ngry at Hood,
and furious that he had so little control of a destiny that seemed urging
him on to destruction.

IX

At one o'clock West Dempster lay dark and silent before them. As they
crossed a bridge into the town Hood began to move cautiously.

"Remember that we give up without a struggle: there's too much at stake
to risk a bullet now, and these country lumpkins shoot first, and hand
you their cards afterward."

He dived into an alley, and emerged midway of a block where a number of
barrels under a shed awning advertised a grocery.

"Admirable!" whispered Hood, throwing his arms about his comrades. "We
will now arouse the watch."

With this he kicked a barrel into the gutter, and jumped back like a
mischievous boy into the shelter of the alley. Footsteps were heard in a
moment, far down the street.

"These country cops are sometimes shrewd, but often the silly children of
convention like the rest of us. West Dempster has an evil reputation in
the underworld. The pinching of joy-riders is purely incidental; they run
in anybody they catch after the curfew sounds from the coffin factory."

A window overhead opened with a bang, and a blast from a police whistle
pierced the air shrilly. Deering started to run, but Hood upset him with
a thrust of his foot. Two men were already creeping up behind them in the
alley; the owner of the grocery stole out of the front door in a long
nightgown and began howling dismally for help.

"Throw up your hands, boys; it's no use!" cried Hood in mock despair.

Then the man in the nightgown, after menacing Hood with a pistol, stuck
the barrel of it into Deering's mouth, opened inopportunely to protest
his innocence. The policemen threw themselves upon Hood and Cassowary,
toppled them over, and flashed electric lamps in their faces.

"More o' them yeggs," announced one of the officers with satisfaction as
he snapped a pair of handcuffs on Cassowary's wrists. "Don't you fellows
try any monkey-shines or we'll plug you full o' lead. Trot along now."

The gentleman in the night-robe wished to detain the party for a recital
of his own prowess in giving warning of the attempted burglary. The
police were disposed to make light of his assistance, while Hood hung
back to support the grocer's cause, a generosity on his part that was
received ill-temperedly by the officers of the law. They bade the grocer
report to the magistrate Monday morning, and they parted, but only after
Ho