The Japanese came stamping and jabbering around under us, but that didn’t do any particular good that I could see, and after a while they quieted down. I guess they were pretty tired after their day’s work, and wanted a rest. Anyhow, they didn’t bother us again that night.

The first thing Mark had us do was make stronger the fastening of the stairs. It was held by a double wire and a rope. We used up all the wire we had left putting on more fastenings, and when we got through we felt pretty safe for a while. It would take anybody more than a minute to get those stairs down, we were certain.

Now we were so high up they didn’t have any ladders that could reach us, and we didn’t need to bother watching anything but the stairs, so four of us went to sleep while one watched. Plunk was the unlucky one. He drew the shortest stick. He was to watch from nine till twelve, Binney from twelve to three, and Motu the rest of the night. When that was arranged I rolled up in my blanket on the floor and went to sleep.

Maybe you’ll say that wasn’t a comfortable bed, but it suited me. I was perfectly satisfied. The way I felt I guess I’d have been glad to lie down on a pile of cobblestones with a boulder for a pillow. I went to sleep so quick I hardly remember lying down, and I never wiggled till morning. From nine till six I slept and would have been willing to go on for a couple of hours more, but Mark Tidd shook me and yelled in my ear that breakfast was ready, such as it was.

While we were eating I got to thinking about things and says to Mark, “If they find any way to get these stairs down we’re goners, because they can use their movable fort and come prancing right up to us.”

“I’ve b-been calc’latin’ about that fort,” says Mark, “and I guess I wasn’t very smart not to see a way to stop it before. They won’t get us with that thingumbob,” he says.

“How’ll you stop ’em?” says I.

“With that s-scantling we captured. It’s come in handy, ’ain’t it? Got water with it. Now we’ll stop the fort with it.”

“How?”

“Easy. When they s-start up—if they ever do—we’ll just jam one end of our two-by-four against their fort and the other end of it against a step. They’ll have to shove the whole citadel over into the l-l-lake to move. It’ll be just like p-pushin’ against a stone wall.”

“Then what?” says I.

“Then,” says he, “they’ll have to come out and fight. We’ve got better than an even chance there.”

“Where’s the dog?” says I, thinking of him all of a sudden.

Mark shrugged his shoulders. “D-d-down-stairs,” says he. “I left him on p-purpose. If we had him we might use him, and it sort of goes against the grain to be f-fightin’ men with a dog.”

“I’d fight ’em with a crocodile if I had one,” says I, and let it go at that.

“They ought to be projectin’ around pretty soon,” says Binney. “If they leave us alone much longer we’ll get all out of the habit of squabblin’ with ’em.”

“Don’t worry,” says Mark. “We won’t have t-t-time to form any habits. We ain’t apt to have time to spell habit unless we do it two letters at a time.”

“Some one’s down there now,” says Plunk.

“The Man’s b-been lookin’ over our defenses quite a spell,” says Mark. “I’ve noticed him p-p-prowlin’ around.”

“Then,” says Motu, “we may expect a stirring up of something directly.”

Of course, as soon as The Man saw the way we had the stairs fastened up with stout wire he’d know there wasn’t any use trying to cut it with a knife like he did the rope on the stairs below. Likewise, unless he was a better schemer than Mark Tidd he wouldn’t be able to figure out any other place to attack us than right up those stairs. So if he got us there was where he would have to come, and he would have to discover some plan to get down our stairs to climb up.

It might have been easy if he was where he could get tools, but it isn’t customary to leave many valuable tools laying around an abandoned hotel, and he didn’t have very much to work with. I guess he was a bit dubious himself, for he came and stood where we could see him and called up to us:

“Ho! up the stairs,” says he. “I wish to be speaking and talking with you, eh?”

“Go ahead,” says Mark.

“You are tangled up like trap with bunny rabbit in it,” says The Man. “Nobody can go away—not at all by any means. Oh no! You are very fast and tight. Is it not without loud arguments so?”

“We’re p-p-perfectly comfortable,” says Mark. “You haven’t seen us t-tryin’ to go away, have you?”

“You will surrender up voluntary, eh? There has been fight and bickering plenty for everybody. For boys you have fight like bantam rooster. Oh yes, like everything. Now you are finished up, I believe. Yes?”

“Now we are t-through, you b’lieve? No,” says Mark.

“The leetle Japanese boy—the bad, naughty leetle Japanese boy who runnings away from his father—you will now give him to me? In that case of the event nothing shall happen that is not nice. No! no! no! And besides additionally there shall be Christmas gift and handy present for you. Nice, beautiful presents that boys shall like to be owners of.”

“We can wait for Christmas,” says Mark. “We ain’t in any hurry for p-p-presents.”

“Ah, but butter and bread and vittle, eh? There are stomachs that are lonesome for feed. To be certainly sure. There is thirstiness. It is bad and not a pleasant happening to be thirsty. Suppose I am staying here three days, maybe a week? How is that? You will be starving and thirsting. What then? Eh?”

“Mister,” says Mark, “when you’re hungry just s-s-send word. We’ll be g-glad to lend you some grub. We’ve got p-plenty to last till you’re far, far away.”

“You are a pig-head like a mule. You do not listen to commonest sense. No. Must I come to take away the bad leetle Japanese boy?”

“You must if you get him. But so far, lookin’ at it from the p-p-point of view of a man that’s not int’rested, you ’ain’t had much l-l-luck so far.”

“I will buy and paying very generous for the leetle boy. How much?”

“We haven’t any little boys for sale, mister. And now that’ll be about all. This t-truce is over. If you ain’t gone from there by the time I count ten we’ll open f-fire. Git!”

The Man stared up a moment through his one eye-glass and grinned and shrugged his shoulders, but before Mark had counted ten he was out of range.

After that we saw a couple of the enemy go over to the hotel. I expect they were rummaging around for something to use to cut our wire. They must have searched good, for we didn’t see them come back for two hours, and one of them had an ax in his hand.

“Much good that’ll do ’em,” says I. “They can’t reach with an ax.”

“Shucks!” says Mark. “They can p-p-put a longer handle on it, can’t they?”

Which is just what they did. It took quite a while to cut it and get it ready, so that it was after eleven o’clock when they started operations. Then a man came out with the ax on a long handle and commenced chopping at the wire. There was only a crack a couple of inches wide that we could shoot through, and I guess we did............