Taking one end of the rope, he pulled it until the other passed round the bar and fell at their feet.

All three were barefooted, and they stole noiselessly across the yard to the seat, which was nearly opposite their window.

Vincent had already fastened his clasp-knife to the end of the string, and he now threw it over the wall, which was about twenty feet high.
He had tied a knot at forty feet from the end, and, standing close to the wall, he drew in the string until the knot was in his hand.

Another two yards, and he knew that the knife was hanging a yard from the ground against the wall.

He now drew it up and down, hoping that the slight noise the knife made against the wall might aid Dan in finding it.