CHAPTER XIV
THE SCEPTER IN THE GRAVE
Sergeant Hooper took up his appointed position on the flagged path
that led up to the cottage door. His primary task was to give warning
if anybody should come out of the door; a secondary one was to give
the alarm in case of interruption by passers-by on the road--an
unlikely peril this latter, in view of the hour, the darkness of the
night, and the practiced noiselessness with which Mike might be relied
upon to do his work. Here then the Sergeant was left, after being
accorded another nip from the flask--which, however, Neddy kept in his
own hands this time--and a whispered but vigorously worded exhortation
to keep up his courage.
Neddy, the Shover, and gentlemanly Mike tiptoed off to the window, on the
right hand side of the door as one approached the house from the road.
The bottom of the window was about seven feet from the ground. Neddy bent
down and offered his broad back as a platform to his companion. Mike
mounted thereon and began his work. That, in itself, was child's play to
him; the matchboarding was but lightly nailed on; the fastenings came
away in a moment under the skillful application of his instrument; the
window sash behind was not even bolted, for the bolt had perished with
time and had not been replaced.
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