t to warn me.
Yet they don't want to have any Melville eavesdropper seeing them with
me. That's all natural enough, for these Italians have their jobs to
look out for, even if they _do_ hate the rascals who pay 'em wages."

So Captain Jack kept on his way, feeling that any suspicions of the
Italians were unfounded and therefore unnecessary.

David Pollard, after wandering through the grounds around the Farnum
home, that evening, and missing his friend, the owner, at last decided
to go to his own room and read.

Always soft-footed, Mr. Pollard made no noise until he turned the knob
of the door to his room. There was a sudden, scurrying sound inside.
Though he was a man of very nervous temperament the inventor was no
coward. He darted in, in time to see a figure making through the dark
for an open window.

"Who's there Here! Stop!" thundered the inventor, rushing forward.

But the intruder did not obey.

Hidden behind a book in a bookcase was the inventor's revolver. Mr.
Pollard hauled the book out, dropping it, and, in a trice, had the
weapon in his hand, racing again toward the window.

The intruder had gained the ground by the time that Mr. Pollard reached
the window.

"Stop, you thief! Hold up, or I'll shoot!" warned the inventor.

However, the skulker took to his heels. Pollard fired once, the flame
spitting from the muzzle of his revolver. But the figure still continued
in flight, and the inventor realized that there was no further use in
firing.

"That was odd," thought Pollard. "The fellow had on a uniform just such
as our boys wear. If it weren't so absurd, I might be tempted to
believe, despite the darkness, that it was Jack Benson. But _he_ would
have no need to break in here."

Then Mrs. Farnum appeared, with the servants, for the shot had alarmed
the household.

"Have you found that anything is missing from here?" inquired Mrs.
Farnum, while Mr. pollard searched and explained at the same time.

The inventor now halted before his desk, rummaging.

"Yes," he answered, dryly, though with a slight quaver in his voice. "The
thief found and departed with the drawings of a most important new
device, originated by Benson and his friends and finished by myself. I'd
rather lose a large sum of money than those drawings."

At about this time Jacob Farnum was prowling carefully about the spot
that Mr. Emerson had named. He waited there, in hiding, for a long time,
ere Messrs. Melville and E