Through the aperture, immediately following, there clambered a man.

He was hatless, a big red streak crossed his cheek, his coat was in ribbons down the back.

White as a sheet, chattering and trembling, he scrambled to his feet, gave one affrighted glance back of him, and shot for the road like a meteor.

Bang! bang! bang!

“Oh, dear!” cried the distressed Andy.  “What’s up now?”

CHAPTER XXVII

A ROYAL REWARD

Bang! bang!

Five sharp reports rang out from the cellar.  Then came a roar from Big
Bob.  Then a second frantic man appeared at the smashed window.

One sleeve was in ribbons.  He carried a smoking pistol.  Without ado, like his predecessor he ran for the road.  Glancing thither, Andy saw the two running down it, one after the other, like mad.

Andy hardly knew what to make of it all.  The two men did not look like farmers.  He went around the house, and hammered at the front door.  No response.  Every window on the lower floor was tightly shuttered.

Finally he came back to the smashed window.  At first he could see nothing much beyond it.  Then, his eyes becoming accustomed to the darkness, he was able to make out the cellar interior quite clearly.

His anxiety as to Big Bob was immediately relieved.  If five bullets had been fired at the bear, they had made no more impression than peas from a putty blower.  The serene old animal was leisurely devouring the juicy bait that had lured him to his present prison.

“He’s safe for a time, anyhow,” decided Andy.  “I can’t quite make out the situation here.  It looks to me as if those two men don’t exactly fit to the premises.  They are certainly not farmers, nor tramps.  Maybe they had sneaked in the cellar for a nap, or to steal, leaving the door open, and Big Bob tackled them.”

Andy made further unsuccessful efforts to arouse the house.  He was sure now that there was nobody at home.  He sat down on its front steps to think.

Finally he noticed that a wire ran from the barb wire fence in front into the house.

“They’ve got a telephone here, as they have at most of these farmhouses,” he decided.  “That ought to help me out.  If I could only get to the inside.”

Andy took another rambling tour about the house.  Finally he discovered a window an inch or two down from the top in the second story.

His natural aptitude for climbing helped him out.  With the aid of a lightning rod he soon reached the window, lowered it further, stepped into a bedroom, and descended a pair of stairs.  Looking around the little front hall, he made out a telephone instrument on the outside wall.

Andy promptly turned the handle of the call bell.  He placed the receiver to his ear.

“Hello,” came the instantaneous response “this is Central.”