“Wait,” said he. “The string’s here. Stand back. I want to see where it goes to.” The boys fell back now in greater excitement than ever. The string was a common piece of twine. Bruce followed it, and found that it went across to the side of the cupola, facing their end of the building, and then it was passed through a crevice close to the floor, and passed outside. But where? Bruce pulled the string. The other end was fastened; but by the resistance he could tell that it ran for a long distance. “There’s only one place that it goes to, of course,” said Bart, “and that is Pat’s room. But why in the world he should get up this, passes my comprehension. We’ll have to teach him a lesson, boys.” XIX. _A puzzling Position.--How to meet the Emergency.--A strange Suggestion.--Diamond cut Diamond, or a Donkey in a Garret.--Surprise of Jiggins on seeing the Stranger.--The fated Moment comes.--The Donkey confronts the Garret Noises.--The Power of a Bray._ THE boys remained in the cupola for some time longer. Once Bruce had the satisfaction of feeling the string become suddenly tight in his hands. He held it thus for a moment, as though to assure himself of the fact and then gave it a sudden pull. It yielded! The whole string was in his hands. Bruce fell down on the floor, and his whole frame shook with smothered laughter. “What in the world’s the matter with you, Bruce?” cried Bart. “The string! ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! The string!--ha, ha!--The string!” “The string? Well, what about the string?” “Why, I’ve got it. I felt it grow tight,--ha, ha, ha!--and I gave it a jerk,--ha, ha, ha!--and it came,--ha, ha, ha, ha!--and now Pat’s wondering what’s become of it,--ha, ha, ha, ha!--and he’s thinking that the ghost he was shamming must be a real one, after all!” Either Bruce’s laughter was contagious, or else the boys saw something irresistibly funny in Pat’s supposed consternation at losing the string; but whatever was the cause, the boys burst forth also into fits of laughter, which, however, they tried to smother as well as they could. And now the question was--what to do. At first they were going to take the string away, but they finally decided to leave it just as it was, so as to see what Pat would do under the circumstances. After coming to this conclusion, they decided to go to bed for the night, and defer any further consideration of the subject till the following day, when they would feel fresher and less fatigued. So they descended once more, and separated for the night.