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