. You don't expect it from
girls; but I did think father would have understood without Oswald
telling him, which of course he never could.

We all went slowly.

At the bottom of the turret stairs we stopped short. Because the door
there was bolted fast and would not yield to shoves, however desperate
and united.

Only now somehow we felt that Mr. Richard Ravenal was all right and
quiet, but that some one had done it for a lark, or perhaps not known
about any one being up there. So we rushed up, and Oswald told the
others in a few hasty but well-chosen words, and we all leaned over
between the battlements, and shouted, "Hi! you there!"

Then from under the arches of the quite-down-stairs part of the tower a
figure came forth--and it was the sailor who had had our milk sixpence.
He looked up and he spoke to us. He did not speak loud, but he spoke
loud enough for us to hear every word quite plainly. He said:

"Drop that."

Oswald said, "Drop what?"

He said, "That row."

Oswald said, "Why?"

He said, "Because if you don't I'll come up and make you, and pretty
quick too, so I tell you."

Dicky said, "Did you bolt the door?"

The man said, "I did so, my young cock."

Alice said--and Oswald wished to goodness she had held her tongue,
because he saw right enough the man was not friendly--"Oh, do come and
let us out--do, please."

While she was saying it Oswald suddenly saw that he did not want the man
to come up. So he scurried down the stairs because he thought he had
seen something on the door on the top side, and sure enough there were
two bolts, and he shot them into their sockets. This bold act was not
put in the Golden Deed book, because when Alice wanted to, the others
said it was not _good_ of Oswald to think of this, but only _clever_. I
think sometimes, in moments of danger and disaster, it is as good to be
clever as it is to be good. But Oswald would never demean himself to
argue about this.

When he got back the man was still standing staring up. Alice said:

"Oh, Oswald, he says he won't let us out unless we give him all our
money. And we might be here for days and days and all night as well. No
one knows where we are to come and look for us. Oh, do let's give it him
_all_."

She thought the lion of the English nation, which does not know when it
is beaten, would be ramping in her brother's breast. But Oswald kept
calm. He said:

"All right," and he made the others turn out their pockets. D