Omaha daily bee., 1905-05-14
RaffleS Story

btuDu.ur glp Jt mo slowly relaxed
cut still not a sound he continued in
the same whisper. wen take rise out
Of him. wherever he Is, Slip or your shoes
uud follow me-"
We'll ycu may wonder at my doing so.
but you can never have met A. j. Rallies.
Half his power lay In conclliatng trick
tf sInklng the commander In the leader.
And IL was Impossible not TO follow one
who led with such n zest You might ques-
ton, but you must follow first. So now,
when l heard him kick off his own shoes
] did the same. and was on the stairs at
his heels before | realized what an extra
ordinary way this was Of approaching
stranger for money in the dead Of night.
But obviously Ranies and he were on eN-
ceptlonal terms Of intimacy, and / could
not but infer that they were in the habit
OF playing practical Jokes upon each other.
We groped our way so slowly upstairs
that I had time to make more than ono
note before we reached the top. The stair
was uncarpeted. The spread fingers OF
my right hand encountered nothing on the
damn wall; those Of my left traed through
a dust that could be felt on the banlsters.
An eeric sensation had bcen upon me since
we entered the house. II increased with
every step we climbed. What hermit were
we going TO ptartlc IN his cell?
We came To a landing. The banisters led
us to the left and to the left again. Four
steps more and we were on another and
longer landing and suddenly a match
blazed from tho black. ] never heard It
struck Its fash was binding. When my
eyes became accustomed to the light there
was Rafles holding up the match with
one hand and shading it with the other, be-
tween bare boards. stripped walls and the
onpn dnors Of ernpty rooms.
"where have you brought me?' 1 cried.
"Tho house is unoccupied"
Hush! wait!" he whispered, and he led
the way into one of the empty rooms. His
match went out as we crossed the threshold
and he struck another without the slightest
noise Then he stood with his back to me,
fumbing with something that could not
see But when he threw away the second
match there ws7 some other light In It's
stead and slight smell of oil. I stepped
forward to look over his shoulder, but be-
fore / could do so he had turned and
flashed a |tny lantern in my face.
whats this?" ] gasped. What rotten
trick arc you going to play?'
ITS played" he answered, with his quiet
laugh.
ION me2"
I'm afraid so. Bunny"
'Is there no one IN the house, them"
mo one but ourselves"
80 1t was merely chaff about your friend
in Bond street who could let us have that
money!"
mot altogether It's quite true that
Dandy is a friend of mine.'
''Danby?"
The 1eweler underneath"
"What do you meant" I whispered
trembling like leaf as his meaning. dawned
upon me. Are we to get the money from
the jeweler7"
well, not exactly"
What then2"
1.-THE equivalent-from his shop"
There was no need for another question
understand everything but my own dem
sity.lFIe had given me n dozen hints and
had taken none. And there I stood, star
ing at him in that empty room; and there
he stood with his dark lantern laughing at
me.
"A burglarr gasped. "You-you!'
'T told you I lived by my wits"
"Why couldn't you tell me what you
were going to do? why couldn't you trust
me? Why must you lie?" I demanded,
piqued TO the quick for all my horror.
IT wanted to tell YOU" said he. II was
on the point of telling you more than
once You may remember how l sounded
ably forgotten what you said yourself. I
didn't think you meant 1t at the time, but
I thought I'd put you to the test. Now /
see you didn't, and don't blame you. !
only am to blame. Get out of It, my dear
boy, quick you can; leave 1t TO me.
You won't give away, whatever else
you dol"
oh, his clevernessl His fiendlsh clever
ness! Had he fallen back on threats
coercion. sneers, all might have been diff
ferent even yet. But he set me free to
leave him in the lurch. He would not
blame me. He did not even bind me tc
secrecy; he trusted me. He knew my
weakness and my strength, and was play.
ing on both with his masters touch.
mot so fast" said l. "Did I put this
into your head or were you going to do II
in any case?"
mot In any case" said Rafles. TITS
true that I've had the keys for days. but
when 1 won tonight I thought of chuck.
ing II; for. as a matter of fact it's not 8
one man Job"
THAT settles It. I'm your man."
You mean it?'
''Yes-for tonight"
"Good old Bunny" he murmured, hold
ing the lantern for one moment to my
face; the next he was explaining his plant
ana was noddlng, as thought we haC
been fellow cracksmen all our days.
II know the shop" he whispered 'be
cause I've got few things there I know
this upper part. too; it's been to let for
month, and l got an order to view ant
took cast of the key before using It
The one thing I didn't know is how L
make connection between the two: a
present there's none. We may make 1t vi
here, though rather fancy the basemen
myself. If you wait a minute I'll tell you
He set his lantern on the floor crept t,
back wirdow and opened it with scarcel!
a sound, only to return. shaking his head
after shutting the window with the SAM
care.
THAT was our one chance" said he; 81
back window above a back window; bu
It's too dark 20 see anything, and w
daren't show an outside light Come dow
after me 70 the basement, and remember
though there's not soul on the premises
you can't make too little noise. There
there-llsten TO thRti'
II was the measured tread that we ha
heard before on the fagstones outside
Raffies darkened his lantern and again W
stood motionless until It had passed
"Either a policeman" he muttered, 20
watchman that all these jewellers ru
between them. The watchman's the ma