the lane, which would have been the end of everything. When I got
it across, the end caught on the window ledge for about ten
perilous minutes.

I was quite tired out before I got it properly across with two
feet of the end in the other house. I did not at all look forward
to the job of getting it back again after my trip. One plank was
hardly safe, I thought; so I slid a second over it, without much
trouble. It seemed firm enough then for anybody, no matter how
heavy. So carefully I straddled across it, hopping forward a
little at a time, as though I were playing leap-frog. When once I
had started, I was much too nervous to go back. My head was
strong enough. I was well used to being high up in trees. But the
danger of this adventure made me dizzy. At every hop the two
planks clacked together. I could feel the upper plank shaking out
behind me a little to one side of the other. Then a tired
waterman shambled slowly up from the river, carrying his oars. He
passed underneath me, while I was in mid-air. It was lucky for
me, I thought, that few people when walking look above their own
heads. He passed on without seeing me. I waited up aloft till he
had gone, feeling my head grow dizzier at each second. I was, I
trust, truly thankful when I was able to dive down over the
window-sill into the strange house. When I had rested for a
moment, I felt that it was not so difficult after all. "Going
back," I said to myself, "will be much less ticklish." Turning my
head, I saw the eyes of the devil-face glaring at me. They smelt
very strongly of kitchen tallow.

I was not in the least frightened. I crept cautiously along the
floor, on tip-toe, to examine the contrivance. A hollow shaft of