Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1908-08-27
AFTER THE BURGLAR
WENT THREE HEROIC MEN IN
THE DEAD OF NIGHT.
Ready to Sacrifice Their Lives In De-
tense OF Their Property, They
Advanced on the Marauder
the House Cat.

II was night. Deep, dark night, all
over Reno. including the home of Tom
Ramsey. The darkness In the rooms
of the Ramsey home was so dense it
could have been discovered by bar
keepers convention. Tom Ramsey
discovered 1t as soon as he got home,
but he went to bed just the same, and.
enjoying the possession of a clear con-
science, he went to sleep without loss
of time or anything else. Tom didn't
sleep long, however, Notwithstanding
the clearness Of his conscience. and
when he awoke it was with the well-de-
fined thought that there was some
thing unusual doing In the house.
Cautiously and with stealth he arose
and, securing his trusty automatic
from the refrigerator, and wrapping
his clinging kimono about his shapely
form, he sailed forth from the bed
room into the darkness. now freighted
with lurking, mysterious danger, into
the rooms beyond. First, he awak-
ened his son In low, tense tones, babe
him arise without noise, and arm him
self, because there was an anarchist
in the basement preparing to blow the
house up, or something like that, and,
anyway, 1t was necessary to get
move on.
Mr.. Ramsey, Jr., climbed promptly
out of bed. and arming himself with
miners candlestick of the latest and
most deadly pattern, followed his war
like father forth to the fray.
There was roomer upstairs and he,
too, was served with a notice to come
forth and do battle in defense OF the
house of Ramsey, and hastily drawing
his trousers from the place between
the mattresses, where he kept them
to keep the creases from going away
while he slept, he was soon member
of the now fully assembled army
Hist" came from Ramsey, in low,
vibrating tones which made the hair
on the back Of the roomer's neck turn
its ends upward and his toes curl In
eagerness to be moving (away from
the scene of the threatened carnage),
and in his heart he considered the
question whether or not 1t would not
be best to desert, then and there, and
so avoid taking the life of the man
lurking somewhere in the gloom, all
unknowing, waiting for an awful death.
The son of Ramsey and the roomer
followed the lead of the grizZled vet
audible froufrou of his silk kimono
From room to room the sleuths moved
as silently as the shadows they would
have cast IL there had been any light,
and poked around the corner of every
door jamb in advance OF the party was
the trusty automatic and the deadly
candlestick, and ever and anon came
the threatening chatter of the teeth of
the roomer, who longed for the fray
and CORY glory which was sure to fol
low the onset.
Theer was nothing doing in the an
archist or dynamiter line above stairs,
and then the party silently deployed
on to the floor below, where 1t was
not kept long waiting.
Suddenly, and with appalling noise,
from a far corner of the room came
the sound of the enemy. There was
a splitting sound, followed by
the crash of heavy weight striking
something with great force, followed
in turn by slighter sound from vari-
Gus parts of the room, and the daunt
less three were just on the point Of
opening fire In an attempt to sell
their lives as dearly as possible. when
the roomer and the younger Ramsey
were startled and somewhat relieved
to hear the voice of the older Ramsey
reverberating In clarion tones: "Oh,
fudge, it's only cat"
Silently, and with the gravity be-
coming the release from the necessity
of shedding human blood, the roomer,
Ramsey, and Ramsey junior returned
to the slumber regions above, thinking
of the goodness of providence in spar
ing them from the necessity OF blood