The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1906-02-22
Copyright.

~
,zv-,sg--,.M find, that will bear tell
assMS (bsaH ing at any length. Not
Hgg$SSSgtlskH9H that the others contained
details which even
would hesitate to recount. 1t is rather
the very absence of untoward incident
which renders them useless for my
present purpose In point of fact, cur
plans We're so crafty laid (by Ratfies)
that the chances of Il hitch We're in
variably reduced to minimum before
we went to work. We might be dis
appointed in the market value of our
haul. but it was quite tie exception for
US to find ourselves confronted by IN
foreseen impediments OF involved in
really dramatic dilemma. There WAS
sameness even in our spoil for, of
course, only the most precious stores
are worth the trouble we took and The
risks we ran. In short, our most sue
cessful eScapades would prove the
greatest WEAKNESS of all in narrative
form. and none more so than the dull
affair of the Ardagh emeralds, so.ne
eight OF nine weeks after the NIileh s.
ter cricket week. The former, hoy
ever, had a sequel that l would r.lth er
forget than all our burglaries put to-
gether
1t was the evening after our return
from Ireland, and l was waiting at
my rooms for Raffles, who had gone
off, as usual, to dispose of the plunder.
Raf11es had his own method Of con-
Quoting this very vital branch of our
business, which 1 was well content to
leave entirely in his hands. He drove
the bargains, l believe, in thin but
subtle disguise of the f1ashy, seedy or
der and always in the cockney dia-
lect, of which he had made himself a
master. Moreover, he invariably en-
ployed the. same fence" who was os-
tensibly money lender in small
but yet notorious way and in reality
rascal as remarkable as Rallies HIM
self. Only lately also had been to
the man, but in my proper person.
We had needed capital for the getting
of these very emeralds, and l had
raised f100 on the terms you would
expect from a soft spoken graybeard
with an ingratiating smile. an inces-
SAINT bow and the shiftiest old eyes
that ever flew from rim to rim of u
pair of spectacles. So the original sin
ews and the final spoils of war came
in this case from the selfSame source,
a circumstance which appealed to us
both
But these same final spoils l was
still to see, and / waited and waited
with an Impotence that grew upon me
with the growing dusk. At my open
window l had played Sister Ann until
the faces in the street below were no
longer distirguishable And now
was tearing to and fro in the grip of
horrible hypotheses-a grip that tight.
ened when at last the lift gates open
ed with a clatter outside-that held
me breathless until a we'll known tat
too followed on my door.
"In the dark!'' said Rafties as drag
ged him in. "Why, Bunny, what's
wrong.'
"Nothing-no you've come said
l, shutting the door behind him in Il
fever of relief and anxiety. We'll?
Well? What did they fetchY
give hundred"
"Down:'
"Got it in my pocket"
Good mani" l cried. "You don't
know what Il 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.'
Raffles was smiling when the white
light filled the room, but for the
moment l did not perceive the pecul-
iarity of his smile. was fatuously
full of my own late tremors and pres
cat relief, and my first idiotic act was
to spill some whisky and squirt the
soda water all over in my anxiety to
do instant justice to the occasion.
$50 you thought something had hap
pened?" said Rallies, leaning back
in my chair as he lit cigarette and
looking much amused. what should
you say If something had? Sit tight
my dear chap! 1t was nothing of the
Brightest consequence, anu III ull over
now. A stern chase and long one,
Bunny, but think I'm we'll to wind
ward this time
And suddenly saw that his collar
was limp, his hair matted. his boots
thick with dust.
"The police?" l whispered aghast.
ooh, dear, no; only old Baird
Baird! But wasn't it Baird who
took the emeraldsW
ut was"
"Then how came he to chase you?'
'My dear fellow, I'll tell you If you
give me chance. It's really nothing
to get In the least excited about Old
Baird has at last spotted that I'm not
quite the common cracksman l would
have him think me- So he's been doing
his best to run me to my burrow"
"And you call that nothing.''
1T would be something If lie had sue
ceeded, but he has Still TO do that.
admit, however, that he made me sit
up for the time being. 1t all comes of