I expect that was my cue to come across with the bold and noble acts. But, somehow, I didn't yearn to dash out into the moonlight in my pajamas and mix in rough with a total stranger. But I didn't mean to give it away if I could help it. "Got a nerve, ain't he?" says I. "Let's wait; maybe he'll fall into the pond." "How absurd!" says Vee. "No; we must do something right away." "Of course," says I. "I'll shout and ask him what the blazes he thinks he's doin'." "Don't," says Vee. "There may be others--in the house. And before you let him know you see him, you ought to be armed. Get your revolver." At that I just gawped at Vee, for she knows well enough I don't own anything more deadly than a safety razor, and that all the gun-play I ever indulged in was once or twice at a Coney Island shootin' gallery where I slaughtered a clay pipe by aimin' at a glass ball. "Whaddye mean, revolver?" I asks. "S-s-s-sh!" says she. "There's that Turkish pistol, you know, that Mr. Shinn left hanging over the mantel in the living-room." "Think it's loaded?" I whispers. "It might be," says Vee. "Anyway, it's better than nothing. Let's get it." "All right," says I. "Soon as I get something on. Just a sec." So I jumps into a pair of trousers and a coat and some bath slippers, while Vee throws on a dressin'-sack. We feels our way sleuthy downstairs, and after rappin' my shins on a couple of rockers I gets down the old pistol. It's a curious, wicked-lookin' antique about two feet long, with a lot of carvin' and silver inlay on the barrel. I'd never examined the thing to see how it worked, but it feels sort of comfortin' just to grip it in my hand. We unlocks the back door easy. "Now you stay inside, Vee," says I, "while I go scoutin' and----" "No indeed," says Vee. "I am going too." "But you mustn't," I insists. "Hush!" says she. "I shall." And she did. So we begins our first burglar hunt as a twosome, and I must say there's other sports I enjoy more. Out across the lawn we sneaks, steppin' as easy as we can, and keepin' in the shadow most of the time. "Guess he must have skipped," says I. "But he was here only a moment ago," says Vee. "Don't you know, we saw him---- Oh, oh!" I don't blame her for gaspin'. Not twenty feet ahead of us, crouchin' down in the cabbage patch, is the villain. Just why he should be tryin' to hide among a lot of cabbage plants not over three inches high, I don't stop to think. All I knew was that here was someone prowlin' around at night on my premises, and all in a flash I begins to see red. Swingin' Vee behind me, I unlimbers the old pistol and cocks it. I didn't care whether this was the open season for burglars or not. I wanted to get this one, and get him hard.