"Oh, friends," he cried between gasps, "you come too late."
"Too late for what, Mr. Moore?"
"To help me, you spalpeens. A big devil, six feet and a half high and a mile broad--I mean a mile high and six feet broad--Oh, a curst big lump of a lad--climbed into the window and laid violent hands on this lady, my future wife, who was here alone--"
"The strange laddybuck," cried Sweeny. "The omadhaun we 're afther now."
"He locked the door so I could n't get in and laid hold of her. Didn't he, Bessie?"
The girl lied shamelessly.
"And I screamed," she finished, glad to add a little truth to her falsehood.
"I kicked in the door and grabbed the villain. Mr. Dyke and I both grappled with him, but he was too much for us and beat us down and leaped out on the roof."
The crowd surged up to the window with a howl of rage, and Buster bobbed into view on a distant gable.
"There he is now," cried Dabble, who was one of the mob.