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TEE MOTION PICTURE STORY MAGAZINE
thousands of blue eyes, banked with palms and ferns!"
1 ' Why, ' ' stammered Penworth, ' ' why — er — er — they did ! ' '
The chief eyed him sharply for an instant.
''Their punch must have been pretty strong," he said, decisively. "Cut it out, Pen; it's bad for your business. ' '
Now, if Penworth had read in a magazine the events which occurred the following night, he would have thrown down the periodical in disgust, declaring that such absurd and improbable stories should never be printed. But the saying that ' ■ truth is stranger than fiction" is as true as it is trite.
Penworth was going home in the small hours of the night from a late assignment, and a vision of merry blue eyes was dancing along the walk before him. He stopped under the shelter of a bay window, which hung out from a large brownstone house close to the street, to light a cigar. As he stood puffing and shielding the
spark from the wind, a pair of boots suddenly appeared, dangling before his astonished eyes, then some legs, and finally a man dropped lightly to the ground. Quick as a flash, Penworth seized him, holding on and shouting lustily for help. In a moment lights flashed on in the house, and a sleepy, answering call rang out, "What's the matter down there?"
"Thieves!" yelled the reporter, ' ' hurry up ! "
Steps were heard running down "the stairs ; then, as the intruder gave one last, desperate struggle for freedom, the mask which covered his face slipped off, and Penworth, to his utter amazement, recognized William Wayne, his host of the night before. The recognition was mutual.
In his surprise and half instinctively, Penworth loosened his hold, and Wayne, with a quick wrench, was free, dashing up the street, just as the door opened and two men bounced out.
1 ' He 's got away, ' ' cried Penworth ; "let's look and see what's missing."