Knowing precisely where the opening was located (an unusual feature of the houses in that section), she stopped directly under it, and reached upward with one of her powerful hands. The roof was still nearer the floor than was the latter to the floor below, so that it was easy for her to place her fingers against the iron hook which held it in place. Of course she found the scuttle just as it had been for many a day; and Mrs. Shirril was right in saying it was as firmly secured as the ponderous door beneath them, for the impossibility of getting a purchase from the roof, made only a slight resistance necessary from beneath. A dozen bolts and bars could not have rendered it stronger. "It 'pears to be all right," mused Dinah, "but folks can't be too keerful at sich times--sh! what dat?" Her ears, which were as keen as those of her friends, heard a suspicious noise overhead. It was faint, but unmistakable. The startling truth could not be doubted: one of the Comanches, if not more, was on the roof! "If dat isn't shameful," she muttered, failing to apprise her mistress of the alarming discovery; "I wander what he can be after up dar--de Lor' a massy!" The last shock was caused by a scratching which showed that the intruder was trying to lift up the scuttle. Evidently the Indians had made themselves as familiar with Captain Shirril's domicile as they could without entering it. They had noticed the scuttle, and the possibility that it might be unfastened led one of them to climb undetected to the roof to make sure about it. "Dat onmannerly warmint knows dat dat door am right over _my_ room," muttered the indignant Dinah; "and instead ob comin' in by de reg'lar way, as a gemman orter do, he's gwine to try to steal in frough de roof. When I get done wid him," she added, with rising wrath, "he'll know better nor dat." Still Mrs. Shirril kept her place in her own apartment, where she was striving so hard to learn something, by peering through and listening at one of her windows, that she noticed nothing else, though, as yet, the noise was so slight that it would have escaped the ears of Dinah herself, had she not been quite near it. The colored woman groped around in the dark until her hand rested upon the only chair in the apartment. This she noiselessly placed under the scuttle, and stepped upon it with the same extreme care. Her position was now such that had the door been open and she standing upright, her head, shoulders, and a part of her waist would have been above the roof. She had leaned her gun against the side of the chair, so that, if needed, it was within quick reach. Then she assumed a stooping posture, with her head gently touching the underside of the door, and, steadying herself by grasping the iron hook, she stood motionless and listening. "Yes, _he's dar_!" was her instant conclusion, "and de wiper is tryin' to onfasten de skylight ob my obpartment."