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plainly heard. His mind told him that he must see the unthought of, unheard of, unprepared for sight before it could be believed. It was as though those voices might be wandering around at night by themselves like so many disembodied orphaned spirits. He could hear at least two voices now and they were becoming louder. There was no mistake. The momentary contusion of senses and disbelief ended abruptly when two human figures and then a third appeared in the doorway of a stockroom three of them. They were so dimly lit by a distant exit light. Burglars

- A P

far away Harry could see only the outlines of their figures. Their voices seemed to grow muffled as they huddled just beyond a side door to the stockroom, apparently holding a last minute strategy session. Evidently they were still wet from the rain for he could see all three of them making vigorous motions with some cloths in efforts to dry off.

His mind was in a whirl all at once. Instinctively he moved out of the wide open aisle to a more concealed spot just behind a large oak china cabinet. Here he could still view the intruders and be free from imme- diate detection himself. He needed time to think - time to assess his position. Poor Harriet. In the rush of the crisis she was all but forgotten. But forgotten she could not be for Harry was wearing her clothes. A sense of desperation gripped him as the full impact of his plight crossed his mind. Here he was wearing women's clothing with three burglars loose in the store. His pistol and his keys were two floors below in the fur department with the purse. And the fur department which contained some of the most valuable merchandise in the store was standing wide open waiting for the thieves. It occurred to him that the burglars must have triggered the alarm system if they came through that skylight. His radio receiver, of course, was in the purse but he thought it was certain that the alarm had alerted the police. He assumed they would be at the store in a matter of minutes. The police had the keys to the outside door of the maintenance and security office. It would take them a while to come up through the building but eventually they would find not only three burglars but a nightwatchman dressed like a PTA president. The prospect of being discovered in these circumstances was too ludi- crous to think about for the moment. The instinct for self preservation was stronger. The intruders might be armed and not knowing exactly what mischief they intended it was no unusual flight of fancy to imagine himself being shot or subjected to some other violence regardless of his costume should they discover him. No distinct plan of action came to mind but one thought remained uppermost. He must get back down to four and get his pistol and keys and close up the fur department as fast as possible without betraying his presence to the intruders.

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