coil of rope inside.

Peggy laughed, “That’s a funny-looking parasol, I must say.”

“I don’t care if it is funny. You walk close to me, and I’ll carry the parasol between us. Now, how’s that?”

“All right, I suppose—only I’m sure Felipe is wondering why we’re not carrying it over our heads as we’re supposed to do.”

With an effort to conceal their amusement, they hurried on past Felipe and up to their room.

Quickly snatching the rope from its hiding place, Jo Ann threw it into her trunk and slammed the lid down with a bang.

“There now—I’m glad that much is done,” she remarked with a sigh of satisfaction. “I hope I don’t have as much trouble using this rope as I’ve had getting it.”

Even as she spoke these words she began thinking of the many problems she still had to solve before she could reach the mysterious window. Would she be able to climb the crude scaffold? How would she be able to fasten the rope after she got to the roof? And how could she manage to do all this without being seen?

All through lunch and later that afternoon during the siesta hour these questions kept racing through her mind.

Just as they had done the day before, Florence and Peggy quickly succumbed to the heavy, drowsy stillness. But not Jo Ann. The harder she tried to sleep, the more wide awake she became.

Finally in desperation she got up and sat gazing out of the window. How could she stand this quiet and inaction so long? Glancing down at her watch, she realized it would be at least an hour before Florence and Peggy were awake.

“Even being outdoors in the hot sun’s better than sitting here doing nothing,” she told herself.

No sooner had this thought entered her mind than she decided to go outside and examine the scaffold on the building at the end of the block.

“It’ll take only a few minutes, and I’ll be back before the girls are awake,” she thought.

Quickly she rose and slipped noiselessly out of the room and past the sleeping Felipe at the head of the stairs. Once outside she hastened on around the corner and looked anxiously down the street to the farther end of the block to see if the scaffold were 

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