Winding the Clock 



chanced to see me prowling around at 

 that unreasonable hour. I knew that 

 the party would not last more than 

 ten or fifteen minutes anyhow, and, 

 figuring upon going back to bed for a 

 nice morning "snooze," I did not deem 

 it necessary to get into starched linen, 

 laced shoes and conventional garb, so, 

 armed with my binoculars, I opened 

 the front door as carefully as possible, 

 and in closing it took special pains not 

 to make a noise. I then tiptoed down 

 the walk to the front gate, lest neighbor 

 "Bill" on the one side or "Aleck" on 

 the other hear my footsteps, see a 

 bath-robed figure stealing out into the 

 uncertain light prevailing at that hour, 

 and think that they had "the drop" 

 on some probably dangerous disturber 

 of the peace; and the more I thought 

 of the necessity for such a sneaking 

 performance the madder I grew. 



Why couldn't a perfectly sane, ra- 

 tional person, without the slightest 

 thought of any unworthy purpose in 

 [219] 



