Page:The House On The Cliff.pdf/74

 happened too quick. One of them came to the door―he was a tall chap with a thin face―and asked if I was looking after a man who was almost drowned yesterday. I said that I was, so he told me he had come to take him away, that he was a brother of the fellow. I got kind of suspicious, and asked him his name. But in the meantime I had stepped outside the door, and before I knew it, some one jumped at me from behind. I put up a fight as best as I could, but the others came at me from around the corner of the house where they had been hidin' and before I knew it I was tied up. Then they tied up my wife and left us in the livin' room while they went upstairs."

"Did Jones put up a fight when they took him away?"

"He tried to. He hollered for help, but of course I couldn't do nothin' and he was too weak to fight much himself. They carried him downstairs and put him in the automobile. Then they drove away."

"There must be more to this affair than we imagine," reflected Frank. "It's getting serious when they break into a private home like this."

"You bet it's gettin' serious!" exclaimed the farmer. "It'll be mighty serious for them if they try it again." He motioned to the table where a shotgun was lying. "I've got that gun