So he conceived a plan for avoiding the girls in another way.
In the hallway of the left wing, near his door, was a small ladder leading to the second story roof, and a dozen feet from the edge of the roof stood an old oak tree, on the further side of a tall hedge.
Kenneth managed to carry a plank to the roof, where, after several attempts, he succeeded in dropping one end into a crotch of the oak, thus connecting the edge of the roof with the tree by means of the narrow plank.

After this, at first sight of the girls in his end of the garden, he fled to the roof, ran across the improvised bridge, "shinned" down the tree and, hidden by the hedge, made good his escape.
The girls discovered this plan, and were wicked enough to surprise the boy often and force him to cross the dizzy plank to the tree.

Having frightened him away they would laugh and stroll on, highly amused at the evident fear they aroused in the only boy about the place.
Patricia, who was not in the other girls' secret, knew nothing of this little comedy and really disturbed Kenneth least of the three.

But he seemed to avoid her as much as he did the others.
She sooned learned from Oscar that the boy loved to ride as well as she did, and once or twice she met him on a lonely road perched on top of big Sam.

This led her to suspect she had thoughtlessly deprived him of his regular mount.