The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1905-06-25
Copyright. 1893. by Charles scribner'
Sons)

n the rev. ma, Indt VIII pear tSAi-
ing at any length. Not that the
others contained details which
even I would hesitate TO recount; it is.
rather, the very absence OF untoward in
cident which renders them useless for my
present purpose. In point OF fact our
plans were so craftily laid Cby Raf1es)
that the chances of a hitch were invari-
ably reduced 10 a minimum before we
went TO work. We might be disappointed
in the market value Of our haul; but ii
was quite the exception for us TO find
ourselves confronted by unforeseen i'm
pediments, or involved in a really dra-
matte dilemma. There was a sameness
even in our spoil; for. Of course, only the
most precious stones are worth the trou-
bic we took and the risks we ran. In
short, our most successful escapades
would prove the greatest WEAKNESS Of all
in narrative form; and none more so
than the dull affair of the Ardagh en-
eralds, some eight>or nine weeks after
the Winchester cricket week. The former.
however, had a sequel that 1 would rather
forget than all our burgIaries put to-
gether
II was the evening after our return
from ireland, and ! was waiting at my
rooms for Raffles. who had gone off as
usual 70 dispose of the plumber Raffies
had his own method Of conducting this
very vital branch of our business, which
I was well content 10 leave entirely in
his hands He drove the bargains, be-
Iieve, in a thin but subtle disguise of the
fashy-c-edy order. and always in the
Cockney dialect. Of which he had made
ably employed the same fence" who
was ostenslbly a nloney-lender in a small
Cbut yet notorious) way, and in reality
q rascal as remarkable as Rafles him
self. Only lately 1 also had been 10 the
man. but in my proper person. We had
needed capital for the getting of these
very emeralds, and I had raised e1oo on
the terms you would expect, from a soft
spoken graybeard with an ingratiating
smile. an incessant bow. and the shift
lest old eyes that ever flew from rim TO
rim Of pair Of spectacIes. SO the orig
inaI sinews and the final spoils of war
came in this case from the self-same
source-a circumstance which appealed TO
US both.
But these same final spoils I was
still TO see, and I waited and waited
with an Impotence that grew upon
me with the growing dusk. At my
open window 1 had played Sister Ann
until the faces in the street below
were no longer distinguishable. And
now I was tearing TO and fro in the
grip of horrible hypothesis grip
that frightened when at last the lift
gates opened with a clatter outside
that held me breathless until we'll
known tattoo followed on my door.
I'm the dark" said Rafies as 1 drag
ged him in. why. Bunny. what's
wrong?"
.Nothing-now you've come" said I.
shutting the door behind him in a
fever of relief and anxiety. well? Well?
What did they fetch?"
Five hundred"
Down."
Got it in my pocket
Good man. L cried You don't
know what a stew I've been in. I'll
switch on the light. I've been think
ing of you and nothing else for the
last hour IL was ass enough to
think something had gone wrong
Rafies was smiling when the white
light filed the room. but for the mo-
nent 1 did not perceive the popularity
OF his smile I was fatuously full of
my own late tremors and present re-
lief; and my first idiotic act was to
spill some whisky and squirt the soda
water all over in my anxiety to do in
slant justice 10 the occasion.
so you thought something had hap
pened2" said Raff1es, leaning back in
my chair as he lit a cigarette, and look
ing much amused. What should you
say il something had? Sit tight. my
dear chap, It was nothing of the
slightest consequence, and it's all over
now. A stern chase and long one,
Bunny. but / think I'm well to wind
ward this time"
And suddenly / saw that his collar
was limp. his hair matted. his boots
thick with dust.
THE police?" ] whispered aghast
.aOh. dear, no; only old Baird"
Baird, But wasn't it Baird who
took the emeralds?"
1t was"
~rhen how came he TO chase your"
my dear fellow, I'll tell you if you
give me a chance; it's really nothing
TO get in the least excited about. Old
baird has at last spotted that I'm not
unite the common cracksman / would
have him think me. So he's been doing
his best to run me to my burrow."
And you call that nothing
ut would be something II he had sue
eeeded: but he has still TO do that. ! adj
NIT. however, that he made me sit up for
the time being. 1t all comes of going on
the Job so far from home. There was the
old brute with the whole thing in the
morning paper. He knew it must have
been done by some fellow who could pass
himself off for gentleman, and 1 saw
his eyebrows go UP the moment I told
him / was the man, with the same old
tyang that you could cut with a paper