“Here, Eb,” said Gregory the Gauger, “yer want to keep this—­it’s everdence.”

At this moment one of the policemen put his head out the window, and Eb promptly dropped the cake, and grabbed the policeman by the shoulder, remarking:  “I thought there was another one on ye!”

Then he tried to drag the policeman out of the window by force.  The policeman planted his feet firmly, and, as he weighed about three hundred pounds, he successfully resisted all efforts to drag him.

“What in thunder you tryin’ to do?” he asked in a high, squeaky voice.

“TRYIN’ to do?  I’ll show ye,—­resistin’ a officer!  Here, Justin, give us a hand here, won’t ye?”

In the meantime the policeman was blowing a whistle to summon his mate.  Eb stooped down again, and he and the policeman looked in each other’s faces,—­their noses only half an inch apart.  Eb had seen the brass buttons.

“Be you a officer?”

“You’ll find out whether I am or not!” said the furious policeman, standing up and blowing his whistle again.

“Then watcher doin’ here?”

“I’m here mindin’ my own business,—­I was sent here to look after this house—­orders of the Chief.  Who in thunder are you?”

“This here’s the Kunsterble,” said Gregory the Gauger, nodding his head toward Eb, “an’ we’ve ketched the burglars.  Here they be!”

The policeman blinked at us, and once more blew his whistle.  At last the other policeman came, looking about half awake.  He was the one who had been snoring so loud.

“What’s all this ruction about?” he asked in a very cross tone.  The big policeman said something to him in a low voice, and they both stepped out on the veranda.  The first thing that the sleepy policeman started to do was to cuff all of us boys.  But Mr. Daddles spoke up sharply, threatening to get him into trouble for it, and even Eb protected us.

“No call to do that, Mister,” he said, “we’ll see to gettin’ these young fellers put where they belong for tonight.  Tomorrer we’ll hold Court, an’ find out what’s what.”

Everyone began to talk at once.  It came out that the policemen had been sent there from the town on the mainland, at the request of Mr. Littlefield, who owned the house.  He had gone away the day before, and as there had been two burglaries in Bailey’s Harbor, or its vicinity, he did not like to leave his place unprotected.  Eb and Gregory the Gauger wished to enter the house, “an’ go over it to see if it’s all right.”  The policemen refused to allow them to enter,—­probably because they did not wish it to be seen how they had been keeping watch.

This made Eb very angry.  He seemed to feel that the dignity of his office, “Kunsterble of this here island,” was not getting its proper respect.  But I think that the uniforms and brass buttons of the policemen rather frightened him.  The only sign of his high station was a badge, pinned to his suspenders.  The two policemen ended the discussion by going inside the house once more,—­“to make up their lost sleep” suggested Mr. Daddles.  They retired within and shut the window.