Show PAR I 1 copyright by the boals merrill company ITS TRULY AN ILL WIND THAT BLOWS NOBODY GOOD AND THIS WIND BRINGS LUCK TO THE PARSONAGE mr starr widower methodist minister Is assi assigned ened botho to tho coil congregation gre gation nt at mount murk mark la in lie ile has five charming daughters prudence tho the oldest keeps house for him fairy Is a college freshman carol and lark twins are in fix high school constance Is the baby the activities tivi ties of the starr gli girls Is iru dences work P abrys school affairs the pranks of the youngsters and tho the family perplexities make tho the story it Is simply a recital of glorified homely incidents ci dents this dinst installment allmont describes s the capture of a burglar in the parsonage CHAPTER VII continued mr starr had bad gone to burlington that morning to attend special revival services for three days and prudence had fifty whole dollars in the house tin an unwonted sum suin in that parsonage nagel and the dungeon was not locked without a word she slipped softly out of the room ran down the stairs making mah irig never a sound in her bare feet and saw somewhat to her surprise that the dungeon door was open quickly she flung it shut pushed the tiny key that moved the catch rind and was rushing up the stairs again with never a pause for breath A strange sight met her eyes in tile the twins room the twins themselves were in each others arras sobbing bitterly fairy was still looking hurriedly through the dresser drawers they are gone walled carol our beautiful ruby rings that hot belonged to grandmother nonsense cried prue with nervous anger youve left them in the bathroom or on the kitchen s shelves li elves youre always leaving them somewhere over the place come on and well wel I 1 search the house just to convince you no no shrieked the twins lets lock the door and get under the bed the rings were really valuable their grandmother their mol mothers hers mother whom they had never never seen ha had d divided her hor real jewelry betge between en her two daughters and the mother of these the parsonage girls had further divided her portion to make it reach through her own family of girls I 1 our rings 1 our rings the twins were walling and connie awakened by the noise was crying beneath the covers of her bed maybe wed better phone for mr allan suggested fairy the girls are so nervous they will be hysterical by the time we finish searching the jhb house well lets do the upstairs then said prudence get your slippers and kimonos simonos ki monos and well go into daddys daddes room but inside the door of daddys daddes room with the younger girls clinging to her and fairy looking odd and disturbed prudence stopped abruptly and stared about the room curiously ta fairy y father leave his watch hanging on that nail by the table seems to me I 1 saw it there this morning I 1 remember thinking I 1 would tease him for being forgetful and the watch was not there 1 I think it was sunday lie he left lt it answered fairy in a low voice 1 I remember seeing it on the nail mail and thinking he would need it but I 1 believe it was sunday prudence looked under the bed and in the closet but their fathers room was empty should they go farther tor or a moment the girls stood looking atone at one another questioningly then they heard a loud thud downstairs as ot someone pounding on a door there i ilai was no longer any doubt someone was in the house I 1 connie and tho the twins screamed again and clung to prudence frantically and d fairy sald said 1 I 11 I 1 think wed cettei lock the door and sta stay right here until morning prue but prudence faced them stubbornly it you think rm aging to lot let anyone steal that fifty dollars dolln rs abu you are mistaken fifty dollars does doe snot not come often enough for that ican I 1 din tell you its probably stolen already objected jec ed fairy well vell it it Is well find out oui who did I 1 it and nd have them arrested I 1 im going do soya a to telephone to td the police you SV t girls must lock the door after mu m and I 1 stay right here there the little ones screamed again and fairy said dont be silly prue if you gp go im going with you of af course well leave lacavo the kiddies here and they can lock the door be perfectly safe in here bore but the children loudly objected to this if prue and fairy went they would go gol I 1 so down tho the stairs they trooped a timorous trembling crowd Prud prudence ened went at once to tho the tolen phone and called up the reside residence co of the allans their neighbors across the street after a seemingly never ending wait the kindhearted kind hind hearted nol neighbor klibor left ilia his bed to answer the Insl insistent stent tole telephone falteringly prudenco prudence explained explain ed their predicament and asked hirn him to come rind search the louse house ho promised to bo be there in five minutes with ills his son to help now sold said prudence more cheerfully well just go out to the kitchen and walt its quiet there and away from the rest ol of the house and well be perfectly safe to the kitchen then they hurried and found real comfort in its ita smallness and prudence raked up the lying dying embers eavers of the fard tind and fairy drew the blinds to their lowest limits the twins and connie trailed them tearfully fearfully at every step lvery every breath of wind against the windows drew startled cries ciles from the younger girls and both fairy and pru donee were white with anxiety when they heard the loud voices of the allans outside the kitchen door prudence began crying nervously the moment tile the two angels of mercy appeared before her and F fairy airy told their tale of woe well there now mr allan said with rough sympathy you just got scared all Every things suspicious when folks get scared I 1 told my wife the other day I 1 bot bet you girls would get a good fright sometime left here alone come on jim and well go over the house in a jiffy lie ile was standing near the dining room door lie he lifted his head suddenly and seemed to sniff a little there was undoubtedly a faint odor of tobacco in the house been any men in here tonight lie risked asked or this afternoon think now i no one answered prudence 1 I was alone all afternoon and there has been no one in this evening lie ile passed slowly through tile the dining room into the hall hali closely followed by his son and the five girls already much rens reassured As he passed the dungeon door lie he paused for a moment listening intently ills his lieck head bent oh mr allan cried prudence lets look in the dungeon first I 1 want to see if the money Is safe her hand was already on the lock but lie he shoved her away quickly Is there any way out of that closet besides tills this door he be asked no we call it the dungeon laughed prudence her self possession quite recovered it Is right under the stairs and not even a n moi mouse ise could gnaw its way out with this door shut who shut the door lie he inquire inquired still holding Pru dences hand from tile the lock then without waiting for a an n answer lie he went on lets go back in the other room a minute como come on all of you in the living room he hu hurried r to the telephone and spoke to the operator in a low voice call the police headquarters and have them send two or three men to the methodist parsonage right away weve got a burglar locked in a closet and have to get him out please hurry at this the alie girls crowded around him again in renewed fear dont be scared lie hu said calmly were all right iles hes in there safe enough and cant get out for a while now tell mo me about it how did yo you IN quickly she flung it shut get him in the closet begin tit nt ohp beginning and tell me nil all about it carol began the story with keen relish 1 I woke up and thought I 1 heart heard someone la in the room I 1 supposed it was prudence I 1 said prudence 1 and nobody answered and everything ads was quiet but I 1 felt there i as s someone in id there more I 1 nudged barkand Lar Lark kand gaind she wolie woke up he moved then and we both heard him ile he was wasI fumbling at the dresser and our ruby rings are gone lye vf heard him step across the room and into a closet lie he closed the door after mai him he lark yes he be did agreed lark IMs EUs hand was on the knob 1 1 5 i aso so wo sneaked out of 0 bed end am went into Pru dences room and wok her and fairy she loaned ed at af connie connia an and i d blu blushed shed connie was wag asleep and wf we waken her because wo we didel want to frigli frighten to in her ve ye woke the girls nn and id you tell the rest prudence 11 wo we believe her of course we wd went back into their r room and there was no one there but the rl rings ng were gone while they vere looking at the dresser I 1 remembered that hat I 1 forgot to lock the dungeon door wo we keep the money and the silverware and I 1 ran downstairs and slammed the door and locked it an and went back up I 1 hear bear a sound downstairs mr mr allan laughed hea heartily rilly A well vell your burglar was in that closet after the money no doubt and lie he hear you coming coining ani got locked IA in ill a fey minutes they d footsteps around the house and kne knew v the off leers had arrived mr allan let I 1 11 M rd ir arent you limber limb grant them into tile the house felir foi ir of them and led them alt to the hall thero there could bo be no doubt whatever that the burglar was in the dungeon 1 ue ne had been busy with ills his knife and the lock was nearly removed if the alie officers lidd had been two minutes later the dungeon would have been empty the girls were sent upstairs at once with the allan boy bay as guard as guard without regard ga rd for the fact that lie he was probably more ore frightened than any one of them the chief officer rapped briskly on oa the dungeon door then he clicked his revolver there anre enough of 0 us ua to ao over power three of you 11 hc said curtly n and we have men outside the house too if you put your firearms on the floor and hold both hands over your head bond be well tre treated abed it if bour hands are not up we fire on sight get your revolvers viers ready boys then tit en the officer cincer opened the door evidently the burglar was wise enough to appreciate the futility of fighting against odds ills bis hands were above his head and in less than a second he be was securely manacled mana cled the chief officer lind had been eying him closely say I 1 he hd exclaimed arent you limber limb grant drant the burglar grinned but did not answer by jovel shouted the officer it is I 1 call the girls down here he hd ordered and when they appeared gazing at the burglar with mingled admiration pity and fear lie he congratulated chein them with considerable excitement its limber limb grant he explained pla ined theres a reward of five hundred dollars for him get the money money as sure as youre born then lie ho turned again to the burglar say grant a fellow like you doing on such a fifth rate job as this A methodist parsonage is not just in your line is it limber limb laughed sheepishly well he explained good chicago got too hot for me I 1 had to get out in a hurry and I 1 get my hands on any money I 1 had it fine lot of jewels but I 1 was so pushed I 1 use them I 1 came here and loafed around town for a while because folks said mount mark was so fast asleep it did not even wake up long enoi enough igli to real read the dally daily papers I 1 heard about tills this parsonage bunch and i knew new the old man had gone off to get more religion this afternoon at the station I 1 saw a detective from chicago get off the train and I 1 knew what that meant but I 1 needed some cash and so I 1 above a little bobof job of this kind I 1 never dreamed of oc getting done up by a bunch of preachers kids I 1 went upstairs to get those family jewels ive heard about and ode of the little ones gave the alarm I 1 already had sonae some of them so I 1 came down own at once I 1 stopped in the dungeon to get that money and first thing I 1 knew the door banged shut shul all youre welcome to the five hundred bundred dolln dollars rs ladies som someone eane was bound to got get it sooner or later inter and rm fin partial to to the ladles ladies every time now what do you suppose tho the girls will do with that five hundred dollars how much will they devote to church purposes purpose foreign missions for instance TO BE CONTINUED |