uce, who was bedridden. Her guardian's absence was not explained to
her, and she did not in the least suspect that he had been away all day
on a fool's errand. Roscoe and Bud accompanied her to Mrs. Luce's front
door, heavily bound by promises to hold their tongues regarding Miss
Banks.

"We left her there at old Mis' Luce's," related Roscoe, "an' then went
over to Robertson's Pond to skate. She tole us to stop in fer her about
nine o'clock, didn't she, Bud? Er was it eight?" He saw the necessity
for accuracy.

"Ten," corrected Bud deliberately.

"Well, pop, we stopped fer her, an'--an'--"

"Stop yer blubberin', Roscoe," commanded Anderson as harshly as he
could.

"An' got her," concluded Roscoe. "She put on her shawl an' mittens an'
said she'd run us a race all the way home. We all got ready to start
right in front of old Mis' Luce's gate. Bud he stopped an' said, 'Here
comes Tony Brink.' We all looked around, an' sure enough, a heavy-set
feller was comin' to'rds us. It looked like Tony, but when he got up to
us I see it wasn't him. He ast us if we could tell him where Mr. Crow
lived--"

"He must 'a' been a stranger," deduced Anderson mechanically.

"--an' Bud said you lived right on ahead where the street lamps was.
Jest then a big sleigh turned out of the lane back of Mis' Luce's an'
drove up to where we was standin'. Bud was standin' jest like this--me
here an' Rosalie a little off to one side. S'posin' this chair was her
an'--"

"Yes--yes, go on," from Anderson.

"The sleigh stopped, and there was two fellers in it. There was two
seats, too."

"Front and back?"

"Yes, sir."

"I understand. It was a double-seated one," again deduced the marshal.

"An' nen, by gum, 'fore we could say Jack Robinson, one of the fellers
jumped out an' grabbed Rosalie. The feller on the groun', he up an' hit
me a clip in the ear. I fell down, an' so did Bud--"

"He hit me on top of the head," corrected Bud sourly.

"I heerd Rosalie start to scream, but the next minute they had a blanket
over her head an' she was chucked into the back seat. It was all over in
a second. I got up, but 'fore I could run a feller yelled, 'Ketch him!'
An' another feller did. 'Don't let 'em get away,' said the driver in
low, hissin' tones--"

"Regular villains," vowed Anderson.

"Yes, sir. 'Don't let 'em git away er they'll rouse the town.' 'What'll
we do with 'em?' asked the feller who held both of us. 'Kill 'em?' Gosh,
I was skeered. N