"SEE, THEY'RE GETTING AWAY!' HE CRIED."

HOW TOM PRIMROSE PROTECTED HIS FATHER.

BY SYDNEY DAYRE.

Mr. Primrose arrived at home one morning just as his family were gathering for breakfast. He had been for two days at a small town about thirty miles distant, to which he had been summoned to assist in the trial of a pair of noted criminals.

"You look tired out," said Mrs. Primrose.

"Tired enough," he said. "I have been up nearly all night."

"How did that happen?"

"Well, it was partly my own fault. I met my old friend Philip Sanford up there; he was on the defense in the case I was prosecuting. We had a grand tilt over it—fought each other vigorously all the way through. The chief criminal shook his fist at me when I was making the closing speech. I began to see that the case was going against me, and I pressed the rascals pretty hard."

"Dear me!" said Mrs. Primrose, with an anxious face. "I am always in fear of some of those desperate characters doing you some injury out of revenge."

The gentleman laughed. "Don't worry yourself, dear," he said. "There is much more to be feared from the rogues who go uncaught than from those who feel the strong grasp of the law. But, as I was telling, the case went to the jury about nine last night, and then Sanford and I got down to a game of chess. If I didn't beat him at law, I beat him well at the game, and it was one o'clock before we took heed of the time. Then, as my train was due at three, it was not worth while to go to bed, so we played and talked on. When I got to the station, I found the train was behind time, so I lay on a bench till it came, at five, and here I am."

"You will take a rest now?"

"Not a bit," he said, opening some letters he had found waiting for him. "Business is pressing just now. Ha! ha!" he exclaimed, "this is good news. We'll have those rogues in the penitentiary yet."

"What is it?" asked Mrs. Primrose.

"Why, I told you just now that I feared the jury would not convict on the evidence, although it was convincing to me. Here is a letter from the sheriff of Hancock County, who wishes that these same fellows be held to answer to a charge of complicity in a bank robbery which took place in that county some months since. If the jury fails to convict, the prisoners must be re-arrested the moment they are discharged."

"Rather a damper on them, I should say," said Frank, with a chuckle.

"You'd be astonished to see what decent-looking men they are," continued his father. "The chief criminal would impress you as having been trained for a gentleman, and his accomplice is not much more than a boy; both are well dressed. The daintiest little pearl-mounted revolver I ever saw was displayed in court as the instrument used in their last scrape; Frank, you must take a run up to Homer on the nine train."

"He can not," said Mrs. Primrose. "I'm sorry, but he sprained his foot yesterday, and must keep quiet for a few days."

"That's bad—for the boy and for me. I must hurry down town and send some one else."

"Oh, papa, let me go!" said Tom. "Please do, sir. I've been up there twice with you, you know, and I'd know just where to go, and you could tell me just what to do."

"Ho! ho!" laughed Frank. "'Heedless Tom' on important business! Why, he would be sure to have the judge and sheriff under arrest, and the burglars at large. He can't help doing everything backward, you know."

"Come, Frank, don't be so sharp," said his mother. "Tom is trying to be more careful lately, I think."

"Yes," said Mr. Primrose, in a teasing tone, "he is not at all like the boy I sent from the office last week to buy a pamphlet called 'Westward Ho!' and who brought me instead a garden hoe."

There was a laugh at Tom's expense, but he persisted, coaxingly:

"Do let me go, papa. You know I wouldn't be careless about your business."

"I guess you may go, Tom. Now listen. Find Sheriff Carroll either at his house or at the court-house, and give him this letter. Take the twelve train home, and be sure you are on time. There is money for your fare."

So Mr. Primrose departed, while Tom, highly delighted at the prospect of such an unexpected little jaunt, went to get ready. He meant to act through the whole matter with such caution and judgment as to fully convince his father