One of them ran to the summer kitchen, returning a moment later with a piece of clothesline, while the other sat astride the victim, his fingers closed about her throat.  Once he released his hold and she screamed again.  Presently she was secured and gagged.  Then the two commenced to rifle the Bible.

Eleven hundred dollars in bills were hidden there, because the woman and her husband didn’t believe in banks—­the savings of a lifetime.  In agony, as she regained consciousness, she saw the last of their little hoard transferred to the pockets of the tramps, and when they had finished they demanded to know where she kept the rest, loosening her gag that she might reply.

She told them that that was all the money she had in the world, and begged them not to take it.

“Youse’ve got more coin dan dis,” growled one of the men, “an’ youse had better pass it over, or we’ll find a way to make youse.”

But still she insisted that that was all.  The tramp stepped into the kitchen.  A wood fire was burning in the stove.  A pair of pliers lay upon the window sill.  With these he lifted one of the hot stove-hole covers and returned to the parlor, grinning.

“I guess she’ll remember she’s got more wen dis begins to woik,” he said.  “Take off her shoes, Dink.”

The other growled an objection.

“Yeh poor boob,” he said.  “De dicks’ll be here in a little while.  We’d better be makin’ our get-away wid w’at we got.”

“Gee!” exclaimed his companion.  “I clean forgot all about de dicks,” and then after a moment’s silence during which his evil face underwent various changes of expression from fear to final relief, he turned an ugly, crooked grimace upon his companion.

“We got to croak her,” he said.  “Dey ain’t no udder way.  If dey finds her alive she’ll blab sure, an’ dey won’t be no trouble ‘bout gettin’ us or identifyin’ us neither.”

The other shrugged.

“Le’s beat it,” he whined.  “We can’t more’n do time fer dis job if we stop now; but de udder’ll mean—­” and he made a suggestive circle with a grimy finger close to his neck.

“No it won’t nothin’ of de kind,” urged his companion.  “I got it all doped out.  We got lots o’ time before de dicks are due.  We’ll croak de skirt, an’ den we’ll beat it up de road an’ meet de dicks—­see?”

The other was aghast.

“Wen did youse go nuts?” he asked.

“I ain’t gone nuts.  Wait ’til I gets t’rough.  We meets de dicks, innocent-like; but first we caches de dough in de woods.  We tells ’em we hurried right on to lead ’em to dis Byrne guy, an’ wen we gets back here to de farmhouse an’ finds wot’s happened here we’ll be as flabbergasted as dey be.”

“Oh, nuts!” exclaimed the other disgustedly.  “Youse don’t tink youse can put dat over on any wise guy from Chi, do youse?  Who will dey tink croaked de old woman an’ de ki-yi?  Will dey tink dey kilt deyreselves?”