to shout for help when the fellow reached down and softly began to raise
the sash.

That made me angry. Jerking up in bed, I caught the heavy pitcher from the
wash-stand and flung it with all my might.

Crash!

Had I smashed out the whole side of the room it could scarcely have made
more noise. Accompanied by the clinking of glass and the creaking of tin,
my visitor rolled off the roof. I waited, expecting an uproar from the
other inmates of the hotel. No footstep, no call sounded within hearing.
Once again the stillness settled down.

Then, to my relief, the gray gloom lightened, and dawn broke. Never had I
been so glad to see the morning. While dressing I cast gratified glances at
the ragged hole in the window. With the daylight my courage had returned,
and I began to have a sort of pride in my achievement.

"If that fellow had known how I can throw a baseball he'd have been
careful," I thought, a little cockily.

I went down-stairs into the office. The sleepy porter was mopping the
floor. Behind the desk stood a man so large that he made Buell seem small.
He was all shoulders and beard.

"Can I get breakfast?"

"Nobody's got a half-hitch on you, has they?" he replied, jerking a
monstrous thumb over his shoulder toward a door.