ntervening distance at a sprinting pace, and found
himself suddenly confronted by the burglar who was still on guard at the
window. A pistol gleamed in the dim light. Badger knocked it aside,
struck the man a blow that would have felled an ox, and went through the
window with a flying leap that took him to the foot of the stairway.

He saw the two burglars on the stairs near the top. One held a
dark-lantern and the other a heavy jimmy. Above, the sounds of the fight
continued, and the burglar attacked by Lee was still bawling for help.

Fairfax Lee felt that he was fighting for his life, and he still
believed that he was fighting Bill Gaston. He did not hear the burglars
on the stairs. He was trying to get the supposed Bill Gaston by the
throat and choke him into subjection. The burglar's shot, fired almost
pointblank at Lee, had done him no injury, and now the weapon was on the
floor.

"Help!" bellowed the burglar.

He got his throat free, but he could not throw off those clutching
hands. Visions of striped clothing and prison officials loomed before
him, for he had once done time. His anxious ears heard what Lee did
not--the calls of the ruffians who were hurrying to his assistance--and
he fought like a tiger.

Buck Badger went up the stairway in quick leaps. If the burglars heard
him, they must have fancied he was the guard left at the window, for
they did not look round. But before the Kansan could reach the upper
landing, the three scoundrels were on Lee.

"Clip him on der head!" one of them growled. "Don't use yer barker--too
much noise! Hit him wid der jimmy. All der cops in New Haven will be in
dis crib in a minute!"

Fairfax Lee was still putting up a stiff fight, and the jimmy flashed in
the air. Before it could descend, Buck Badger flung himself into the
midst of them, with the impetuous leap of a mountain-lion. The man with
the uplifted jimmy went down before a blow from the Kansan's fist, and
the other was hurled aside. The burglar that Lee had been fighting tore
himself loose and turned toward Badger and the stairway. Then the
Westerner heard the ominous click of a revolver. These burglars, like
all of their craft, were ready to do murder if it seemed necessary.

Lee tripped the burglar with the revolver, and the shot went into the
floor. The other burglar was coming up the stairway with tremendous
leaps. The house seemed to be arousing. Badger heard a woman scream.

"Kill him!" was panted by one