“Oh, you may fall out,” moaned Nora, scarcely responsible for what she said. Even in the crisis of a tragedy a vein of comedy will sometimes intrude itself.
“Have no fear of that,” replied Alvin. “I will hold Chester from tumbling out and he will do the same for me. Pray, compose yourselves.”
During this brief absence Chester had threaded his way past the furniture in the darkness to the window, out of which he was gazing on a most interesting moving picture which had vanished when Alvin appeared at his elbow.
“It made my blood tingle,” said Chester. “I was just in time to see a man, who must have leaped out, running for life with Mike in pursuit. He had that old gun in one hand—as if it could prove of any earthly use to him.”
“Where are they now?”
“The fellow, after leaping the fence, turned to the right and disappeared among the shadows.”
“With Mike still chasing him?”
“As hard as he could run, but you know he hasn’t much speed.”
“I wonder,” whispered Alvin, “whether there are any more of them downstairs.”
They stepped noiselessly to the head of the steps and listened. Everything was so quiet that they heard the ticking of the clock on the wall of the store.