said Dick. "Your pater doesn't understand, Jack. He
thinks we've just found a mare's nest, I fancy."

Jack's route of escape was not a difficult one. It led to the roof of the
scullery, at the back of the house, and then, by a short and easy drop of a
few feet, to the back garden. Once they were in that, they had no trouble.
They could not be heard or seen from the front of the house, and it was a
simple matter of climbing fences until it was safe to circle back and
strike the road in front again.