te.

"Fer, fer, fer breakin' the speed limit; fer, fer--yez made an
arrest?"

"Exactly! He was going so slow he deserved to be arrested, and what's
more, he was making love to a pretty girl without shame. I got in and
told him to drive me to the station."

Phelan threw up his hands with a groan.

"An' did yez take him to the station?"

"How could I?" chuckled Gladwin. "I didn't know where it was--that is,
your station--so I told him most any would do. We rode about a bit and
as he didn't seem anxious to be locked up, I compromised for fifty
dollars. It was really quite simple, Phelan, and if I'd only had more
time I might have got back that five hundred."

[Illustration: "GIVE ME ME UNIFORM AN' LET ME GIT OUT OF HERE."]

"You've lost me me job--that's what you've done!" moaned Phelan, while
his brain reeled with pictures of police headquarters, trial rooms and
ruthless commissioners. "Come, give me me uniform," he cried, with a
sudden accession of passion.

"What's that?" asked the young man, quickly, his grin vanishing.

"Me uniform!" rasped Phelan, with a rush toward the young man. "Give
me me uniform an' let me git out of here."

Gladwin dodged around the table, protesting:

"No, no--not yet. The burglar--that is, my friend--will be here any
moment."

"Your friend?" Phelan stopped, again a prey to bewilderment.

"Yes, yes--I explained all that before. The one I'm playing the joke
on. You don't suppose I'm going to take it off now, do you?"

"Yez can bet your life, yez are," roared Phelan, with another savage
rush round the table. "I've had enough of this, an' too much!"

"Now, just a minute," pleaded Gladwin. "I assure you everything is all
right, and I'm not going to leave the house again. If anything happens
so you need your uniform I'll be right here where you can get it. I'm
not going to leave the house. Tell me, where's Barnes?"

"Who?" said Phelan, more calmly, and pausing in his pursuit.

"My friend--the one I left here."

"I dunno--there was a ring at the bell here a while ago and in come a
wild woman and"----

"Great Scott! I hope my friend wasn't scared off! If that fellow was
to meet her here at 10.30--why, it's after that now!"

"Here! Phelan, quick--help me put these covers on the chairs and
things. Over there in the corner, back of the chest. He mustn't know
that anybody's been here. Hurry, man; hurry! we haven't a second to
spare."

Phelan submitted to the breathless commands