n Judge Perkins' house and made off with the
silver without being caught. The Judge was in the midst of them, telling
all he knew, so I listened and got the news first-hand. And this is what
he said.

"His wife awoke and thought she heard someone moving around downstairs.
Then she wakened the Judge and they both listened. Yes, there surely was
someone moving cautiously around under them, in the dining-room! Next they
heard whoever it was move to the hall door and begin to mount the stairs.
As the Judge had no fire-arms, he said he picked up a chair and tiptoed to
the head of the stairs, intending to bring it down on the burglar's head
when he came within hitting distance. The hall was as black as your hat
and he could hear nothing now but his wife's frightened whispers, begging
him to come back or the burglar would kill him. Then he heard the
burglar's soft step on the stairs. He had reached the first landing, for
the Judge could tell by the sound of his steps just where he must be. Then
a loud howl rent the air. The burglar had stepped on their pet cat, who
always sleeps on the stair landing!

"This surprised the burglar so that he stepped back, lost his balance and
fell bumpety-bump to the bottom. The Judge rushed back into the bedroom,
lit a candle and, holding it high over his head, hurried down the stairs.
His wife followed behind with a big umbrella clasped in her hand, while
the Judge was armed with a big, black briarwood cane with a silver knob on
the end. And the Judge said that if he ever got a crack at that burglar
with that cane it would split his head open. When they reached the
dining-room, they heard the burglar stumbling down the cellar stairs. They
followed him, but were too late, for as they reached the foot of the
stairs the burglar was just climbing out of a window, the way he had
gotten in, propping it open with an old cane that had a bundle of clothes
tied on the end of it, all done up in a dirty, red handkerchief.

[Illustration: THERE, SURE ENOUGH, WERE FIVE OR SIX LITTLE BOYS AND GIRLS
HAVING A PICNIC

(_Page Thirty-Four_)]

"The minute the Judge got to this part of his story, I left, for at the
mention of the bundle done up in a dirty, red handkerchief on the end of a
cane, I thought of the tramp I had bitten yesterday. I felt sure it was he
that was the burglar. So I determined not to lose any time, but to go over
there and nose around and see if I could not track him by the scent of his