News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1905-10-11
By E. w. HoRNUNG

to view and took a cast of the key be-
fore using it. The one thing l don't
know is how to make a connection be.
tween the two. At present there's
none. We may make it up here, though
l rather fancy the basement myself
If you wait a minute I'll tell you"
He set his lantern on the floor, crept
to back window and opened it with
scarcely sound, only to return, shak,
ing his head, after shutting the win.
dow with the same care.
"That was our one chance" said he
ga back window above a back Win
dow, but it's too dark to see anything,
and we daren't show an outside light
Come down after me to the basement
and remember, though there's not a
soul on the premises, you can't make
too little noise. There-there-listen to
thatr'
1t was the measured tread that we
had heard before on the fiagstOnes out
side. Raffles darkened his lantern, and
again we stood motionless till it had
passed.
EITHER a policeman" he muttered,
cor a Waterman that all these jewelers.
run between them. The watchman's
the man for us to watch. He's simply
paid to spot this kind of thing"
We crept very gingerly down the
stairs, which creaked a bit in spite of
us, and we picked up our shoes in the
| passage; then down some narrow stone
steps, at the foot of which Raff1es
showed his light and put on his shoes
once more, bidding me do the same in
rather louder tone than he had per-
mitted himself to employ overhead.
| We were now considerably below the
level of the street in a small space
with as many doors as it had sides.
| Three We're ajar, and we saw through
them into empty cellars, but in the
fourth a key was turned and a bolt
| drawn, and this one presently let us
out into the bottom of a deep, square
we'll of fog. A similar door faced it
across this area, and Raf11es had the
lantern close against it and was hid
ing the light with his body when a
short and sudden crash made my
heart stand still. Next moment i saw
the door wide open and Ratfles stand
ing within and beckoning me with
jimmy.
Door No. l." he whispered. "Deuce
knows how many more there'll be, but
| know of two at least. We won't
have to make much noise over them
either. Down here there's less risk"
We We're now at the bottom of the
exact fellow to the narrow stone stair
which we had just descended, the yard,
or well, being the one part common to
both the private and the business
premises. But this fight led to no
open passage. Instead singularly
solid mahogany door confronted us at
the top.
Il thought So" muttered Raf1les,
handing me the lantern and pocketing
bunch of skeleton keys after tam
pering for a few minutes with the lock.
"It'u be an hours work to get through
that
Cant you pick it?'
"No. l know these locks It's no
use trying We must cut it out, and
it'll take us an hour,
1t took us forty-seven minutes by
my watch, or, rather, it took Raffles,
and never in my life have l seen any
thing. more deliberately done. My part
was simply to stand by with the dark
lantern in one hand and a small bot
tie of rock oil in the other. Rat1ies
had produced a pretty embroidered
case, intended obviously for his razors,
but filled instead with the tools of his
secret trade, including the rock OIL
From this case he selected a bit
capable of drilling a hole an inch in
diameter and fitted it to a small but
very strong steel brace. Then he
took off his covert coat and his blazer,
spread them neatly on the top step,
knelt on them, turned up his shirt
cuffs and went to work with brace and
bit near the keyhole. But first he oiled
the bit to minimize the noise, and this
he did invariably before beginning a
fresh hole and often in the middle of
one. 1t took thirty-two separate Dor"
ings to cut round that lock.
noticed that through the first circu-
lar orifice Raffles thrust a forefnger;
then as the circle became an ever
frightening oval he got his hand
through up to the thumb, and I heard
him swear softly to himself.
81 was afraid SOP
"What is it?"
IAN iron gate on the other sidew'
"How on earth are we to get through
that?" l asked in dismay.
"Pick the lock. But there may be
two. In that case they'll be top and
bottom, and we shall have two fresh
holes to make, as the door opens in
ward. 1t won't open two inches as it
is"
1 confess I did not feel sangulne
about the lock picking, seeing that one
lock had baffled US already, and my
disappointment and Impotence must
have been a revelation to me had l
stopped to think. The truth is that
was entering into our nefarious under
taking with an involutary zeal Of
which l was myself quite unconscious
at the time. The romance and the peril
of the whole proceeding held me spell
l. Z n.aI 4..y, n paI