With caution, the two cadets moved around the now semi-dark belfry. At every step the glass crunched under their feet. “With the ring gone we can’t get any hold on the trap door,” sighed Pepper. “Jack, it looks as if we were booked to stay here for some time.” “That’s so. But don’t you think the others will come to our aid, if we don’t get back to the Hall soon?” “Maybe—but they may wait longer than we want them to.” “Wonder if we can’t climb down from the outside? We could use the bell rope.” The boys approached the window into which the moonlight was streaming and peered out. All they could see was the church roof and the roadway some distance from the building, for the edge of the roof cut off a sight of the ground directly below. “I think I’ll try the rope,” said Jack. “If we only had Andy along he’d go down the rope like a monkey,” returned Pepper, remembering Andy Snow’s acrobatic cleverness. The bell rope ran from the bell down through a hole in the floor to the lower vestibule of the church. The boys pulled on it and it came up a length of probably sixty feet. Then it stuck fast. “Must be a knot in it, too big to slip through the hole,” was Pepper’s comment, after both had pulled with all their might. “I reckon there is enough of it anyway,” answered the young major. “We’ll cut it off and try it.” “If we do that we may have to pay for a new rope.” “Oh, the rope can be spliced. Maybe it’s spliced already.” Jack got out his knife and the rope was soon cut in two. They heard the lower end drop down to a flooring below. Making certain that the top end of the rope was well secured to the bell, so that it could not break away, and testing the strands to see if they would sustain his weight, Jack, aided by Pepper, lowered the rope out of the front window, first, however, putting several knots in it. It slid down over the edge of the roof and both boys kept lowering it until there was no more to pay out. “Now for the great climb!” exclaimed the young major of the Putnam Hall cadets. “If I get down safely, Pepper, I’ll be up in a jiffy and open that trap door for you.” “Be careful, Jack. I rather hate to see you trust yourself on that rope.” “Oh, I guess it is safe enough—and I’ve gone down on a rope in the gym many a time, as you know.” With caution Jack climbed out of the belfry window and took hold of the rope. Then down he went, hand under hand, with his legs twisted around the rope at the same time. Pepper watched him with keen interest and almost held his breath as he saw his chum disappear over the edge of the broad-guttered roof. “He’ll have a pretty big drop I’m thinking, if that rope doesn’t reach,” mused The Imp, as he waited in the belfry. “We ought to have measured the rope—to see how long it was. Maybe it won’t come to within twenty feet of the ground.” Several minutes passed—they seemed hours to Pepper—and he waited anxiously for some call from his chum. “Jack! Are you down?” he cried finally.