Meanwhile, Mr. Peterkin, Agamemnon, and Solomon John had
been bringing together their carpenter's tools, and Elizabeth Eliza
proposed using a gouge, if they would choose the right spot to
begin.

The little boys were delighted with the plan, and hastened to
find,­one, a little hatchet, and the other a gimlet. Even Amanda
armed herself with a poker.

"It would be better to begin on the ground floor," said Mr.
Peterkin.

"Except that we may meet with a stone foundation," said Solomon
John.

"If the wall is thinner upstairs," said Agamemnon, "it will do as
well to cut a window as a door, and haul up anything the butcher
may bring below in his cart."

Everybody began to pound a little on the wall to find a favorable
place, and there was a great deal of noise. The little boys actually
cut a bit out of the plastering with their hatchet and gimlet.
Solomon John confided to Elizabeth Eliza that it reminded him of
stories of prisoners who cut themselves free, through stone walls,
after days and days of secret labor.

Mrs. Peterkin, even, had come with a pair of tongs in her hand.
She was interrupted by a voice behind her.

"Here's your leg of mutton, marm!"