The weather the next day was so mild and pleasant that Max and Lulu asked and obtained permission to take a ride of several miles on their ponies.

They went alone, their father and Violet having driven out in the family carriage, taking the three younger children with them.

On their return Max and his sister approached the house from a rear entrance to the grounds, passing through the bit of woods belonging to the estate, the garden and shrubbery, and across the lawn.

In traversing the wood they came upon a man leaning idly against a tree, in a lounging attitude, with his hands in his pockets, a half consumed cigar in his mouth.

He was a stranger to the children, and from, his shabby, soiled clothing, unkempt locks, and unshaven face, it was evident he belonged to the order of tramps.

He stood directly in the path the children were pursuing, just where it made a sudden turn, and Lulu’s pony had almost trodden upon his foot before they were aware of his vicinity.

Fairy shied, snorting with fright, and almost unseated her young rider.

“Look out there, and don’t ride a fellow down!” growled the man, catching hold of Fairy’s bridle and scowling into the face of her rider.

Lulu did not seem to be frightened.  Her quick temper rose at the man’s insolence, and she exclaimed authoritatively, “Let go of my bridle this instant, and get out of the path.”

“I will when I get ready, and no sooner,” returned the man insolently.

“What are you doing in these grounds, sir?” demanded Max, adding, “You have no call to be here.  Let go of that bridle and step out of the path at once.”

“I’m not under your orders, bubby,” said the tramp with a disagreeable, mocking laugh.

“These are my father’s grounds,” said Max, drawing himself up with a determined air, “and we don’t allow tramps and loafers here; so if you don’t let go of that bridle and be off I’ll set my dog on you.  Here, Prince, Prince!”

At the sound of the call, answered by a loud bark, and the sight of Prince’s huge form making rapid bounds in his direction, the tramp released Fairy’s bridle, and growling out an oath, turned and made his way with all celerity toward the public road, leaping the fence that separated it from Capt.  Raymond’s grounds, barely in time to escape Prince’s teeth, as he made a dash to seize him by the leg.

“Oh,” cried Lulu, drawing a long breath of relief, “what a happy thing that Prince came running out to meet us!”

“Yes,” said Max, “and I hope he has given that fellow a fright that will keep him from ever coming into these grounds again.  If he isn’t a scoundrel his looks certainly belie him very much.”

They had held their ponies in check while watching the race between man and dog, but now urged them forward in haste to reach the house; for the short winter day was fast closing in.

The captain was standing on the veranda as they rode up.

“You are a trifle late, children,” he said, as he stepped to the side of Fairy and lifted Lulu from the saddle, but his tone was not stern.

“Yes, papa,” said Max; “I’m afraid we went a little farther than we ought; at any rate it took us longer than we expected to reach home again; and we were detained a minute or two just now, out here in the grove, by a tramp that caught hold of Fairy’s bridle and wouldn’t let go till I called Prince and he showed his teeth.”

“What! can it be possible?” cried the captain closing his fingers more firmly over the hand Lulu had slipped into his, and gazing down into her face with a look of mingled concern and relief.  “It is well indeed that Lulu was not alone, and that Prince was at hand.  Come into the library and tell me all about it.”

He led Lulu in as he spoke, Max following, while a servant took the ponies to their stable.

Capt.  Raymond sat down and drew Lulu to his side, putting an arm protectingly around her, while Max, standing near, went on to give the particulars of their encounter with the tramp, Lulu now and then putting in a word.

“Now, daughter,” the captain said at the conclusion of the story, “I hope you are quite convinced of the wisdom and kindness of your father’s prohibition of solitary rides and walks for you?”

“Yes, papa, I am, and do not intend ever to disobey you again by taking them.  I wasn’t much frightened, but I know it would have been very dangerous for me if I’d been alone.”

“No doubt of it,” he said, caressing her with grave tenderness, “it almost makes me shudder to think of what might have happened had you been without a protector.”

“And I doubt if I could have protected her without Prince’s help, papa,” said Max.  “I think he’s a valuable fellow, and pays for his keep.”

“Yes; I am very glad I selected him as a Christmas gift to you,” said his father.  “But now I must warn you both to say nothing to, or before Gracie, about this occurrence; for timid as she is, it would be apt to cause her much suffering from apprehension.”

“We will try to keep it a secret from her, papa,” replied both children.

“And in order to succeed in that you will have to be on your guard and give no hint of the matter in presence of any of the servants.”

“We will try to remember, papa,” they promised with evident intention to do so.

“That is right,” he said.  “I think I can trust you not to forget or disobey.  I know you would be loath to have your little sister tortured with nervous terrors.  Now go and get yourselves ready for tea.”

Lulu was full of excitement over her adventure, and through the evening found it difficult to refrain from speaking of it before Grace; but equally desirous to obey her father and to save her little sister from needless suffering, she resolutely put a curb upon her tongue till she found herself alone with him at bedtime.

Then she must needs go over the whole scene again, and seeing that it was a relief to her excitement, he let her run on about it to her heart’s content.

“Has it made you feel at all timid to-night, daughter?” he asked kindly.

“No, papa,” she answered promptly; “I don’t think the man could get into the house; do you?”

“I think it most probable he has walked on till he is miles away from here by this time,” the captain answered.  “But even did we know him to be prowling round outside, we might rest and sleep in peace and security, assured that nothing can harm us without the will of our heavenly Father who loves us more than any earthly parent loves his child.”

He drew her very close to his heart and imprinted a tender kiss upon her lips as he spoke.

“Yes, papa, it makes me feel very safe to remember that, thinking how dearly you love me; so that I know you would never let anything harm me if you could help it,” she returned, putting an arm round his neck and hugging him tight.  “Oh I am so glad that the Bible tells us that about God’s love to us!”

“So am I; and that my children have early learned to love and trust in him.

“’Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.’  That is not a promise that God’s faithful followers shall be rich in this world’s goods, but faith in God’s loving care makes life happy even in the midst of poverty and pain.  Riches have not the power to make us happy, but the love of God has.

“And those who begin to serve God in the morning of life and press onward and upward all their days, keeping near to Jesus and growing more and more like him, will be happier in heaven because of their greater capacity for the enjoyment of God and holiness than the saved ones who sought him late in life, or were less earnest in their endeavors to live in constant communion with him, and to bear more and more resemblance to him.

“The Bible speaks of some who are ‘scarcely saved,’ and of others to whom ’an entrance shall be ministered abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.’”

“Papa,” said Lulu earnestly, “I want to be one of those; I want to live near to Jesus and grow every day more like him. (Oh I am so little like him now; sometimes I fear not at all).  Won’t you help me all you can?”

“I will, my darling,” he replied, speaking with emotion.  “Every day I ask wisdom from on high for that very work; the work of helping you and all my dear children to be earnest, faithful servants of God.”

The talk with her father had done much to quiet Lulu’s excitement, and she fell asleep very soon after laying her head on her pillow.

It was still night when she awoke suddenly with the feeling that something unusual was going on in the house.

She sat up in the bed and listened.  She thought she heard a faint sound coming from the room below, and slipping from the bed she stole softly across the floor to the chimney, where there was a hot air flue beside the open fireplace.

Dropping down on her hands and knees, she put her ear close to the register and listened again, almost holding her breath in the effort to hear.

The chimney ran up between her bedroom and the little tower room opening into it; the library was under her bedroom, and opening from it was the ground floor room of the tower, which was very strongly built, had only the one door and very narrow slits of windows set high up in the thick stone walls.

In a safe in that small room were kept the family plate, jewelry, and money; though no very great amount of the last named, as the captain considered it far wiser to deposit it in the nearest bank.

The door of the strong room, as it was called, was of thick oak plank crossed with iron bars, and had a ponderous bolt and stout lock whose key was carried up stairs every night by the captain.

Listening with bated breath, Lulu’s ear presently caught again a faint sound as of a file moving cautiously to and fro on metal.

“Burglars!  I do believe it’s burglars trying to steal the money and silver and Mamma Vi’s jewelry that are in the safe,” she said to herself with a thrill of mingled fear and excitement.

With that she crept into the tower room, softly opened the register there, and applied her ear to it.  The sound of the file seemed a trifle louder and presently she was sure she heard gruff voices, though she could not distinguish the words.

Her first impulse was to hurry to her father and tell him of her discovery; the second thought, “If I do, papa will go down there and maybe they’ll kill him; and that would be a great, great deal worse than if they should carry off everything in the house.  I wish I could catch them myself and lock them in there before I wake papa.  Why couldn’t I?” starting to her feet in extreme excitement; “they’re in the strong room, the bolt’s on the library side of the door, and probably they’ve left the key there, too, in the lock.  If I’m going to try to do it, the sooner the better.  I’ll ask God to show me how and help me.”

She knelt on the carpet for a moment, sending up her petition in a few earnest words, then rising, stood for an instant thinking very fast.

She could gain the library by a door opening into a back hall and very near that into the strong room, whose door, if open, would be in a position to conceal her approach from the burglars till she could step behind it; so that her scheme seemed not impracticable.

She hastily put on a dark dressing-gown over her white night dress, and thick felt slippers on her feet.

Her heart beat very fast as the thought occurred to her that there might be an accomplice in the library or hall, or that the door from the one into the other might creak and bring the miscreants rushing out upon her before she could accomplish the task she had set herself.

“Well what if they should, Lulu Raymond?” she asked, shutting her teeth hard together, “’twouldn’t be half so bad as if they should harm your father.  You could be very well spared, but he couldn’t; Mamma Vi, Max and Gracie would break their hearts if anything dreadful happened to him, and so would you too; I’ll try, trusting to God to take care of me.”

With swift, noiseless steps she passed out of her room, down a back stairway into the hall just spoken of, and gained the library door, finding it, to her great joy, wide enough open for her to slip in without touching it.

She could see nothing there; the room was quite dark; but the sounds she had heard were still going in the strong room, seeming a little louder now.  The men must be in there at work on the safe; with the door ajar, for a streak of light at the back between it and the jamb, told her it was not quite shut.

She crept to it and peeping in at that crack, saw a man down on his knees working at the lock of the safe, while another stood close beside him, holding a dark lantern, open, so that the rays of light fell full and strongly upon the lock his confederate was trying to break.

Lulu could not see the face of the latter, his back being toward her, but as the other bent forward for a moment, to watch the progress of the work, the light fell on his face, and she instantly recognized him as the tramp who had seized Fairy’s bridle in the wood.

Trembling like a leaf she put up her hand and cautiously felt for the bolt; holding tight to it and exerting all her strength, she suddenly slammed the door to and shot it into its socket.  She heard the villains drop their tools, spring toward and try the door with muttered oaths and curses; but she waited to feel for the key and turn it in the lock; even to pull it out and thrust it into the pocket of her gown, as a swift thought came to her, that there might be an accomplice lurking about who would release them if she left it there.

Then she ran as fast as her feet could carry her, through the library and hall, up the stairs and on through the rooms, never stopping until she stood panting for breath beside her sleeping father.

She could not speak for a moment, but laid her face on the pillow beside his and put her arm round his neck.

The touch roused him and he asked, “Who is it? you, Lulu?”

“Yes, papa,” she panted; “I I’ve locked some burglars into the strong room and ”

“You? you have locked them in there?” he exclaimed in astonishment starting up and drawing her into his arms.  “Surely, my child, you have been dreaming.”

“No, papa, not a bit; I’ve locked them in there and here’s the key,” putting it into his hand.  “I slammed the door to on them.  I shot the bolt too, and I don’t think they can get out.  But what will we do?  Papa, can you get somebody to help you take them to jail?”

“Yes; I shall telephone at once to the sheriff at Union.”

“Who is it?  What’s the matter?” asked Violet waking.

“I can not wait at this moment to explain matters my love,” the captain said hastily picking up Lulu and putting her in the place in the bed which he had just vacated.  “I must act, leaving Lulu to tell you her story.”

With the last word he hurried from the room and the next moment they heard the telephone bell.