He was excited, and worked quickly. In a moment he was standing in the middle of the room, with only his hands tied behind him. "I can cut that cord," he thought, "if I can find a nail in the wall." He easily found several, and one of them had a rough edge on the head of it, and after a few minutes of hard sawing, the cord was severed. "It's easy to saw twine," said he. "Now for the next thing." He went to the window and looked out into the darkness. "I'm over the roof of the kitchen," he said, "and that tree's close to it." Up went the window--slowly, carefully, noiselessly--and out crept Jack upon that roof. It was steep, but he stole along the ridge. Now he could reach the tree. "It's an apple-tree," he said. "I can reach that longest branch, and swing off, and go down it hand over hand." At an ordinary time, few boys would have thought it could be done, and Jack had to gather all his courage to make the attempt; but he slid down and reached for that small, frail limb, from his perilous perch in the gutter of the roof. "Now!" said Jack to himself. Off he went with a quick grasp, and then another lower along the branch, before it had time to break, but his third grip was on a larger limb, below, and he believed he was safe. "I must be quick!" he said. "Somebody is striking a light in that room!" Hand over hand for a moment, and then he was astride of a limb. Soon he was going down the trunk; and then the window (which he had closed behind him) went up, and he heard Deacon Abrams exclaiming: "He couldn't have got out this way, could he? Stop thief! Stop thief!" "Let 'em chase!" muttered Jack, as his feet reached the ground. "This is the liveliest kind of news-item!" Jack vaulted over the nearest fence, ran across a garden, climbed over another fence, ran through a lot, and came out into a street on the other side of the square. "I've got a good start, now," he thought, "but I'll keep right on. They don't expect me at Murdoch's to-night. If I can only get to the _Eagle_ office! Nobody'll hunt for me there!" He heard the sound of feet, at that moment, around the next corner. Open went the nearest gate, and in went Jack, and before long he was scaling more fences. "It's just like playing 'Hare-and-Hounds,'" remarked Jack, as he once more came out into a street. "Now for the _Eagle_, and it won't do to run. I'm safe." He heard some running and shouting after that, however, and he did not really feel secure until he was on his bed, with the doors below locked and barred. "Now they can hunt all night!" he said to himself, laughing. "I've made plenty of news for Mary." So she thought next morning; and the last "news-item" brought out the color in her cheeks and the brightness in her eyes. "I'll write it out," she said, "just as if you were the real robber, and we'll print it!" "Of course," said Jack; "but I'd better keep shady for a day or so. I wish I was on my way to New York!"