The Argosy for May — page 33: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

220 smith for some moments, a sleep-destroy- ing burglar-alarm went off like the tocsin of an army, and in another in- stant the whole house was lighted as for a festival. The three novices were good runners, and made off across the grounds without minding garden-paths or new flower- ' beds; and it is probable that no harm might have been done, beyond breaking the rest of a sparrow and ruining a good pane of glass, had not a young groom, returning home from a night off in the town, heard the alarm-bell in the house of his master and thrown himself cour- ageously in the path of the fugitives. | He was a brawny lad, ,well able to give an account of himself, and he gave the tallest of the three a sharp tussle for a moment; but one of the ruffian’s com- rades came to his rescue, and quickly rendered the poor groom hors de combat by hammering his head vigorously with a heavy jimmy. When Mr. Thorley ran out with a number of his male guests, the inter- lopers were far away, and the groom lay there, his face turned up to the moon, with a fractured skull. A motor - car was quickly brought from the garage, and he was hurried to the hospital in the town; but he died without regaining consciousness. There was little sleep in the house after that; some of the women were hysterical and required medical attend- ance, and the men sat up and smoked and talked of various methods of run- ning the bandits to earth. The alarm was telegraphed to all the neighboring towns, and it was decided that as soon as day dawned the men would start out under the leadegship of a deputy sheriff and scour the country- side. It seemed very probable that the ruffians would hide near by until oppor- tunity offered an easy escape out of the region. As the gray light came in at the win- dows, the men proceeded to arm them- selves with care; the gun-room was de- pleted of shotguns, and Thorley scraped up a revolver or two. “Where is Singleton?” he inquired. “Gone back to bed,” sniffed Brooks with contempt. “ But I am sure he intends to go with THE ARGOSY. you,” protested Ethel Thorley in defense of the absent. “Call Mr. Singleton,” sourly to a servant. Presently the man returned and re- ported that Mr. Singleton was dressing, and would join the party in a half-hour. ‘““He seems indifferent to work of this sort,” remarked Brooks, with a side glance at Miss Thorley. “Never mind,” said her father, ‘‘ we will start without him, and he can join us at his pleasure.” When Singleton came down - stairs Miss Thorley greeted him rather coldly. “They have started,” she told him, “and father said you might follow if you cared to.” “Oh, well, now, isn’t that too bad?” said Singleton calmly. “I didn’t know there was such a rush. And they’ve taken all the artillery with them, [ll wager.” “Must you be armed caf-a-pie to hunt for a few footpads?” asked the girl with some acidity. 3 , Why, no,” laughed Singleton. “I wonder that they cared to go out like a squad of musketeers. I shall be satis- fied with one of those stout sticks in the hall-rack; my own is rather light for a combat.” He lighted a cigarette and chose the heaviest stick in his host’s collection; then he sauntered forth to trail the posse. The neighborhood was thoroughly aroused by the cruel death of the groom, and most of the men were assisting in the search; so Singleton had some dif- ficulty in getting information as .to the direction the party had taken; but soon he got a general idea of their proposed route, and calculated that he might, by fast walking, come up with them in half an hour. Over the hills he strode, paying little heed to the quest of the robbers, as the posse had already covered the ground. As he gained a high eminence he saw on the next hilltop, outlined against the sky, several figures: They seemed to pause for a while, and then took up the march and came toward him, evidently retracing their steps. He at once started down the hilly road to meet them in the valley. said the host be MICLOOOLK (C@