The Triple Alliance | Page 5

suggestion was agreed upon, and the three friends lay talking
in an undertone until the sound of footsteps and the gleam of a candle
above the door announced the fact that Mr. Blake was retiring to rest.
"He's always last," said Vance; "we must give him time to undress, and
then we'll start."
A quarter of an hour later the three boys, in semi-undress, were
creeping in single file up the narrow staircase.
"Be careful," whispered Vance; "there are several loose boards, and
they crack like anything."
The small landing was reached in safety, and the moon, shining faintly
through a little skylight formed of a single pane of glass, enabled them
to distinguish the outline of two doors.
Now it was a very different matter, when lying warm and snug in bed,
to talk about acting the ghost, from what it was, when standing
shivering in the cold and darkness, to put the project into execution.
During the period of waiting the conversation had turned on haunted
houses, and no one seemed particularly anxious to claim as it were the
post of honour, and be the first to enter the big attic.
"Go on!" whispered Mugford, nudging Vance.
"Go on!" repeated the latter, giving Diggory's arm a gentle push.
The new boy had certainly undertaken to play the part of the ghost, and
there was no excuse for his backing out of it at the last moment.
"All right," he muttered, "I'll go."

Just then a terrible thing happened. Diggory clutched the door-knob as
though it were the handle of a galvanic battery, while Mugford and
Vance seized each other by the arm and literally gasped for breath.
The stillness had been broken by a slight sound, as of something falling
inside the attic, and this was followed a moment later by a shrill,
unearthly scream.
For five seconds the three companions stood petrified with horror, not
daring to move; then followed another scream, if anything more
horrible than the last, and accompanied this time by the clanking rattle
of a chain being dragged across the floor.
That was enough. Talk about a sauve qui peut! the wonder is that any
one survived the stampede which followed. The youngsters turned and
flew down the stairs at break-neck speed, and hardly had they started
when the door of the "Main-top" was flung open, and its two occupants
rushed down after them. As though to ensure the retreat being nothing
less than a regular rout, Mugford, who was leading, missed his footing
on the last step, causing every one to fall over him in turn, until all five
boys were sprawling together in a mixed heap upon the floor.
Freeing themselves with some little difficulty from the general
entanglement, they rose to their feet, and after surveying each other for
a moment in silence, gave vent to a simultaneous ejaculation of "The
ghost!"
"What were you fellows doing up there?" asked Kennedy.
"Why, we came up to have a joke with you," answered Vance; "but just
when we got up to the landing, it--it made that noise!"
There was the sound of the key turning in the lock of Mr. Blake's door.
"Cave!" whispered Mugford.
"Tell him about it," added Vance; and giving Diggory a push, they all
three darted into their room just as the master emerged from his,

arrayed in dressing-gown and slippers.
"Now, then," exclaimed the latter, holding his candle above his head,
and peering down the passage, "what's the meaning of this disturbance?
I thought the whole house was falling down.--Come here, you two, and
explain yourselves!"
"Please, sir," answered Kennedy and Jacobs in one breath, "it's the
ghost!"
"The ghost! What ghost? What d'you mean?"
The two "Main-top" men began a hasty account of the cause of their
sudden fright, taking care, however, to make no mention of the three
hostile visitors who had shared in the surprise.
Mr. Blake listened to their story in silence, then all at once he burst out
laughing, and without a word turned on his heel and went quickly
upstairs. He entered the attic, and in about half a minute they heard him
coming back.
"Ha, ha! I've got your ghost; I've been trying to lay him for some time
past."
The jingle of a chain was distinctly audible; Mr. Blake was evidently
bringing the spectre down in his arms! Diggory and Vance could no
longer restrain their curiosity; they hopped out of bed and glanced
round the corner of the door. The master held in his hand a rusty old
gin, the iron jaws of which were tightly closed upon the body of an
enormous rat.
"There's a monster for you!" he said; "I think it's the biggest I ever saw.
He'd carried the trap, chain and all, right across the