The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1917-01-01
The Bold Burglar
He VIII Come Along
By and By
By NJ QUAD
Copyright. 1916. by the Mcclure
Newspaper Syndicate
By M. QUAD

One day your house is to come on his
list, and he is ready for you or will be
at midnight, and he has patience until
the hour comes.
The bells are striking midnight-that
Is, II there are any bells to strike.
You are sleeping soundly, but a creak
of a door or the complaint of window
sash being raised reaches your sleep
ing ears and rouses You up. While
you rise up on your elbow to listen
your wife wakes also and asks yot
what is the matter.
You would tell her il you could All
you can reply is that you were awak
ened by strange sounds. and 1t is your
opinion that there is burglar pack
ing up plumber in the rooms below.
"And what are you going to do about
1T" she asks. with gasp in her
throat.
xiii him. you reply in bold Ian.
guage.
She admires your decision. but you
are in no hurry to perform the murder
Jus iCdk- LOu hhON yOd hafC ah
tomato pistol in the house. but just
where 1t is you can't think. You put
It in some placea year or two ago and
have forgotten where.
you take long time to think about
It," says your wife. "If you don't get
up shall"
You shake your finger at your wife
to keep very quiet, and you creep from
your room to the head of the Stair.
You make no more noise than a blast
in the new subway. You think you
see a light in the parlor. You are not
quite sure of it, and as your wife
comes creeping along to learn II you
have killed anybody yet you ask her
opinion about 1t. She replies that 1t
may be light or 1t may not be. She
will go down and investigate and come
back and tell you.
You push her aside and whisper that
you are no coward.
You have got halfway down when
you hear the clink Of knives and forks
and spoons. No cat has any use for
such implements. 1t surely is a bur
| glar. As he takes a drink out of the
bottle Of your port wine you can hear
1t gurgle down his throat. No cat ever
yet drank out of bottle. No cat yet
smacked her lips and uttered an "Umv'
after drinking. There is no longer any
room for doubt. The killing must go
| forward.
"If you are not going to kill him
amw whispers the wife.
You descend another step. 1t sud
denly strikes you that the burglar may
be the father Of seven or eight chill
dren and that 1t will not be the square
thing to hustle him into eternity at a
seconds notice and leave the Riddles
to the mercy of this cruel world. He
should be given chance to reform.
"Hello, old man! Are you coming
downstairs to help me pack up this
plunder?"
| It was the burglar who spoke. and
there was no fear In his tone.
Are you down therer you timidly
inquire.
"Of course sm," he replies. II
have been here about half an hour and
you have heard nothing till Just now.
Won't you come down and greet me? p
IF you don't leave the house will
whistle for the policew
"But you have no whistle. Nc. one
man in a hundred carries one If you
did whistle for the police you would
| get no response from them. 1t is a
rainy night and they are leaning up
against the bars of saloons. You have
no pistol handy and you do not keen
a baseball bat in the house. Besides.
you are not hero. Your wife would
but you wouldn't let her come. Are
you going to stand there all night or
are you coming down here and help
me sort over the silverware? Most of
1t is plated ware, and don't care tn
lug that around with me-"
Richard, ]. will never live another
day with your whispers the wife.
That seems to solve the problem. and
you take seat on the stairs and ex.
claim to the man below:
"Old fellow, l am going to shout
from one Of the front windows. and
! I'll get you sentence Of ten years
If have to sell the house to pay the
lawyerr'
II would IL were you, but you
won't" came the answer, with a laugh
added to it. ''In about ten minutes /
shall be ready to move on, and you
can go back to bed or come down and
talk it over between yourselves. I
hope there will be no family row fol-
lowing this visit Of mine. for 1 have a
conscience about such things. II you
had the common prudence you'd lock
your windows and I should not be
here. All had to do was to raise the
sash. 1t was as easy as eating a ba-
mana I was in your room half an
hour before coming down here. l
think I made thorough job of it. and
l shall not come back under a year. I
cstin tie the value Of the plumber at
about thousand dollars, but you
should explain to the police and the