Evening star., 1902-01-04
HIS MIDNIGHT vlsiToRl

HtS hmtONl0ut viOit ON
| A 16tff street man and his wife were upon
the point of retiring the other night when
| the wife suddenly bethought her of the pet
/ dog of the household, a well-behayed Skye
my dear" she said, 'I believe Dixie is
stfll out.
I'll go down and let the little beggar In,
said the man.
He looked around for match, but
couldn't find one, and so he CROPPED his way
down the dark stairs in his pajamas. All
| the gas in the lower part of the house had
been turned cut, but the man knew the lay
of his establishment pretty well, and he
| had no trouble in feeling his way to the
Kitchen door. He opened the door of the
Kitchen and whistled in the inky darkness
| for the dog. He whistled for some time
| before he heard the scuffling of dog feet
| on the back steps.
Come on In here, you nuisance said the
man, yawning sleepily, holding wide the
| door as he heard the scraping patter of
canine paws on the wooden steps. The ami
| NAL brushed by him into the dark kitchen,
| ana the man locked the kitchen door and
returned to the bedroom upstairs. The cou-
PIE turned in and were sound asleep within
fifteen minutes
| The man was awakened in the middle of
| the night by being prodded in the small of
John" his wife whispered to him in an
| stairs"
That SOP he inquired, sleepily. "An
rlght. Let en- Don't be inhospitable,"
| ana he rolled over to rest the other side
But, my dear" she insisted, prodding
him again to keep him awake, you really
must wake up. l am frightened half to
death. / have been listening to somebody
moving around in the parlor for the past
fifteen minutes
Go to sleep. You're dreaming. Nobody
down there. If there was ANYBODY down
there wouldn't Dixie be kicking up a racket
that could be heard over in Anacostia. You
ought to stop eating fruit cake just before
coming to bed. anyhow
Inen he gave his pillow thump, deposit
ed his head in the indentation. and was
snoring half moment later. 1t seemed to
him as If he had only been slumbering for
two seconds when his wife prodded him
awake again
John, she calculated hoarsely, 1T shall
go mad and my hair will turn white if you
doh wake up and do something. Sh-sh!
Hark! Don't You hear that?"
re uio near 1t, and he sat up straight in
bed, this time very much awake, indeed.
I Whffe his Wife was talking there had been
an unmistakable noise from the parlor be-
low as or the overturning Of a chair.
BJ Jea, l believe you're right" said the
man, then hopping out of bed Some
Things coming off down there, all right. L
guess the burglar person must have stran-
6iCo VI olNeFWlSe slaughtered DlXle. Wait ii
ma my vest and get a match out of it
ana III crawl down and see what's happen
ing
She began to entreat him not to thus take
ms lie into his hands, under which cir
cumstances, of course he had to exhibit all
OF the bravery that was in him. He found
match and lit the gas, and got his re-
volver out of the bureau. The sound as of
somenody walking around down below was
plainly audible. With his pistol in his
hand he threw open the bed room door and
gaZed over the banisters.
say, you, down there he called out,
Just step out into the hall, will you and
let me puncture you up few times, hey?'
There was no reply, but the sound as OF
somebody walking around in the parlor
continued.
by George deaf burglarr' said the
man to his wife. But if he's deaf, L Won
der how he heard Dixie's barking before
he choked the dog to death?"
He lit the hall gas against the protest of
MS Vile, and once more he called over the
banisters.
Hey, you nocturnal person." he said, Cd
dressing the suppositltious burglar, "go
anyway, won't you, like good fellow and
all will be forgiven
The prowling sound still came UP from
the parlor. and then the man, holding his
pistol at an aim in case of an emergency,
started down the stairs He struck a match
as he went, and when he reached the first
floor helit the downstairs hall gas
He had scarcely done so before dog,
ABOUT the Size or young camel, emerged
from the pariDr. wagging his tail indus
triously, and looking up at the man with
great interest and affection. The dog look
ed something like a wolfhound, and the
man swears that the canine was SO near
four feet in height that there was no fun
in it. The man sat down on the bottom
stair and laughed loud and long, Then he
illuminated the parlor and found marks OF
the dog all over the room-chairs and
tabourets overturned, the signs of muddy
paws on the lounge cover, and a general
litter.
In the darkness of the kitchen he had let
this dog, that had sneaked into the yard
through the open back gate, into his DOM
icile instead of the pampered Dixie. The
latter animal was found by the man curied
up on the back stoop shivering from the
cold and looking very much aggrieved
when he was admitted. The big dog had
to be coaxed out Of the house by means OF
ham bone, and when the man got him
out into the yard he threw humps of coal
at him and thus persuaded him out of the
gate.
The 18th street mans wife let's Dixie In
herself now O. nights. She fears that il
she intrusted him with the job her husband
would be admitting an escaped elephant
into their home some fatal night