“I could not have been; the sound of the raising of the window was too distinct for me to be deceived—hark!” she warned again.
This time all heard something. It was a faint, rasping noise such as might have been caused by the cautious pushing of a box or large smooth object over the floor. If this were so, the article could not have been moved more than a few inches, for the sound ceased immediately.
“You are right,” said Alvin; “you have visitors. About what time do you suppose it is?”
“The clock struck twelve quite awhile ago. There! it is now one,” she added as a silvery tinkle came from the parlor.
“What shall we do?” asked Nora, echoing the question that was in the mind of every one.
And then a strange council was held in a place so dark that all who took part were mutually invisible.
It would seem that the common sense course was to make a noise that would be heard by the burglars and would scare them off. That is to say that theoretically this would occur, but it might not. Knowing how much loot was within their reach, if not already in hand, one or two of them were likely to hurry upstairs and compel those that were there to hold their peace, hesitating at no violence to enforce their orders.
While the boys were eager to take the risk, the mother would not agree and the plan had to be abandoned.
The next proposal was for each to thrust his or her head out of a window and call for help. The cry would rouse the village and it would not take long for many citizens to rush thither. Beartown had no police force, the only officer of the peace being a constable who was lame and cross-eyed and lived at the farthest end of the village. No dependence could be placed on him, but there were plenty of others who would gladly hasten to the help of mother and daughter.
This was the only thing to do, and it would have been done but for the hysterical opposition of Nora Friestone. She declared that the dreadful robbers—she was sure of it—would hurry upstairs the instant the first scream was made and kill every one before any help could arrive! It might not take more than five or ten minutes for friends to run to the spot, but that would be enough for the burglars to complete their awful work.