Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1902-08-28
Bluffed
By ELIAS LISLE
....CoPYRIGH2 BY ELIAS LIsLE....

partner. 1t had been hard day. Gold
and bonds in three separate and vast
consignments had come in late-too
late for deposit For the night nearly
a million dollars must remain in the
office safe. The unexpected influx had
kept the junior partner later than usu-
al, for he was master OF the detail or
his office. For time he debated estab-
fishing an extra guard at the office,
but gave over that idea. Special pre-
cautions would arouse talk. and there
were business reasons for keeping the
matter quiet. Anyway, the burglar
alarm system and the special watch
man were sufficient guarantee Of safe
ty. So the Junior partner leaned back
in his easy office chair and closed his
eyes for moment.
"Anything more, Mr.. Franklin!'
asked the senior bookkeeper from the
inner office, where the big safe was
kept.
mo. Has every one gOne"
Every one but you and me, sir" re-
piled the other with the exact particu-
of long years spent over ledgers.
Good night, then. l shall be coming
along in few moments"
1t seemed very few moments after
the door had closed on the head book
keeper when Franklin opened his eyes
again. He swung forward in his chair,
dazed, for darkness was about him.
Consciousness dragging itself slowly
from the cloying sands Of sleep, strug-
gled with vague uncertainties. The
flicker of an electric light from Wall
street, seen through a distant window,
helped the junior partner to recall him
self to realities. He half turned, and in
that instant was wide awake, for a
harsh. startled voice outside said:
whats that!'
"Shut your head" piped another
voice in a high, piercing tone instinct
with savageness. "You didn't hear any
thing"
Maybe twas somethin' outside.
Where's the glim?"
"Don't open up too wide, you fool
warned the high voice as band or
the darkness.
Sitting motionless as stone, Frank
lin heard the men moving along the
outside partition until they reached a
point opposite him. There was fun
bling at the door, which was fastened
by a spring lock.
Hold on said the gruff voice. Les
climb over the partition"
i Climb over nothing!' retorted the
other voice angrily. Going out to look
for a ladder, l suppose. D'you think
we got all night to waste?'
"You said the Waterman was doped
for two hours
"What's two hours to a bungling fool
like you up against a good safer"
"You gimme an hour at this safe, and
I'll make a wide open Moo York Of it, y
said the gruff voice confidently.
open up that door first them" said
the other.
That's all right, but every time |
tackle door l think of that burglar
alarm we run against in Steyn's joolry
store"
alarm here Didn't l tell you l squared
the janitors assistant and fixed the
wires in the cellar!'
"Nell, there might be-
"Well. there amt broke in the 9th
er furiously. "Cut it out! D'yOu think
you can teach me anything about any
kind of wires, alarm or telegraph. or
ANYTHING else? Haven't I been every
thing from ineman to operator, and
didn't run the wire tapping outfit
that blked the poolrooms last year?'
Hold the light here, them growled
the confederate THE locks dead
easy"
During this conversation Franklin
sat paralyzed at his desk. Any re-
sistance that he could put up against
the robbers would be almost useless.
He had never kept revolver IN his
desk and was accustomed to derlde
mildly the more cautious men OF his
acquaintance who always kept load
ed weapon at hand. Now he cursed
himself for neglecting this precautlOn,
recalling a saving of western friend:
lou uOu WANT Il sui W. NAe~A
but when you do want it you want 1t
bad"
The entrance of the robbers meant
ruin to him and to his firm. How easy
the safe would be for them he knew
better than they, for the heavy door
had been left open at his orders that he
might put some papers in it before
closing. On any other night the safe
would have been closed. But this
night of all others. the junior partner
had fallen asleep at his post. and not
only he himself, but thousand limo
cent people, whose interests were
bound up in the house, were to suffer
the penalty. Well, he would at least
do what he could to save them, though
it were at the forfeit of his own life.
A wild idea of smashing his window
and shouting for help he put aside.
To send ones voice ringing up and
down an empty airshaft. bordered by
vacant windows, would be a cherries