The Stories of the Three Burglars | Page 5

at one end and a handle at the other. In my present
household Maryland biscuits were never made, but I had preserved this
iron beater as a memento of my boyhood, and when the burglaries
began in our vicinity I gave it to David to keep in his room, to be used
as a weapon if necessary. I did not allow him to have a pistol, having a
regard for my own safety in a sudden night alarm, and nothing could be
more formidable in a hand-to-hand encounter than this skull-crushing
club.
I began with the tall man, and rapidly tied his feet together with many
twists of the rope and as many knots. I then turned him over and tied
his elbows behind him in the same secure way. I had given so much
thought to the best method of securing a man by cords, that I do not
think this fellow could possibly have released himself when I had
finished with him.
David was obeying my orders and keeping a strict watch on the
prostrate men; but his emotions of amazement were so great that he
could not keep them down.
"What is the matter with them, sir?" he said. "How did they come so?"
"There is no time for talking now," I answered. "I will tell you all about
it when the men have been secured." I now turned my attention to the
man who was partly resting against the lounge. I first tied his feet, and
before letting him down to the floor, so as to get to his arms, I removed
his hat and his mask, which was made of black muslin. I was surprised
to see the beardless face of a young and very good-looking man. He
was well dressed, and had the general appearance of a person belonging
to theatrical circles. When his arms had been tied, I told David he
might lay down his biscuit-beater, and help me with the third man, who
was badly mixed up with the _débris_ of the refreshments. We hauled
him out and tied him up. He was rather a short man, but very heavy,
and I could see no signs of his having been hurt by the smash-up he
made in falling.
We now proceeded to search the insensible burglars for arms. Upon the
tall man we found a large revolver, a heavy billy, which seemed as if it
had seen service, and a long-bladed knife. The stout man carried two
double-barrelled pistols, and upon one of the fingers of his right hand
wore a brass ring with a murderous-looking iron protuberance upon it,
which, when driven forward by his powerful arm, was probably more

dangerous than a billy. Upon the younger man we found no arms at all,
and his hip pocket contained nothing but a small handbook on civil
engineering.
I now briefly explained to David the nature of the trap which had
caught the burglars. He gazed upon me with a face glowing with
amazed admiration.
"What a head you have got, sir!" he exclaimed. "I don't believe there is
another man in this State who would have thought of that. And what
are you going to do with them now, sir; hang 'em? That's what ought to
be done with them, the hounds!"
"All I shall do," I answered, "will be to keep them till daylight, and
then I shall send word to the sheriff at Kennertown, and have him send
officers for them."
"Upon my word," exclaimed David, "they are in the worst kind of a
box."
Now my wife called me again. "What in the world are you doing down
there?" she called; "why don't you come upstairs?"
This annoyed me, for I was not yet ready to go upstairs. I wished to
resuscitate these fellows, for their stupor was so profound that I began
to fear that perhaps they had taken too much of the drug and ought to
be brought to their senses as speedily as possible. This feeling was due
more to my desire that serious injuries should not occur to the rascals
while in my house than to any concern for them.
"My dear," said I, stepping to the bottom of the stairs, "I have some
things to attend to down here which will occupy me a few minutes
longer; then I will come up to you."
"I can't imagine what the things are," she said, "but I suppose I can
wait," and she went into her room and closed her door after her.
I now began to consider what was to be done with the burglars after
they had been resuscitated. My first impulse was to rid the house of
them by carrying them out of doors and bringing them to their senses
there. But there