The boy gazed wildly
around, to see if there was any means, however risky or even
desperate, by which escape might be made. He saw nothing but the
slender branches of a magnificent yew that grew in the retired garden
behind and close to the library. These boughs overtopped even the tall
building, and some of them overhung the roof a little. But the nearest
of them was ten feet above the heads of the two, and hopelessly out of
reach. Would that some great gust of wind would drive those branches
within clutching distance!
This tantalizing thought had hardly taken possession of George's mind
when his attention was attracted by shouts from below. Peering down he
was astonished to see Matthew rapidly climbing the yew. The same
thought had struck him also! Up the climber swarmed, higher and
higher. Then he began without hesitation to crawl along some of the
topmost branches that overhung the library roof. Outwards he crept,
embracing tightly half a dozen of the long thin boughs; they seemed
but little more than twigs.
"You'll be dashed to pieces!" Mary cried; "go back, go back!"
"Haven't you a rope anywhere?" George asked eagerly.
"Every rope and ladder locked up in the stable yard," was the
breathless reply, "and the men away.
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