The Worthington advance., 1900-09-14


and low murmuring was like moth
ing more than the whisperings Of hid
den human beings.
Beatrice shook herself and remem-
tbered her errand. Partly to help her
cousin and partly for her own alnuse-
ment she had planned to masquerade
as burglar to arouse the unconscious
Jack and to test his courage. In the
light Of day it was splendid project,
with countless opportunities for harm
less fun. But here, in the dark and
silent library, at one o'clock in the
morning, it was cruelty unromantic.
Creak, creak! This time it was no
fancy, for the library window was be.
ing forced open, and through the
blinds came the occasional fash Of q
lantern. In . moment Beatrice was
on the alert. OF sudden it dawned
upon her that instead of timorous
mock burglar the unfortunate Ja:k
might have to deal with q gang of
hardened criminals, and the probable
result of such an encounter would 30
upset arrangements that Mary would
in future thank her to leave her at.
fairs alone. So the little joke had de.
veloped into huge tragedy, and Jack
must not be sacrificed. Even in the
hour Of danger she could not repress
q smile al she thought how the papers
would make such q sensation of the
affair. No; Beatrice dec1aed that it
should Eot be. And so Jack slept on,
unconscious of the opportunities fos
distinction that awaited him down.
stairs.
In the meantime, the enterpsising
young lady with the smudgy face and
ragged clothes had seized an old duel
ing pistol and intrenched herself in
the rear OF the sofa, from which she
could obtain an uninterrupted view of
the proceedings within the room.
There she propped herself up, with
one arm extending over the back OF
the sofa, pointing an unloaded pistol
in menacing manner. and there she
meant to fight and die, as she had
heard her uncle tell Of brave men in
the trenches, for it was q desperate
matter now, and it was scarcely real
liable that such terrible plight could
ever have originated in harmless lit
tie joke.
A man crept stealthily into tho
toom through the half-open window
and cast the light of his lantern in all
directions. Then, upon a sign that all
was right, another long-legged villain
followed, and the two conferred in
muffled tones. Then they carefully
shut the window, closed the shutters,
lit the gas and pounced upon the safe.
That was Beats opportunity.
"Hands up!"
II an electric wire had been connect
ed with the automatic figures, and q
button had been pressed, the upper
limbs could not have responded more
promptly than did the hands of those
two desperate burglars. Scared and
baffled as they were, they staggered
round on their heels, to discover the
source of that sudden command, and
encountered the frowning muzzle Of a
pistol. It was enough. The younger
man groaned and the older one said
something beneath his breath.
Five minutes passed, and not word
was spoken. Two pairs of hands still
moved aloft and two pairs of cowed
eyes fearfully watched the, muzzle Of
the pistol. But. it never moved. The
aim was deadly! - . ~
"'Urry up; guv'nor!" st last groaned
the younger man. Ring for the serv-
ants, or what yer like, only don't let
us get cold in our armpits!"
In support of which the older man
again swore, but the victorious one
said nothing. Only the pistol contin-
ued to frown threateningly.
Two more minutes that seemed like
hours to the captured men passed by,
and the older burglar. commenced to
swear more loudly. The younger man
also began to Indignantly assert his
rights to humane treatment, and mat
ters were just becoming strained when
the door opened, and poker, followed
by the white face of Jack Winchfield,
appeared upon the scene.
It was the first time Jack had taken
an active part in burglary case, and
he was considerably nonplussed to find
two hard-featured villains straining
their arms to the ceiling at sight of
common domestic poker. But he
concluded it must be the usual thing
among such gentry, and his face re-
gained some of its color as he took
the cord from his dressing gown and
requested one of the men to hold down
his hands to be bound, which he did
with grateful glance. A curtain cord
served for the other, and the two soon
stood side by side, trussed like cock
erels.
"Now, then, guv'nor, tell the bloke
behind the sofy to shift that pistol.
I don't like til" exclaimed one.
"Pistol? What pistol?''
Jack looked round in the direction
indicated, and staggered back as he
encountered the frowning muzzle. The
idea suddenly occurred to him that
this was another burglar in hiding, and
that he had been outaanked, as the
colonel would probably have called it:
But as he moved, the pistol held stead
fastly in its place, and at last he ma