The San Francisco call., 1905-08-27

dington bridge.
1 often wonder why the pantry win
dow is the vulnerable point of nine
houses out of ten. This house of ours
was almost the tenth, for the window
in question had bars of sorts, but not
the right sort. The only bars that
Rafiies allowed to beat him were the
kind that are let into the stone out
side; those fixed within are merely
screwed to the woodwork, and you may
unscrew as many as necessary IL you
take the trouble and have the time.
Barred windows are usually devoid OF
other fasteners worthy the name;
this one was no exception to that fool
ish rule. and a push with the PEN
knife did its business. 1 am giving
householders some valuable hints and
perhaps deserving a good mark from
the critics. These, in any case, are the
points that 1 would see to were I a
rich stock broker in q riverside SUBJ
urb. In giving good advice, however.
/ should not have omitted to say that
we had left our machines In the semi
circular shrubbery in front, or that
Rafhes had most ingeniousIy fitted our
lamps with dark slides. which en-
abled US to leave them burning.
1t proved sufficient to unscrew the bars
at the bottom only, and then to wrench
them to either side. Neither of us had
grown stout with advancing years, and
in few minutes we had both wormed
through into the sink, and thence to the
floor. 1t was not an absolutely noiseless
process, but once in the pantry we were
mice, and no longer blind mice There
was gas bracket, but We did not NEEDLE
with that Raff1es went armed these
nights with better light than gas; If
it were not immoral. might recommend
a dark lantern which was more or less
his patent. 1t was that handy invention,
the electric torch. fitted by Raffies with
a dark hood to fulfill the functions of
slide had held it through the bars
while he undid the screws, and now he
held it to the keyhole, in which key
was turned upon the other side.
There was a pause for consideration.
and in the pause we put on our masks.
1t was never known that these Thames
Valley robberies were all committed by
miscreants decked in the livery of crime,
but that was because until this night
we had never even shown our masks.
1t was a point upon which Raff1es had
insisted on all feasible occasions since
his furtive return to the world. Tonight
it twice nearly lost us everything-but
you shall hear.
There is a forceps for turning keys
from the wrong side of the door. but
the implement is not SO easy of manipu-
lation as ii might be- Raffies, for one,
preferred a sharp knife and the corner of
the panel. You go through the panei
because that is thinnest, of course, in
the corner nearest the key, and you use
knife when you can, because 1t makes
least noise. But 1t does takes minutes
and even 1 can remember shifting the
electric torch from one hand to the other
before the aperture was large enough to
receive the hand and wrist of Raff1es.
He had at such times motto of which
1 might have made earlier use, but the
fact is that 1 have only once before
described a downright burglary in which
] assisted, and that without knowing it
at the time. The most solemn student
of these annals cannot affirm that he
has cut through many doors in our COM
pany since (what was to mel the maiden
effort to which | allude. ], however,
nave Cracked Only lOO many d ciiD III
conjunction with A. j. Raff1es, and that
at the crucial moment he would whisper:
Victory or Wormwood Scrubbs, Bunny"
or instead of Wormwood Scrubbs IL
might be Portland Hill. This time it
was neither one nor the other, for with
that very word victory" upon his lips
they whitened and parted with the first
taste of defeat.
MY hands heldw gasped Rafles, and
the white of his eyes showed all round
the iris, rarer thing than you may
think
At the same moment / heard the
shuffiing feet and the low, excited
young voices on the other side of the
door, and faint light shone round
Radies' wrist
We'll done. Beefyr
Hang on to him."
Good old Beefy."
"Beefy's got him.
so have $50 have To-
And Raffies caught my arm with his
one free hand. They've got me tight"
he whispered. I'm done"
Blaze through the door," 1 urged.
and might have done it had 1 been
fles who monopolized that risk.
Il can't-its the boss-the wrong
house, he whispered. Curse the fog
its done me- But you get out.
Bunny. while you can; never mind me;
it's my turn, old chap"
His one hand frightened in affec on
ate farewell. ] put the electric torch
in it before I went, trembling in every
inch, but without rd.
Get outi His turnl Yes, l would get
out, but only to come in again, for it
was my urn-mine-not his. Would
Raffies leave me held by a hand
through hole in a door? What he
would have done in my place was the
thing for me to do now / began by
diving headfirst through the pantry
window and coming to earth upon all
fours. But even / stood up and
brushed the gravel from the palms of