WINNING HER WAY 



19 



and, in John's estimation of time, about 

 an hour later it struck, and struck ten. 



"I declare, it seems to me it o't to begin 

 to be daylight,"' he whispered across the 

 room to Miss Betty. "Hain't gone to 

 sleep, hev ye, Mis' Peabody?" 



"S-sh!" responded Miss Betty, warn- 

 ingly. 



They listened intently. 



There was a sound at the front of the 

 house such as they had not heard before. 

 It was as if someone was making his way 

 through the lilac bushes which grew be- 

 fore the window. They could hear the 

 branches, as they were pushed aside, mak- 

 ing a little, swishing noise, as if the wind 

 was blowing through them, only with 

 more regularity. At any other time, this 

 sound would not have been noticed by 

 them, but with l:heir senses so keenly 

 alert, it was almost as distinct as a foot- 

 fall would have been. 



"It's ■ them !" whispered Miss Betty. 

 "Be on the lookout, now." 



Presently there was a noise at the win- 

 dow. Then silence, as if whoever made it 

 was listening, to make sure that it was 

 safe to go ahead. 



Then they heard the sash lifted cau- 

 tiously, a little wa}', after which the man, 

 or men, at the window seemed to listen 

 again. 



Evidently the result was reassuring, for 

 the sash began to move again. 



Then a hand seemed to be reached 

 through the opening, for the sound of it, 

 in contact with the window-shade, was 

 distinctly heard. 



Another silence ensued. Evidently 

 the men were holding a consultation as to 

 what should be done with the shade. 

 Pretty soon operations were resumed. The 

 sash was shoved up as far as it would go. 

 Then a hand pushed the shade 'aside, and 

 a head was .thrust in at the window, after 

 which there was silence, broken only by 

 the muffled sound of a man's breath. It 

 seemed to Mary, however, as if they must 

 hear her heart thumping against her ribs. 



But John gave her another reassuring pat, 

 and she kept as still as a mouse. She 

 imagined she could see Miss Betty, with 

 her gun ready for business, and she knew 

 that not a sound was escaping the vigi- 

 lance of her sharp ears, as she sat there, 

 waiting for what was to come. 



Then there was another sound, a kind 

 of hissing one, and at first Mary could not 

 imagine what made it, but when the wind 

 blew in upon her from the direction of the 

 window, she concluded that what she had 

 heard had been the sound of a knife, 

 drawn across the shade, and that it had 

 been cut away in order to give the men 

 free ingress to the room. 



She M^as right about this. 



Then the sounds from the window indi- 

 cated that a person was crawling through. 

 Slowly, cautiously, with little halts for 

 taking observation, entrance was effected 

 and one of the men stood in the room not 

 ten feet away from where Miss Betty sat 

 with the muzzle of her gun pointed 

 straight at him. Could he have seen this 

 deadly weapon the retreat of Bull Run 

 would no doubt have been repeated on a 

 small scale, but without a" moment's delay. 

 But fortunately for his peace of mind, he 

 could not know that he was facing what 

 was almost equal to a cannon's mouth. 



"All right — come ahead," he whispered 

 to his companion. 



He moved to one side of the window, 

 and waited until the other joined him. 



Then, to make sure that all was safe, 

 they listened again. All thrc 3 of the orig- 

 inal occupants of the room had to hold 

 their breaths for fear their presence would 

 be discovered. 



"All right — turn on the light," whis- 

 pered the man who had first entered the 

 room to his companion. 



The order was obeyed. A rather feeble 

 ray of light from a dark-lantern shot 

 through the darkness. 



It was the signal for action. 



"Go fer 'em !" commanded ]\riss Betty, 

 and the order for battle was immediately 



