He had likewise disposed of an equally hearty tea; so he was now sleeping soundly--his peaceful slumbers doubtless soothed with sweet dreams in reference to the punishment he intended inflicting on us on the morrow, not thinking for a moment, unhappy dreamer, that the poor birds whom he had, as he imagined, effectually snared and purposed plucking, would by that time, if all went well with our plans, have flown far beyond reach of his nervous arm! The master asleep, we had no fear of interruption from any one else, for the old woman took her repose in the back kitchen, out of earshot of anything happening in the front of the house, and Smiley and the Cobbler were probably snoring away as composedly as their chief in the dormitories above, of which they were in charge; so, Tom and I at once began operations for effecting our "strategic retreat" from the establishment.
The windows of the refectory opened on to a narrow balcony that ran along the front of the house; and these, having heavy wooden shutters, fastened by horizontal iron bars, latching into a catch, we had some little difficulty in opening the one we fixed on for making our exit by, the bar securing it being some height from the floor and quite beyond our reach.
However, as Tom magniloquently quoted, difficulties were only made for brave men--or boys--to surmount.

By lifting one of the forms as quietly as we could close to the window, and standing on this, the two of us managed to raise the iron bar from the catch and let it swing down, although the hinges made a terrible creaking noise in the operation, which we thought would waken Dr Hellyer up.

However, on going to the door to listen again, we heard him still snoring, so we then proceeded to unfasten the window, letting in the cold night air, that made us shiver as it blew into the room from the sea.
It was quite dark when we got outside into the balcony, although we could see a star or two faintly glimmering overhead; while away to the westward, across the common, the red light at the pier-head marking the entrance to the harbour was visible.
Like most watering-places in the "dead season," everybody went to bed early in the terrace; so that, although it could have been barely ten o'clock, not a light was to be seen from the windows of the neighbouring houses.
"Just the night for a burglary!" said Tom with a snigger, on our cautiously looking round us to see if the coast was clear.
"Yes," I chimed in, joyously, "only, we are going to burgle out, instead of breaking in;" and we then both had a hearty chuckle at this little joke.
Still, no time was to be lost, now that we had got so far.

The next thing, therefore, to do, was to descend the balcony; and, here, my happily-thought-of rope ladder came in handily to deliver us from durance vile.
Knotting it securely to the top rail of the balustrade, I gave it a strong tug or two to test its strength, making the balcony shake and tremble with the strain.
"Do you think it will bear our weight ?" asked Tom, anxiously, noticing me do this and feeling the vibratory movement.
"Bear our weight, you shrimp," I rejoined, "why, it would hold forty of us, and Dr Hellyer too!" At this we both sniggered again, suppressing our merriment, however, for fear of being overheard; and then, drawing-to the shutter inside as close as I could, so that it should not show too plainly the fact of its being unbarred, and closing the window itself, which was a much easier task, we prepared to slide down to the pavement below.
"I had better go first," I said to Tom, "I'm the heaviest; so, if I reach the ground all right, there'll be no fear of the rope giving way with you." Tom argued the point, considering that the question was one of honour, like that of leading a forlorn hope; but, on my saying that I had planned the enterprise and thereby was entitled by right to be the first to venture down, quite apart from the fact of my supplying the rope, he yielded gracefully.

Thereupon, without any more fuss, I got over the railings of the balcony, and holding on tightly to the frail cord with both hands, letting my legs drop, and then obtaining a grip below with my ankles, I allowed myself to slide down below, checking the rapidity of my descent by the knots I had previously placed there, a foot or so apart, for this especial purpose.
I swayed round a bit, but the rope held firmly; and in a few seconds I was standing on the steps below, waiting for Tom to join me.
He came down much easier than I did, from the fact of my holding the other end of our improvised ladder, thus preventing it from twirling him about in the same way as it had treated me, causing me almost to feel giddy.
As soon as he stood beside me I coiled up the end of the cord, flinging it back with a dexterous heave, in the way my sailor friend had taught me, over the balcony again, so that the end of it might not be seen hanging down, and so betray us too soon should any passer-by notice it.
"Come on, Tom," I then said, "a long good-bye to the Doctor's, my boy, the blessed place shall never see me again, if I can help it! Let us make for the quay now, and get on board the brig if we can--that is, unless it be too late, in which case we must hide somewhere till the morning." "All right," he replied; and the two of us at once started off at a jog- trot up the terrace and along the road that led into the town.
We were successful so far, but we were almost captured on the threshold of victory through an unforeseen contingency; for, just as we turned round the corner of the terrace by the country inn, or "hotel," which I had noticed on my way from the station when I first arrived at the place with Grimes, the cantankerous old railway porter escorting me to the school, who should we meet point-blank but that identical worthy! He was evidently going home to bed having just been turned out of the inn, which was shutting up for the night.