Page:The purple pennant (IA purplepennant00barb).pdf/117



UIT wobbling!" hissed Fudge. "All right, but hurry up," returned Perry in a hoarse whisper. "See anything?"

"N-no, nothing much. There's a table—what's that?"

Fudge stopped abruptly and listened. Footfalls sounded in the hall below and, releasing his clutch on the ledge of the transom, Fudge wriggled from Perry's supporting arms and descended to the floor.

"Someone's coming!" he whispered. "Beat it!"

They "beat it" into the empty room across the corridor just as the intruder's head came into sight above the landing. Fudge, watching through the crack of the partly-open door, beheld a man in overalls carrying a square of black tin. He passed on to the door they had just retreated from, set down his box, pushed a battered derby hat to the back of his head and regarded the portal thought-