CHAPTER VI
A THIEF IN THE NIGHT
"Hush!"
"I heard it!"
"Call Nettie!"
"I would have to go out in the hall—the noise was somewhere near the second stairs."
"But I am so frightened—I shall die!"
"No, you won't. Please be quiet! I have the little revolver!"
Cora crept out of bed and left Belle trembling there. She only advanced a few steps when the sounds in the hall again startled her. The stairs certainly creaked. There was no cat, no dog. Some one was walking on those steps.
Cora realized that discretion was the better part of valor. It would be foolhardy to run out in the hall, even with the cocked revolver in her hand. If she could only touch the button of the electric hall light! She stepped out cautiously. Something seemed very near, yet, at that moment, there was no sound, just that feeling of some one near.
She reached her arm out of the door, touched the button, and, in an instant, had flooded the hall with light.
As she did so she saw a man turn and run down the three steps near the window, part way up the stairs.
The window was open! Cora was too frightened to move for a moment, then she raised her revolver, and the next instant the sound of a shot rang through the house.
The man dropped out of the window.
Cora ran to it, looked down, saw the figure on the ground beneath, and fired again, but not at the man.
With a cry the fellow jumped up, and as he hurried away Cora saw that he limped. She must have hit him!
In all this time she could not give a word to the three frightened girls who were screaming and shouting for help. Nettie had run down from the third floor, Belle was threatening to die, and Bess was doing her best to make the boys down at the bungalow hear her cries.
"Did you kill him?" gasped Belle, when Cora finally returned to the bedroom.
"No, indeed, but I guess I hurt him a little. He limped off rather unsteadily. I had no idea of hitting him, but just as I fired toward the window he darted into it. I could not help it. He should have surrendered."
Cora was as pale as death. Her black hair fell in a cloud about her shoulders. She sank into a chair and still held the smoking weapon.
"Put that down!" commanded Nettie.
"Not yet—he might come back," murmured Cora. "There is no reason for you to fear, it is not cocked," and she held up the revolver to prove her words.
"Oh, do put it down!" begged Belle.
"Seems to me you are more afraid of the revolver than of the burglar," remarked Cora. "Do you realize that a man has just jumped out of the window?"
"Of course we do," wailed Bess, "but we don't want any more things to happen, and it's always the perfectly safe, unloaded guns that shoot people."
"Oh, I'll put it away, if you feel so about it," and Cora stepped over to the dresser as she spoke. "I really hope I have not hurt the man very much!"
"Couldn't have, when he was able to get away," declared Nettie. "But I just wish you had! The idea of a mean man sneaking around here! Likely he's taken the silver. I didn't bring it up last night!"
"Well, that was not your fault, Nettie," Bess said. "We had so much excitement last night you are not responsible. Besides, you wanted to go down for it, and I said not to bother. But I hope he didn't take grandma's spoons."
"Let's go down and find out," suggested Cora.
"Oh, mercy, no!" cried Belle, who all the time continued to shiver under the bed clothes. "Let the old silver go—grandma's spoons and all the rest. We may be thankful we are alive."
"But the man is gone," declared Cora. "I saw him go."
"Yes, but there might be another man down stairs. Who knows anything about such persons or their doings?"
"Again I'll agree, if it makes you feel better," replied Cora. "But, you see, mother has been away so much, and Jack is always at college, so that I am rather educated in this sort of thing," and as she glanced at her watch on the dresser the other girls could not help admiring her prudent courage.
"What time is it?" asked Nettie.
"The mystic hour—when we are supposed to be farthest from earth," replied Cora. "Just two."
"There is no use in trying to sleep any more," said Bess. "We might better get up and dress."
"And look like valentines in the morning! No, indeed, I am going to bed," and Cora deliberately dropped herself down beside Belle.
"Oh, Nettie will keep guard," said Bess, apparently disappointed that
Cora should give up her part of the "guarding."
"Strange, the neighbors did not hear the shots," the maid said. "But it is just as well. We might have had to entertain people more troublesome than burglars. I'm going down stairs. I must look about the spoons. Mrs. Robinson will be so angry——"
"You will do nothing of the sort, Nettie!" commanded Belle, sitting bolt upright. "I tell you we must all stick together until morning. I won't consent to any one leaving the room!"
Even Bess laughed, the order was so peremptory. Nettie fussed around rather displeased. Finally she asked if the young ladies wanted anything, and learning that they did not made her way upstairs.
"If you are to stay in this room, Bess," said Cora, "please get some place. I want to put out the light."
"Oh, we must leave the light burning," insisted Belle.
"Must we? Very well," and Cora drew a light coverlet over her eyes. "Good night, or good morning, girls. Let me sleep while I may. Who knows but the officers will be after me in the morning!"
Bess dropped down upon the couch in the corner. Both twins had unlimited confidence in Cora, and as the time wore on they both felt, as she did, that there was no longer need for alarm.
"She's actually asleep," said Belle quietly.
"Good girl," replied Bess. "Wish I was. I hate to be awake."
"But some one has to watch," said the sister.
"What for?"
"He might come back."
"With a ball in his leg, or somewhere? Not much danger. Cora was plucky, and we were lucky. There! a rhyme at this hour! Positively dissipation!"
"I am glad mother was not at home," whispered Belle. "Of course, that was the man who has been sneaking around."
"Likely."
"Did Cora say so?"
"No, not just so, but she said she saw him."
"Do you suppose they will say anything about her shooting him?" (This in a hissed whisper.)
"Belle?"
"What, dear?"
"I must—go to—sleep!"
"Then I must stay awake. Some one has to watch!"