THE SHOT IN THE NIGHT.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 10683, 1 February 1913, Page 2

THE SHOT IN THE NIGHT.

( By JANE DAIJL.)

Two shots rang out on tho still night air. J'arie and I bounded up in b ( -d fiimultaueously, as if operated by the s;tmo spring. "What's that?" sho cried. "Burglars," I said "I told you when we took this apartment on tho ground floor " Listen !" sho interrupted, nervously grasping my arm. ' Another shot, and the sound of rapid footsteps drew near. " lie's coming down the alley," .Jano whispered. Our apartment faced an alley, and was nbout twenty feet from tho ground, r,s thero was a basement below. I started to get up, but Jane held me in a vice-liko grip. " Oh, don't go to the window," she whispered. "They might shoot you." Jane is one of those women who glory in tho most sensational detective stories, and who are always dreaming of being the chief actor in some great adventure, but who is, in reality, the most timid, shrinking, chicken-hearted female in tho world. I shook her off and went to the window and peered out —being careful to hold the dark side-drapes in front of me, as I was clad only in my nightgown. The burglar dashed down tho alley at a wild speed, but when he got opposite our window I saw that lie was limping. His pursuer did not follow him. I suppose ho did not ca.re to risk a hand-to-hand encounter. Instead, he blew several shrill blasts on a policeman's whistle. "Oh, I'm ,afraid they'll get him," whimpered Jane, who had now mustered up sufficient courage to creep to my side. " Well, I should hope they would," I answered, tartly. " There's entirely too much lawlessness in this town." And yet, somehow, I felt sorry for the poor limping creature who was hunted like some wild, feiocious animal by his fellow-men. With a startled exclamation, Jane pointed down the alley. t: - " Look," she cried, " he's coming back." -

Sure enough, the burglar had gone straight down tho alley as long a3 the light from ' the arc at the corner fell on him, but as soon as he reached a | dark place he turned and doubled back, keeping in the shadow close to the house. The man at the top of tho alley could not see him. Two policemen had answered the call of the pursuer, and together they had started down the alley. "Why, it's madness!" exclaimed Jane. "He'll run right into their arms." But our Mr Burglar had no such intention. At that time the city was installing its auxiliary water system, and huge iron pipes were left all over town to await the digging of the trenches to put them in. There were three of them in a row against tho wall right under our windows. Jano and I hadf been uneasy ever since they were placed there, and we had often remarked that a- man could hide in them, as they were plenty large enough for him to'crawl through. Our burglar reached the pipe and dived in just in the nick of time, for the policemen were almost close enough to see him. " What a foolish thing for him to do," whispered Jane. Her teeth were' chattering now from excitement and cold. " That's the very first place I would look if I were a policeman." We shrank back behind the curtains and breathlessly watched the approach of the three men. The pursuer was excitedly telling the policemen that he wa-s sure the man would escape, as he was almost at the end of the alley when he last saw him. _ So they rushed past without a glance "at the pipes, but we didn't breathe freely again until we. saw them leave the alley and separate to continue their search in different directions. " I'm ashamed of you, Jane Cooper!" I said severely. "Why didn't you call to those policemen and tell them where the burglar was? You know that was the right thing to do." " Why didn't you ?" sho retorted. And I remembered with a shock that I, a member of .the Board of Education, tho first lady to be elected to that honoured position in our city, was aiding and' abetting the escape of a criminal. "What are we going to do now?" Jane asked. " Nothing," I snapped. "I, for one, am going to bed and let things work out as they will. I certainly shall take no hand in it-." Jane leaned out of the open window, and, after assuring herself thai no one was within earshot, she said: "Hist! Hist I down there, Mr Burglar. They're gone. Are you injured?" After a short wait, a bead appeared at tho end of the pipe, and a weak voico said: " Yos, mum, I guess I'm done for." " Whoro are you hurt?" " It's my leg-—the bullet must hay? opened up an artery, for I think I'm bleeding to death. I'm that weak now that I o'j. ldn't go ten steps, and J hev'll soon como back and get mo. We-11, I'll try to take my medicine game." He sighed resignedly. "Sir," 1 said, in my most severe tone, "is this your first offence?" "Yes, mum," he replied, "my very first. I didn't have no tools nor nothing, and I didn't know how, and that s the reason the guy heard me. I didn't gob a thing." " Is is because you couldn't g;et work that you turned to a lifo of crimo?" I continued. " Yes, mum. Honest, I tried hard and couldn't get no. job. I think maybe, if I had a towel to wrap round my 'leg and stanch the blood I could get away before they came back." " Perhaps your wife and children were hungry," I said, disregarding his hint.

" Yes, mum," he whined. " And the baby was that sick, and I didn't havo no money to get a doctor with. If you havo a drop of liquor you could hand down with the towel, I think it might give .me strength to get away." "That settles it," I said to Jane. " It is clearly our duty to help the poor man to escape, for the sake of his family.. Yon get a bath towel, while I wrap up the whisky flask so it will not break. 1 ' (We always keep a.halfpint for medicinal purposes.) Jano flew to the linen closet and soon returned with a towel, a ball of twine and a five-dollar bill. " Wrap that up with the flask," she said, " for him to get a doctor for the poor dear littlo baby."' A tear dropped on my hand as I reached for tho bill. Jane is one of the weepy kind. Securing the bundle with the twine, I gently lowered it as near the man's hiding-place as possible. I intended to draw tho string back after ho had untied the bundle, but in -my excitement I dropped the whole ball. We hung out of tho window anxiously watching both ends of tho alley while the burglar tied up his wounds. Finally he spoke: "There, T feci stronger already. I'm sure I can get homo now. Thank you, kind ladies, the missus and me will bless you to our dying day." We watched him until he was lost to sight in the shadow of a church nearly two blocks away, and we felt sure lie had made good his escape. In a short time the policemen came back. Thoy had been joined by two other policemen and a dog. Thrills of excitement ran all tip and down my spine as I watched them flash their lights hither and thither. It didn't take long for

thcv dog to hit the trail. I always said dogs were smarter than men. Tho language those policemen used when they discovered they had gone right past their man wiis cortaiuly never intended lor tho oars of ladies. They found tho empty whisky flask and tho twine. I suppose tliov am still wondering what on earth the man was doing with a ball of twine. A week passed and wo seldom mentioned our midnight adventure, though 1 strongly suspected that Jauo was writing a story about it in her snare moments at the public library, wiiere sho worked. Tn fact, wo were both just a little ashamed to recall that we, two perfectly respectable, highly connected ladies, had thwarted the officers of the law: but when we thought of tho wife and poor Kick baby, a glow of self-justification suffused our beings. Then ono morning tho postman delivered at our door n package addressed to us both. After removing several wrappings of paper, wo e.nnio to a dark blue velvet jewellery ease. Wo lifted tho lid and fell hack with cries of amazement. Tho box contained a string of perfectly matched pearls and a sparkling diamond dog-collar. It was some time before wo recovered from our astonishment sufficiently to sen the letter that accompanied them. With trembling fingers we tore it open and read:— j "Dear. Kind Ladies, —I am sending you a gift for helping mo escape. The tall dame in the curl papers is to have first choice, because sho suggested the missus and kids story. I never would have thought of that. My hands always work faster than my tlvinkpiece. I ana returning tho fiver, too, for there ain't no missus and kids—maybe if they had been, T'd have been square. I feel I owe you this jewellery, because if you'd squealed on mo that night the cops would have divided the reward money with you. It's 10,000 dollars that's offered in this State for my arrest, not to speak of other States. Then I had 5000 dollars in my pockets that I'd got from tho safe that I'd just cracked, when that fool watchman caught me, I wish oops was ladies. 1 always know bbw to get around tho women. ' Handsome Harry ' they call mo—but I didn't think it was light enough for you dames to see me. Your janitor told me your names. He knew who T meant when I told him the 'two old maids on the first floor.' (We are not old maids—we're bachelor girls. Neither of us is forty yet.) Thanks, kind ladies, from my heart.—Handsome Harry Taylor. " P.S. —You can wear this swag safely. I cribbed it in a city two thousand miles from here, so it won't be recognised."