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Show I 7- : A CEhnstntaa $ "Surglanj" j j By SAIDEE ESTELLE BALCOM jj (Copyright.) wff HE night-watchman at isj Plympton. possessed of H H a due sense of his im-'!&aL im-'!&aL portance, was called ( -'iCi) "Sergeant" Moore. He MW"jgnr bad hecome aware that the distinctive W"H?Vrr tltle was one ln pen' l&M eral vogue with metro- " politan police systems and be was proud of 'jMi the designation. Qs The day preceding Christmas was always one looked forward to by the doughty sergeant, for it was upon that occasion that his conscience allowed al-lowed him to accept little marks of approbation. "Hey, there, sergeant !" generally prefaced the bestowal of something in the shape of a gift. "It's duty I have to attend to all night long," he told his wife. "They say there's a regular band of burglars on the move." Now two problems of fate were to work out a strange series of circumstances, circum-stances, in the Christmas eve events appertaining to the redoubtable sergeant. ser-geant. The first was that the little town jail had burned down the week previous. The second was that a new family had moved to town early in De-cember. De-cember. comprising the Waynes father, fath-er, mother, a charming daughter of seventeen and three young children. As Moore passed their place he noted that it was all dark, the family probably prob-ably absent at some local entertainment, entertain-ment, and he caught the echo of a sound resembling the tipping over of a piece of furniture. Then from an open window a form protruded. "Burglars!" muttered the sergeant, and made a dash for the presumable despoiler. "Hold on !" spoke the latter excitedly. excited-ly. "It's all right." "Oh, is it?" purred Moore derisively. "What's that?" and he made a grab at the protruding pocket of the young man. "If you'll allow me to explain," began be-gan the latter. "I know the people who live here." "Oh, yes, very particular friends ! Cordially invited you to break into the house at any hour of the night! And this a new muffler and a pair of gloves. Say, you come with me," and the sergeant marched his captive from the spot. "If you'll only let me explain," pleaded the young man, but Moore was deaf, blind to all but duty. Fifteen iisi minutes later the captive found hlm-Bvlf hlm-Bvlf locked into a stone cellar, and the sergeant handed its key to his wife, saying: "You might pass in a jug of water .and a plate of bread to my catch through the window ; it's got no sash to it. I'll drop around again soon." The young man in retirement was pacing about in the dark and anathematizing anathe-matizing his officious captor when Mrs. Moore timidly approached the window. "Here's some water and a little food," she said, "so you won't suffer," and just as she passed the things in she uttered a shriek and crouched down trembling. Two men had suddenly sud-denly appeared, real burglars this time. "Oh, sir!" whispered the woman through the cellar window, "they may kill the children ! And then there's all Tim's half yearly pay in the bureau I Please help me. Here's the key to the cellar door," and something tinkled on the floor. Something else then transpired. tran-spired. The released captive located and knocked down and tied hand ana foot the prowler within the house. Then coming unaw.-'res upon the armed bandit outside he toppled him over, rendered him helpless, and seemed to enjoy the excitement of it all. "I am Roscoe Wulden and I am engaged en-gaged to Ethel Wayne." he explained an hour later to the bewildered sergeant, ser-geant, after the latter had transferred the two criminals to Umbo. "This is the first time I have visited their new home, and 1 got in surreptitiously to place a present on the Christmas tree : as a surprise to my lady love. I don't j want the Waynes to know I am In ! j Plympton until after she finds it." j I There was a rare spice of adventur-I adventur-I ous excitem. nt for pretty Ethel In her i I devoted lover's unique experience when he recited ihe sumo the next morn- ! i ing. And meantime Sergeant Moore was L::iininu pepukiriiy and the rum-j rum-j nullity's p,d will by detailim; bis hemic act hleh had siiriKiIized i'iirist-! i'iirist-! mns eve in the njirebei:,.:! nf i vo j despernie criminals who. bnl for li.-n. i might have hod the em Jr.; .it j their mercy. |