wenty, which I had figured would be the time required for him to reach
the dining-room, and then, when I was sure he must have seen the silver
shining in the glass case, I slowly pulled on the steel cable and raised
case and silver to the hall above. Sarah began to whisper to me, but I
silenced her.

What I had expected happened. The burglar, seeing the silver rise
through the ceiling, left the dining-room and went into the hall. There,
from the foot of the stairs, he could see the case glowing in the hall
above, and without hesitation he mounted the stairs. As he reached the
top I had a good view of him, for he was silhouetted against the light
that glowed from the silver case. He was a most brutal looking fellow
of the prize-fighting type, but I almost laughed aloud when I saw his
build. He was short and chunky. As he stepped forward to grasp the
silver case, I let the steel cable run through my fingers, and the case
and its precious contents slid noiselessly down to the dining-room. For
only one instant the burglar seemed disconcerted, then he turned and ran
downstairs again.

This time I did not wait so long to draw up the silver. I hardly gave
him time to reach the dining-room door before I jerked the cable, and
the case was glowing in the upper hall. The burglar immediately stopped,
turned, and mounted the stairs, but just as he reached the top I let the
silver slide down again, and he had to turn and descend. Hardly had he
reached the bottom step before I had the silver once more in the upper
hall.

The burglar was a gritty fellow and was not to be so easily defeated.
With some word which I could not catch, but which I have no doubt was
profane, or at least vulgar, he dashed up the stairs, and just as his
hand touched the case I let the silver drop to the dining-room. I smiled
as I saw his next move. He carefully removed his coat and vest, rolled
up his sleeves, and took off his collar. This evidently meant that he
intended to get the silver if it took the whole night, and nothing could
have pleased me more. I lay in my comfortable bed fairly shaking with
suppressed laughter, and had to stuff a corner of a pillow in my mouth
to smother the sound of my mirth. I did not allow the least pity for the
unfortunate fellow to weaken my nerve.

A low, long screech from the hall told me that I had a man of uncommon
brain to contend with, for I knew the sound came from his hands drawing
along the banister, and that to h