The next instant he
placed a large palm over the celestial's face and pushed the
man back into the house. Once inside he called Mr. Harding's
name aloud.
"What is it?" asked the gentleman a moment later as he
appeared in a bedroom doorway off the living-room clad in
his pajamas. "What's the matter? Why, gad man, is that you?
Is this really Billy Byrne?"
"Sure," replied Byrne shortly; "but we can't waste any time
chinnin'. I heard that Miss Barbara was goin' to be swiped
last night--I heard that she had been. Now hurry and see if
she is here."
Anthony Harding turned and leaped up the narrow stairway
to the second floor four steps at a time. He hadn't gone
upstairs in that fashion in forty years. Without even pausing
to rap he burst into his daughter's bedroom. It was empty.
The bed was unruffled. It had not been slept in. With a moan
the man turned back and ran hastily to the other rooms upon
the second floor--Barbara was nowhere to be found. Then he
hastened downstairs to the two men awaiting him.
As he entered the room from one end Grayson entered it
from the other through the doorway leading out upon the
veranda. Billy Byrne had heard footsteps upon the boards
without and he was ready, so that as Grayson entered he
found himself looking straight at the business end of a sixshooter.
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