look at it; but you'd better run along now. This is private property, you
know."

"Thanks for the hint," he remarked. "But on a night when moons hang in
trees you can't expect me to be scared away so easily. And besides, I'm
an outlaw," he ended in a tone meant to be terrifying.

She betrayed neither surprise nor fear, but laughed and uttered a
"Really!" that was just such a "really" as any well-bred girl might use
at a tea, or anywhere else that reputable folk congregate, to express
faint surprise. Her way of laughing was altogether charming. A girl who
donned a clown's garb for night prowling and manufactured moons for her
own amusement could not have laughed otherwise, he reflected.

"A burglar?" she suggested with mild curiosity.

"Not professionally; but I'm seriously thinking of going in for it. What
do you think of burgling as a career?"

"Interesting--rather--I should think," she replied after a moment's
hesitation, as though she were weighing his suggestion carefully.

"And highway robbery appeals to me--rather. It's more picturesque, and
you wouldn't have to break into houses. I think I'd rather work in the
open."

"The chances of escape might be better," she admitted; "but you needn't
try the bungalow down there, for there's nothing in it worth stealing. I
give you my word for that!"

"Oh, I hadn't thought of the bungalow. I had it in mind to begin by
holding up a motor. Nobody's doing that sort of thing just now."

"Capital!" she murmured pleasantly, as though she found nothing
extraordinary in the idea. "So you're really new at the game."

"Well, I've _stolen_ before, if that's what you mean, but I didn't get
much fun out of it. I suppose after the first fatal plunge the rest will
come easier."

"I dare say that's true," she assented. There was real witchery in the
girl's light, murmurous laugh.

It seemed impossible to surprise her; she was taking him as a matter of
course--as though sitting on a wall at night, and talking to a strange
young man about stealing was a familiar experience.

"I've joined Robin Hood's band," he continued. "At least I've been adopted
by a new sort of Robin Hood who's travelling round robbing the rich to pay
the poor, and otherwise meddling in people's affairs--the old original
Robin Hood brought up to date. If it hadn't been for him I might be cooling
my heels in jail right now. He's an expert on jails--been in nearly every
calaboose in America. He's tucked me un