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A BOY BABY'S LIFE. 81
feet in loops in the bobs, the strong wind lifted him
and the kite up over the moat and near the tower's
the hand-cart so that the
top. Skillfully working
kite would gradually come near the golden grampus,
without swinging the man too violently against the
roof or sides, the robbers succeeded. The burglar,
anchoring his kite fast to the flukes of the fish, was
soon at work trying to wrench off the golden plates.
This he found no easy task. The goldsmiths had
riveted the plates so securely that it was difficult to
pry off the soft, tough metal. He did not dare to
use chisel and hammer, for that would make a clinking
noise and arouse the guards. After hours of
work, he had torn off only two plates hardly fifty
dollars' worth of gold for all his trouble.
Meanwhile it was getting near daylight ; the cold
wind nearly froze his blood, and almost blew him off
the gable, and the next to the worst now happened.
The kite broke its fastenings, and went off dancing in
the air far away. As it was disappearing, the robber
could see a white sheet of paper moving up the
string which he took to be a signal from his accomplices
below, on the other side of the moat.
This was indeed the fact : the men at the hand-cart
had seen the gleam of a lantern in one of the lower
stories of the tower, under the golden grampus, and,
had sent him a signal to retreat and give up the job.
The guards had been awakened, and their suspicions
roused. In short, the robbers were detected. The
man who had climbed into the air on a kite was condemned
to die by being thrown into a caldron of