The Arizona sentinel. [volume] (Arizona City [Yuma], Yuma County, A.T. [Ariz.]) 1872-1911, 1889-08-10

NOW, II you can lind any moral 1aw In
this simple little matter of business,
you have sharper perceptive power:
than have"
BOb's reason began to look plausi
BILE. 1t was quite true, as he said
that the board of directors would will
ingly loan him $4,000, but after all
this business was little irregular and
1 didn't feel quite right about it.
Time is passing" said Bob. glanc-
ing at his watch, land if you can't ia.
vOr me in this little matter of business,
| must try elsewhere. am going to
have the money tonight, sure, and il
you won't help me there are others
who will. Why, Tom," said he, earn
estly, chow can you hesitate one mo-
ment? You have my positive assur-
ance that every thing is all right.
only ask you to do tonight what you
wouldn't hesitate a moment in doing
tomorrow. Then think of your duty
to yourself-to Nell"
Say no more" said 1, you shall
have the money"
Bob and hurried to the bank, and
after going through the form of draw
ing up and signing the necessary note,
went to the vault to get the money.
A queer, nameIess feeling crept over
me as approached the door and seized
the handle to work the combination. |
gave the handles the usual preliminary
turns and then started to work the
combination. To my great surprise,
to my horror may say, found that
the combination was completely oblit-
Grated from my mind. l couldn't re-
mem Der turn nor figure. was as
utterly helpless as if | had never seen
a combination lock in my life. | shut
my eyes and rubbed my forehead. 1t
was no use. The combination wouldn't
come. 1t was something that never
had occurred before, the combination
being always so ready in my mind that
| worked it almost mechanically. But
tonight it was no go. Some influence
had SO upset my mind that the combi-
nation was entirely wiped out of it.
Hurry up, Tom" said Bob, land
let's get through with this business. s"
But l can't" said !, helplessly;
"rve actually forgotten the combina-
tion."
"Come, come, Tom" said Bob, ''that
won't do, you know. If you don't want
to let me have the money why say so.
but don't reso't to a subterfuge like
that"
Its no subterfuge at ALL" l an
swered, Indignantly. ''You shall have
the money if l can unlock the vault,
but | declare to you positively that |
know no more how to work this COM
bination than you do"
well, that's singular" said Bob.
Haven't you a memorandum of the
combination somewhere?"
Yes" said l. Il have-and it is
locked up in the vault"
THE deucer' exclaimed Bob. 'Well,
wait a little while and it may come
back to you"
We sat down and tried to converse
on other matters, but 1 couldn't help
cudgeling my brain to try to make it
yield up that combination. But it was
of no use, my mind was blank so far
as those numbers were concerned.
There's no help for it, Bob," said
!, at length. eff my life depended on
it couldn't open that vault at this
time. Deuce take the luck, anyhow.
Six thousand two hundred and fifty
dollars just within my grasp, and now
to lose it, all on account of this con-
founded mental freak"
Tom" interrupted Bob, who had
been doing some serious thinking, lit
may be all right. l confess l am
little superstitious, and what you call
a strange mental freak may be some
thing else-I don't know what-but
something that seems to say stop
right here, and am going to. Tom,
Pll let this opportunity slide, and trust
to time for further explanations.
And we left the bank with the money
in the vault undisturbed. l went to
bed, still trying without success, to re-
call that combination. finally drop
ped off to sleep, but awoke as the town
clock struck twelve. just as the last
stroke died away, quick as a flash the
combination appeared clearly in my
mind again.
THE time is up" 1 said to myself.
''Was Bob right in his theory?"
The next morning, about nine
o'clock, who should rush into the bank
but Bob, his face lighted up with some
unusual excitement Reckoning me
into private room he opened the in
terview by exclaiming impressively,
Tom, it was a special providencer'
What on earth do you mean, Bob?"
said l.
Just this. By your forgetting the
combination we were prevented from
being duped to the tune of $4,000 My
friend was an innocent tool in the
hands of the most adroit set of sharp
ers it was ever my fortune to encount-
er. 1t was the most cleverly-
ed scheme the mind of mortal man ever
conceived, and plausible enough to de-
ceive better and sharper men than
either you or L. So l say, Tom, you
are under the care of a special provi-
dence, and you must be singled out for
some great work in life"
Bob's theory began to make some
irrnrnrnSSinrn or, mn mind hut cOrrn HIM