The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1891-10-01
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BILLY, THE BURGLAR.


What Came of a Careless Boys Neglect
Midnight Marauders and How They
We're Elected.
The big clock in the old farm house
sitting-room was never in hurry.
When it struck nine on the evening of
the burglary it did SO in q calm, DELHI
crate way, as if it knew that it had a
whole hour for the performance. As
the last stroke died away Farmer Ma
nard raised his eyes, looked thought
fully at the clock and removed his
glasses. The family knew the signal.
1t meant ''bed time"
ibid you fasten the kitchen door
when you came in, WHIP" asked Mr..
Manard.
Yep" answered win.
yep" was Wills way of saying Eyes.
SIR" 1t didn't sound very polite. but
perhaps no one had ever told him so.
Are you sure:" asked his father.
Yep Member hooking it as plain
as can be-
Half an hour afterwara everyone was
in bed and the house was dark ar
silent. Out in the sitting-rooY I e
clock licked thoughtfnliy. End f.om
time TO time solernnly tolled the '.our,
and the mice scrabbled and sgIeaked
in their haunts behind the plastering.
but such sounds as these seemed only
to make the night stiffness the deeper.
Ten o'clock. eleven o'clock, twelve
o'clock pass. and then another hour.
'O-n-e," says the clock, and the mice
squeak in answer. But there is an
other sound. Footsteps on the porch.
They pass softly across it: then one Of
the windows rattles. At last they
leave the porch and go around to the
kitchen door. Some one fumbles with
the latch for moment, and then the
door swings open.
All, viii Manard, you did not hook
that door after all, though you did say
yep" with such assurance. Now,
judging by the sounds, two somebodies
enter the kitchen. From the kitchen
they pass into the pantry and all is
still again. "Tick-tick-tick," says the
clock in the room beyond. What can
the burglars be doing in the pantry?
viii they never come out?
Crash
Mr.. Manard breaks right of In the
middle of huge snore and sits up in
bed. Was that the noise of falling tin
ware or did he dream it? Mrs. Manard
awakes and listens too. But everything
is still.
"You ate too much of that chicken
pie, ALI. 1t has given you bad dreams"
says Mrs. Manard, going to sleep again.
But Mr.. Manard is too nervous to do
more than doze.
What was that? A noise in the sitting
room this time. Mr.. Manard is wide
awake once more and listening with
strained ears. He touches his wife.
"What?" asks she, in a loud voice.
''Sh-h-h-h!" warns her husband.
.'What's the matter, Alf?'
''Sk-h-h!" is the only answer. Then
Mr.. Manard slips out of bed and creeps
oftly to the corner of the room where
he keeps his shotgun. The gun is not
'oaded. but he forgets all about that.
Out into the sitting-room goes Mr..
Nanard, his good wife close at his
reels. As they enter the room there is
soand like someone running against
chair in the darkness. "Who is there?"
demands Mr.. Manard.
ANSWER before we break your
eads," adds another voice. and beside
him stand the hired man and viii.
''Re careful" whispers the former,
there are two of them. Will and /
have been awake and listening for some
time, and thought we had better come
down stairs and investigate"
o. if that gun were only loaded! But
Mr.. Manard suddenly remembers it is
not.
Again slight noise. With a chair
raised over his head the hired man
starts for the kitchen, from which the
sound now comes. A moment moro
and there is a cry of anguish. 20, they
have got me! They are killing me, he
bowls. His friends rush to the rescae,
and Mrs. Manard, trembling vita fear,
raises above her head the candle
which she has at last succeeded in
lighting. 1t flares and fickers in the
draft but its light is sufficient to show
them the retreating form of the hired
man as he makes his way swiftly
through the woodshed beyond and out
into the open air. But before they can
see more, Mrs. Manard is attacked from
behind and thrown violently forward.
Her light goes out and she falls against
somebody. 1t is only Will; but she,
surprising it is one of the burglars,
screams with fright. In a panic, they
all rush for the woodshea, eager to get
out of the house. for the darkness there
is full of unknown terrors.
But if there are terrors behind there
are terriers before also. As they all
tumble recklessly into the woodshed the
air is filled with snorts and grunts and
queer hoarse barkings, and immediate
" the open doorway is full of pigs.
One big mother hog slips through.
then another. and then the doorway is
crammed with pigs-struggling, squeal-
ing, half-grown little fellows-each try
ing to escape first. Mrs. Manard screams
again. Mr. Manard shouts: "Whee,
there" Will laughs and the hired man
swears. When the last little pig is out
the door is slammed shut; the candle is
again secured and lighted, and there in
the middle of the kitchen floor, watch
ing them all, stands Billy. Who is Billy?
Why, the burglar. of course; Billy, the
goat. And over in the corner stands
his brother Jim.
Jim is peaceable little fellow. and
is very anxious to depart, but not SC
Billy. He has been having lots OF fun