tricked into admitting them to her house; and he had despised her. Her “Sh! He can read your lips”—followed by her affected smile to him as she went out—had goose-fleshed him, less with fear of her than with a panic at his own stupidity. What were they up to? How had he failed to see any signs of it before? How far had they gone in it? “Looks as if he could kick.” The man had come there, disguised, to size him up. To what end? What were they going to do to him?
Barney had the sensations of the African hunter who found himself trailed by his lion.
He was relieved by the thought that Babbing was also out after the animal, and he ran to the door to listen. Hearing nothing, he began to caper, excitedly. Something was going to “happen” at last! Babbing would come at five o’clock, and they would consult together. His term of confinement would end in a dramatic springing of the trap for which he had been the bait. He began to “shadow fight” around the room, boxing the
