Enough Rope
Chapter OneA Bad Night for Burglars
The burglar, a slender and clean-cut chap just past thirty, was rifling a drawer in the bedside table when Archer Trebizond slipped into the bedroom. Trebizond's approach was as catfooted as if he himself were the burglar, a situation which was manifestly not the case. The burglar never did hear Trebizond, absorbed as he was in his perusal of the drawer's contents, and at length he sensed the other man's presence as a jungle beast senses the presence of a predator.The analogy, let it be said, is scarcely accidental.
When the burglar turned his eyes on Archer Trebizond his heart fluttered and fluttered again, first at the mere fact of discovery, then at his own discovery of the gleaming revolver in Trebizond's hand. The revolver was pointed in his direction, and this the burglar found upsetting.
"Darn it all," said the burglar, approximately. "I could have sworn there was nobody home. I phoned, I rang the bell—"
"I just got here," Trebizond said.
"Just my luck. The whole week's been like that. I dented a fender on Tuesday afternoon, overturned my fish tank the night bef ... read full excerpt from: Enough Rope ebook