The money! The thought came to him like a blow.
Something had happened to the money.
He was out of bed in a jiffy and slipped into his trousers, and, grabbing his revolver from beneath his pillow, he opened the door and walked softly along the hall in his bare feet.
The hall opened into the living room through an arch in which a portière, made of small pieces of bamboo strung together, was hung.
As he looked cautiously into the living room his elbow struck this, and it rattled sharply in the stillness.
He had heard a faint creak, and, as he peeped around the corner of the arch, he saw dimly the figure of a man near the door, evidently just in the act of opening it.
With a succession of noiseless leaps Ted was across the room, and arrived at the door just as it swung open and the man was about to depart.
But Ted was upon his back with the swiftness of a bobcat, and they came together to the floor with? a crash.
The burglar was beneath, but this did not prevent him from fighting with a desperation that lent strength to his already strong and lithe body.
He was slenderer and younger than Ted, who could feel it in the fellow's build as they struggled.