nd it set me to shivering.
"No more of that, George," said Sperry calmly and cheerfully. "This is a
quiet neighborhood, and we don't like shooting. What is more, my friend
here is very expert with his own particular weapon, and at any moment he
may go to the fire-place in the library and--"
I have no idea why Sperry chose to be facetious at that time, and my
resentment rises as I record it. For when we reached the yard we heard
the officer running along the alley-way, calling as he ran.
"The fence, quick," Sperry said.
I am not very good at fences, as a rule, but I leaped that one like a
cat, and came down in a barrel of waste-paper on the other side. Getting
me out was a breathless matter, finally accomplished by turning the
barrel over so that I could crawl out. We could hear the excited voices
of the two men beyond the fence, and we ran. I was better than Sperry at
that. I ran like a rabbit. I never even felt my legs. And Sperry pounded
on behind me.
We heard, behind us, one of the men climbing the fence. But in jumping
down he seemed to have struck the side of the overturned barrel.
Probably it rolled and threw him, for that part of my mind which was not
intent on flight heard him fall, and curse loudly.
"Go to it," Sperry panted behind me. "Roll over and break your neck."
This, I need hardly explain, was meant for our pursuer.
We turned a corner and were out on one of the main thoroughfares.
Instantly, so innate is cunning to the human brain, we fell to walking
sedately.
It was as well that we did, for we had not gone a half block before we
saw our policeman again, lumbering toward us and blowing a whistle as he
ran.
"Stop and get this street-car," Sperry directed me. "And don't breathe
so hard."
The policeman stared at us fixedly, stopping to do so, but all he saw
was two well-dressed and professional-looking men, one of them rather
elderly who was hailing a street-car. I had the presence of mind to draw
my watch and consult it.
"Just in good time," I said distinctly, and we mounted the car step.
Sperry remained on the platform and lighted a cigar. This gave him a
chance to look back.
"Rather narrow squeak, that," he observed, as he came in and sat down
beside me. "Your gray hairs probably saved us."
I was quite numb from the waist down, from my tumble and from running,
and it was some time before I could breathe quietly. Suddenly Sperry
fell to laughing.
"I wish you could have s
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