The commonwealth. (Greenwood, Miss.) 1896-1923, 1907-05-31

Sharley closed the ledger with n re-
sounding whack, slid the big volume
into place, swept the litter Of sales
books into a stack, raked pens, pen
| ellis, eraters aud paper cutters into a
drawer and, giancing up, looked into
the uncompromising barrel OF q ire
menduus black revolver. The lively
tune which he had started ~histling
en- finishing work ended on a high
staccato,
Don't move" the owner of the re-
volyer said softly,
Sharlay acted on the suggestion. A
tall man, with the shoulders of an
| athlete. confronted him, The lower
half of his face was covered by a
China silk handkerchief, while a Eeat
SLOUGH hat was pulled down over his
forehead,
Mr.. RaHles. | believer" politely in
ferred Sharley.
"Humph! Why, yes, sir, And ! have
the pleasure of addressing a maj
| equally famous, Mr.. Jack Sharley, ex'
pert accountant? Oblige me by per.
hitting your right hand to remain
quiet. 1t displays a tendency to move
toward that drawer, II you VIII allow
me, our interests are centered In the
safe behind you, and not in the desk,
What" said Sharley In mock sur
prise. Are you interested in that,
too? Then we have another tie that
binds. What that safe contains, n
what 1t should contain. constitute the
terms of the hardest proposition that
| have tried to solve for many moons,
The gentleman whose work ! am
going over seems not only to have
been a s%conndrel, but a fool AS we'll
The burglars eyes expressed more
or less surprise,
I'm tell you what, Mr.. Bur-er--Raf.
nes, I'm glad you came along! I've a
proposition TO make
Sbarley paused, celebrating. The
burglar watched him narrowly, with
suspicious eyes studying each line OF
the bookkeeper's thin. expressive face.
See here, old man, put up your gun
there. I'm with you in this Job
A pause ensued. broken finally by a
laugh from the burglar.
You are d. accommodating. Sor'
ry to say SO, but | don't think ! can
use you ! believe | can manage 1t
myself"
sharley's face flushed a threatening
red.
You do what | tell you, and we Will
both get along better" continued the
thief. There's fifteen hundred dol
lars In that safe tonight, and I'll ask
you TO unlock the door and fork over"
Fifteen hundred" Sharley laughed
scornfully. Why, man, you a take
your paltry fifteen hundred. But II
you are with me in this, It Ia fifteen
| thousand we are after"
The masked man started at this.
Doubt struggled with greed for a mo.
ment before he answered,
We'll, I've got the drop on you, 80
| can afford to be magnanimous. What
la your yarn about fifteen thousand
| dollars?"
"Ill spin no yarns while that canuon
Is smiling in my face. j tell you. the
moneys In the job. And there is no.
body on earth, outside Of old Shipley
and myself, who knows how to get at
IT. II you want to hear the plan, you
can take the pistol out Of this drawer
and lay II alongside of your own on
the counter there, out of reach. Other.
wige you can count me out of 1t alto.
gether."
The burglar looked at Sharley's fig.
ure, pondered for a moment and, with
out taking his eyes off the other,
walked around the desk. Opening the
drawer in front of Sharley, he re-
moved the pistol.
Sharley lowered his voice to an In
tense whisper.
First, you must understand that I
must be kept In the clear on this, On
the discovery that the money Is gone,
II there Is not perfect evidence to the
contrary, | will most certainly be
nabbed az the thief, because no one
but the president of the firm and my
self knows where the money is. For
your part, you will be taking no more
risks than If you had got only the fl.
teen hundred. You agree to that?"
Eyes! Go on"
"rben this is the chance I've been
waiting for" whispered Sharley
boarseI., In uncontrolled agitation.
"Tll tell you why l called that d.
Dowd a fool awhile ago. The head of
the firm has always been afraid OF
banks, and has kept the net earnings
of several years right under that fel.
lows nose, and Dowd kept blissfully
at work pocketing what daily collec.
tons he could and trying to keep the
books s. Qqeered that no one would
catch the discrepancies. The fool
could have skipped with the whole pile
and settled down to a quiet and indie
pendent leisure. Still, the man Ia Ia
other respects clever.
But here he has blundered In his
books. There was a bill OF six hun.