kin' in a house with
comfort when there's such a young one about. I'll tell you what it is,
all your burglar-alarms and your dogs ain't worth nuthin' alongside of a
baby for guardin' a house. If a cracksman ain't careful the alarms will
go off, and if he don't know how to manage dogs, the dogs will bark. But
by George, sir, there ain't no providin' ag'in a baby. He'll howl any
time, and nobody can tell when, so I waited till your baby was a little
more settled in its ways and slept soundly, and then we come along, and
here we are."

This statement very much surprised me, and did not elate me. Without
saying so to any one, I had flattered myself that the burglars had heard
of my precautions, and of my excellent stock of firearms, and perhaps
had got a notion that I would be an intrepid man to deal with, and it
was somewhat humiliating to find that it was our baby the burglars were
afraid of, and not myself. My wife was amazed.

"Can it be possible," she said, "that these people know so much about
our baby, and that George William has been protecting this house?"

"It makes my flesh creep," said Aunt Martha. "Do you know everything
about all of us?"

"Wish I did, ma'am," said the stout burglar; "wish I'd known about that
beastly liquor."

"Well, we've had enough of this," said I, rising; "and, my dear, you and
Aunt Martha must be ready to go to bed, and David and I will keep guard
over these fellows until morning."

At this instant the youngest burglar spoke. His face wore a very anxious
expression.

"May I ask, sir," he said, "what you intend to do with me in the
morning?"

"I have already said," I answered, "that I shall then hand over all of
you to the officers of justice of this country."

"But, sir," said the young man, "you will surely except me. I am not at
all concerned in this matter, and it would be of the greatest possible
injury to me to be mixed up in it, or to be mentioned in public reports
as an associate of a criminal. I'm not acquainted with the gentleman at
the other end of the bench, but I have every reason to believe from what
he said to me that he intended to notify you if this James Barlow
proceeded to any open act. For myself, I beg you will allow me to state
who and what I am, and to tell you by what a strange concatenation of
circumstances I happen to find myself in my present position--one which,
I assure you, causes me the greatest embarrassment and anxiety."

"We've had enough stor