On hearing Tom shout out to the dog however, a new spasm of alarm caused the thief to struggle still more strenuously. Then the cloth of his trousers gave way, and suddenly the dog fell back to the ground, while the man, with great alacrity, slipped over the top of the high board fence.
The animal commenced to race about shaking the fragment of cloth he still held between his teeth. Tom made for the back gate, threw the bar aside, and ran out. He heard his father calling to him to be careful, but so long as he gripped such a good weapon as that heavy ash bat he had no fear of the result, should he be fortunate enough to overtake the thief.
The dog came rushing after him, and Tom gave the animal an encouraging word. But after all he was doomed to disappointment, for the man had obtained a start of half a minute at least, which was long enough for his purpose.
When Tom heard the familiar throb of a motor working near by he realized that the intruder had come prepared for hasty flight in case of discovery. Then a car sped away with a great roaring of the unmuffled engine.
Keenly disappointed, and yet pleased to know that the would-be robbery had not occurred, Tom retraced his steps. His father met him just inside the grounds.
“Then he got away clean and clear, did he?” asked the gentleman, who of course guessed the state of affairs when he first heard the sound of a speeding car.
“I don’t know about clean and clear, Dad,” Tom told him. “Come here, Duke, and let’s see what you’re shaking so savagely.”
It was only with some difficulty that Tom persuaded the bulldog to let him have the article. He held this up and then laughed.
“Why, it’s pretty nearly the entire seat of a pair of trousers, father,” he explained. “The dog was hanging to him like the pendulum of a grandfather clock, and fighting like everything to drag him down. But the cloth gave finally, which allowed the scamp to tumble over the fence and get away.”
Mr. Raymond took the spoils of Duke’s attack and examined it under the glare of a little hand-electric torch he was carrying with him.