The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-07-14

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and shining piles of gold and silver
coin. Corky would look at it sometimes
and fall to thinking of what he would
do with it If all of that money belonged
| to him. He thought of his mother, who
was widow and not very strong, and
who worked beyond her strength at
washing and ironing to help Corky
feed and clothe four helpless little
brothers and sisters. He thought of
the leaky, rickety old house in which
they lived, away out on the outskirts
of the city, near the river, where the
land was low and damp and IN
healthy. He thought of the ragged
clothes his mother and little brothers
and sisters had to wear, and of their
poor and insufficient food. He thought
of how he would change all this if those
crisp bank bills and the piles of gold
and silver he saw every Monday be-
longed to him.
But he would have endured far greater
poverty than he had ever known; he
would have stood on a street corner
begging, with his cap in his hand. be-
fore he would have taken evan one Of
the dull red coppers on Billy's desk.
Old Gus was right when he said
one day that he believed Corky was
as straight as shoestring when it
came to downright honesty" So he
did not look at the money with covetous
eyes nor with single wrong thought
in his heart.
Billy was late in getting to work on
the payroll one Monday. Several per-
sons had been in to see him, and it was
noon before he sat down to his work,
with the money and envelopes before
him. All the other employees of the
business Office but Corky had gone out
to dinner. Billy had filed one or two
of the envelopes when clerk from a
very large dry goods store just around
the next corner came into the Office and
said:
Say, Billy, Mr.. Raynor wants to
see some one right away about running
a full-page advertisement in to-mor-
rows paper. He says .he'd like to see
you about it"
Now a full-page advertisement did
not come to the Republican every day,
and the opportunity of getting one was
not to be neglected, therefore Billy said
at once:
''All right, Holmes; tell Mr.. Raynor
that I'll come right around and give him
figures on it, Then he said to Corky:
just keep your eye on this money
while I'm gone, viii you, Corky? I'll
be back in few minutes"
Very well, SIR" replied Corky, with
his usual politeness and readiness to do
anything he was asked to do.
Billy's desk was in a corner of the
room farthest from the counter. and
there was no railing on this counter, SO
the desk was in full view from any part
of the office.
Billy had been gone about five min
utes when a man came into the Office
and asked for copy of the morning
paper. Corky handed him paper, but
the man did not go out after he had paid
for it. Corky did not notice it, but there
came a sudden CLEAN into the mans
eyes, and his lips parted as he glanced
toward the desk on which the payroll
money was lying. He drummed on the
counter with his fingers for moment,
then he glanced backward over his
shoulder toward the street, on which
there were few passers-by at that hour.
Suddenly he asked:
Are any of the editors IMP"
'No, SIR" replied Corky; "they do
not come around until about three
o'clock"
We'll, has this Office iob.printing
DEPARTMENT."
Eyes, SIR"
"Is the foreman imp"
81 think he is, SIR
Would you be kind enough to tell
him that l would like to speak to him
about a big lot of printing!"
The foreman Of the job-printing de-
partment was called out to the business
counter almost every day to give esti-
mates on orders for work, and there
was nothing in the mans request to
arouse the least suspicion on Corkys
part. He was an absolutely honest
boy, and wholly unsuspicious of others.
The job department was on the same
floor as the business office, but was
separated from it by small mailing
room and a narrow hall. with door
opening into long alley.
Corky was in this hall, with his hand
on the knob of the jobroom door, when
he suddenly seemed to hear Billy say
ing: Keep your eye on that money,
Corky," and Corky's hand dropped sud
denly from the job-room doorknob. He
turned quickly, and ran through the
and into the business
Office, just in time to see the
strange man jump over the coun-
ter and disappear quickly out of
the open door A single glance re-
vealed the fact that the money was
gone, and over the counter went COrky,
and down the steps he ran into the al
ley that divided the block into two
parts, and by which unfrequented path
the thief was trying to make good his
escape. After him ran Corky, bare
headed, pallid of face, and with wildly
beating heart. He made no outcry as
he ran, but sped on, with clinched fists
and tightly compressed lips.
The man was but 4 few yards ahead
of Corky at the start; he was short and
stoutly built, and not accustomed to
running, while Corky was slender, and
the best runner in the boys baseball
club to which he belonged, and he was
running now IS he had never run n
the widest enthusiasm of the most eX-
citing ball game he had ever played in
his young life. He had more at stake
than the glory aud honor of all the ball
clubs in the world. There seemed TO
re rincrinr- in his ears the business man.