boots together, and by the aid of his
pocket-handkerchief dropped them on the roof. His hands were already
on the window-ledge, and one leg over, when he heard a footstep on the
stairs below. What should he do? To stay as he was, motionless, would
be fatal. He was full in the moonlight. To crouch down in the corner,
where the moonlight did not shine, might possibly screen him. Not a
second was to be lost. His resolution was formed. Over went the other
leg; and, hanging with his fingers to the outside of the window-ledge,
afraid to drop to the roof lest the noise should be heard, he clung
trembling, while he heard the step ascending to the top dormitory. He
must be off,--right away, in a few minutes; for it would not now be
long before he was missed. Down he dropped the remaining distance,
picked up his boots, scrambled down the water-butt, on to the box, and
there he was safe on the ground at last. The gate from the yard into
the doctor's garden was always open. He ran noiselessly through, on
his bootless feet, into the garden, and across the lawn; and, skirting
along where the laurels cast a dark pathway of shadow over the moonlit
grass, he made for a corner of the garden-wall, near which the high
road ran, and which some few days ago he had noticed was either lower
than elsewhere, or somewhat tumbled down. Into the laurels he darted,
and soon found the spot he wished; and, then knowing he was quite
hidden, and, moreover, in a place where no one would dream of searching
for him, he sat down to regain his breath; and, as he put on his boots,
listened eagerly to catch the slightest sound that might warn him that
his absence was discovered. Nor was it more than two or three minutes
before he heard voices in the playground, and the unlocking of various
doors, and lights shone suddenly in several windows.

[Illustration: "There he was, safe on the ground at last."--WILTON
SCHOOL, page 98]

No more waiting was to be thought of. He must go on, if he meant
really to escape; or be caught, and so have all the trouble and fright
for nothing, or at least not for nothing. He knew if he were caught,
his stay at school would only be a very short one; and better anything
than be caned, and afterwards expelled.

So he scrambled up the garden-wall, and his eyes brightened as he saw
the hard, highroad that would lead him away from this place of torture.

To right the road ran down towards the village: to left it led to