“Do you mean to tell me that first fellow was one of the burglars?” asked the astounded Mr. Buxton.
“As sure as ye are standing there admiring me looks.”
“Confound the rapscallion! I’ll get him yet!” and the irate citizen dashed off with the resolution, to put it mildly, of correcting the error he had made.
CHAPTER XIX
In the Nick of Time
Standing in the darkness of the upper front room, stealthily watching the mysterious stranger on the other side of the street in the shadow of the elm, and knowing that burglars were at work below stairs—the nerves of mother and daughter and of Alvin Landon and Chester Haynes were on edge. Had they peered out of the window less than half an hour earlier they would have seen the meeting between the lookout and young Jim Buxton.
Mike Murphy had slipped so silently from among them that no one was aware of his absence when the bumping and crash at the rear were followed by exclamations and words that were not intelligible. Mrs. Friestone uttered a faint cry and sank back on her chair. Nora screamed and threw her arms about her mother’s neck.