t for granted that he had the house to himself. The
swish of the swing-door between dining-room and pantry marked his
investigations in the rear of the house. He evidently found nothing
there, for he was back in the hall again in a moment. Then through the
vast silence of the big house the unknown gave voice to his anger and
disappointment:

"Well, I'll be damned!"

This, reaching Archie very clearly, added nothing to his comfort. He
debated making a dash for the switch and flooding the lower rooms with
light, but a burglar angrily damning himself for his stupidity in
entering a house where plated silver was the only booty in sight was not
a person to provoke unnecessarily. Then a series of quick flashes on the
wall of the stair gave warning of the intruder's invasion of the upper
rooms.

Archie drew back and waited. His thoughts and emotions in this hour of
danger interested him. He had always imagined that he would collapse in
any moment of peril. The fingers of his left hand sought the wrist of
his right that grasped the automatic and while his heart was still
beating quickly the pulse was regular. This was immensely gratifying and
he resolved to report the fact to his medical counselor at the first
opportunity.

The thief had become more cautious and was tiptoeing up the uncarpeted
treads of the stair, still sending occasionally a bar of light ahead.
All the doors of the bedrooms stood open, Archie remembered, and the
thief would not be long in discovering that the recent occupants had
left behind them nothing of the slightest value. His courage was
mounting; he was enormously surprised to find that his hands were quite
steady, and his mind had never functioned more perfectly. The burglar
was now in Mrs. Congdon's room, where he stumbled over a chair that
rocked furiously until stilled by the invader. He was now coming boldly
down the hall as though satisfied that the house was empty. A flash of
his lamp fell upon the door frame just above Archie's left hand.

He crawled hastily across the bed and swung round and waited with his
back against a chiffonier in the corner, sternly resolved that not
without a struggle would he be shot and his body left lying crumpled in
a corner with no one to tell the tale. He had the advantage of the
knowledge of the enemy's approach, and he raised the gun and covered the
door in readiness. A flash clipped the dark for an instant. Then a hand
groped along the wall seeking the swi