It was. But the door was locked on the inside! And the world was growing darker and darker. And they were miles from home. And there was the soda-water syphon. I shall not tell you whether anyone cried, nor if so, how many cried, nor who cried. You will be better employed in making up your minds what you would have done if you had been in their place. CHAPTER 5 NO WINGS Whether anyone cried or not, there was certainly an interval during which none of the party was quite itself. When they grew calmer, Anthea put her handkerchief in her pocket and her arm round Jane, and said: 'It can't be for more than one night. We can signal with our handkerchiefs in the morning. They'll be dry then. And someone will come up and let us out -' 'And find the syphon,' said Cyril gloomily; 'and we shall be sent to prison for stealing -' 'You said it wasn't stealing. You said you were sure it wasn't.' 'I'm not sure NOW,' said Cyril shortly. 'Let's throw the beastly thing slap away among the trees,' said Robert, 'then no one can do anything to us.' 'Oh yes' - Cyril's laugh was not a lighthearted one - 'and hit some chap on the head, and be murderers as well as - as the other thing.' 'But we can't stay up here all night,' said Jane; 'and I want my tea.' 'You CAN'T want your tea,' said Robert; 'you've only just had your dinner.' 'But I do want it,' she said; 'especially when you begin talking about stopping up here all night. Oh, Panther - I want to go home! I want to go home!' 'Hush, hush,' Anthea said. 'Don't, dear. It'll be all right, somehow. Don't, don't -' 'Let her cry,' said Robert desperately; 'if she howls loud enough, someone may hear and come and let us out.' 'And see the soda-water thing,' said Anthea swiftly. 'Robert, don't be a brute. Oh, Jane, do try to be a man! It's just the same for all of us.' Jane did try to 'be a man' - and reduced her howls to sniffs. There was a pause. Then Cyril said slowly, 'Look here. We must risk that syphon. I'll button it up inside my jacket - perhaps no one will notice it. You others keep well in front of me. There are lights in the clergyman's house. They've not gone to bed yet. We must just yell as loud as ever we can. Now all scream when I say three. Robert, you do the yell like the railway engine, and I'll do the coo-ee like father's. The girls can do as they please. One, two, three!' A fourfold yell rent the silent peace of the evening, and a maid at one of the Vicarage windows paused with her hand on the blind-cord.