The Lynden tribune. [volume] (Lynden, Wash.) 1908-current, 1911-04-27
CHAPTER XVI

"Nu lue new vault lau DeeD
constructed. was large. SOM
Der lucioSlFe, with n door at one side.
opening rom the assistant cashiers
! Office ald one directly opposite. which
led 10 harrow hallway opening into
the main hail
Along This narrow hallway were
doors olening into the offices of va
rious olnclals of the bank. The vaults
in which were kept the currency and
negotiable papers. bonds. stocks. notes.
etc. were on the floor below. and the
new vault built against the wall at
the rear OF the room was designed as
a receptacle for the banks books OF
account Therefore it had larger in
terror than an ordinary vault. and as
the shelves had not yet been built in
there Were several feet of free space
/ inside. which would be occupied by |
books and records later on.
Tbe huge steel ribbed door had been
left invitingly open by the workmen
engaged in adding the finishing touch
es. and Consequently it afforded an I'M
equaled source of delight to Bobby
and Kitty, whose active imaginatiOns
readily converted the interior Of the
vault into the cave of daring SNUG
glers WHO presumably gone on des-
perate enerprise. had left deserted their
secret Cayern and the precious con-
traband articles which. Bobby assured
Kitty. we're surely to be found there
in So what was there for high spir-
tied little girl to do. when her brother.
who never failed at asserting his su-
periOrity over mere girl and the
superiority of the "men folk" in gen.
eral. insisted that she 60 first into the
yawning blackness Of the big safe?
Surely she must maintain the tradl'
tions of the fearlessness of her sex as
she knew them and take the dare
which Bobby forced upon her.
Slowly into the steel bound shadows
she wnt. her waxen faced dolly
cutched tightly against her throbbing
kpsom-ret in she went. Suddenly the
t1Sce dor ecraped shut. All was black
ness. ~ she screamed in her fright
she I'd the click Of the metal bars
as Bd tv playfully turned the han
dies. Then all was silent. save lot
the nj ms of the little girl as she lurch'
ed bhIbly toward the door of the safe
and s. Fatched the metal thicknesses
with r tiny nails.
The holly fell to the floor. the ends
of the oft little fingers began to bleed
from Il enzied contact with the bars
that ribbed the interior of the safe
door. aid after few moments the
wee g1s form sank Imply to the bot
tom of the vault. where she gasped
conyuJ vely to breathe in the air that
was GRADUALLY losing its life support
ing qualities. Not many minutes
would dapse ere she had consumed all
the precious oxygen in the suffocating
interior Of the necessarily air tight
vault.
AS rhmy Valentine dashed into the
vault rbm he cried to Red Flanagan
who wlb at his heels:
Go gft one Of the clerks to run rot
some sahdpaper Pumice stone Is toe
soft forlthis job. My fingers are no.
In shape for a trick like this. 10
Rum
Red turned and darted away on MS
urgent Grand. Well he knew just how
necessary it was for Jimmy valentine
to have tandpaper to rescue Kitty II i
were tt that the skin on his fingers
had grown calloused or had reached
even its natural thickness.
JIMMY Valentine pulled manfully a
the handles of the vault door. FER
haps, after all, the combination na'
not been turned and only the door
weight held it in place. But the meta
barrier would not move. He presse'
his ear to the hairlike crack. II
heard the sound as Of little pou.
falling 10 the floor and the faint moan
of the prisoner calling. "Bobby. Bobby
Bobby"
valentine bent over the combination
peered sharply at it, then began I
twirl the cylinders gently. Aroun
and then back he turned the khol
No: 1t was of no use. Nothing coui
be done until the sandpaper arrived
His fingers had lost their sensltiVehes
and hence their cunning. and IN u
meantime Valentine we'll knew u
prisoner was consuming whatever
the priceless air that remained.
The door leading from MS oiie
swung open. and again Red Flanaea
darted in. He flung himself on u
vault room floor directly below va
eptipe's knees and held his ear Gus
to the crack Of the safe door.
"Think you can make it. Jimmy