Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-08-15

them. as I afterward learned. was coming
In on late train and going out on an
early one: and that accounted for the un-
usual hour. The colonel knew that the
would be right on time II he could hold
US so long, We were trapped.
80 he began to hunt through his desk
very carefully. and slowly. for the scrap on
which the combination was written. Every
now and then his face would brighten up
and he'd seize upon bit of paper. Then
he.d say: Dear me, dear me: I was sure
this was 1t; but 1t isn't. Now, where can it
be-" And he'd adjust his glasses on the
bridge Of his nose. and beam upon US be
nevolently before proceeding with the
search l was completely taken in. /
made up my mind that the colonel was a
queer old crank. who had made up his mind
that his hundred thousand as good as
gone. ard was taking 1t mighty easy. being
satisned to save his skin. But Danny got
impatient by and by, and he began to help
the colonel hunt. ripping things out of the
desk and throwing them on the floor The
Golonel demonstrated with him in the po-
litest possible style. but Danny never could
stand politeness: he hadn't been brought up
TO 1t. So he told the colonel to find that
memorandum in one minute or we'd tie
him neck and heels. stun handkerchief
down his throat, and then blow UP the
safe: The colonel asked to see the hand
kerchief. and Danny got out his old red
bandaHna, whereupon Tracy weakened and
produced the memorandum. Then we all
the safe was
We had lost three-quarters of an hour
that way. and Danny wasted ten more
minutes In impressing upon the colonel's
nlnd the fact that he would get shot II he
attempted to raise rumpus Then Danny
walked up to the safe with the memoran-
dunn In his hand but before trying 1t ne
gave pull! on the handle of the safe door,
ana. py the jumping Jupiter. the thing
wasn't locked! The language that Danny
threw of of his mind when he found that
out would have bored a hole In an ortji-
nary old-fashioned safe. The colonel read
wasn't paying much attention to reform
Just then. He had opened the safe and
was studying the inner DOORS which were
the hardest and strongest that ever 1 saw
IN safe Of that size
They opened by means of a kew fitting
INTO slot in the center of a round knob
like the combination knob on the outside
Ihere's no picking such lock as that and
Inc colonel said that he hadn't a key. but
ne thought that there was one In the
cashiers desk. He'd rather we'd use 1t. he
said, than break the safe. So we opened
the cashiers desk, and the colonel found
me Key for US Let me tell you the trick
that he played right there AS a matter of
fact. he hid a key in his pocket, and. of
course. we'd have gone through him and
got it. if he hadn't been so free about show
ing US Where the other was. Now this key
in the desk was cracked right across az
though the break didn't show, and the
colonel. knowing that the lock worked
rather hard. was In hopes that the KEY
would break in it. If it did. we'd have to
bore through the door, and that would take
time
Well. 1t happened Just as he had plan
ned. The key broke and the piece stuck in
the lock, SO that We couldn't pull it out.
never saw a man SO mad as Danny was
But nothing could stop MIN then He got
out his drills and went to work like steam
engine. In little less than an hour he