Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1911-03-24
CHAPTER XVI.
T HE room in the Fourth National
bank of Springfield. ILL.,, in

IT. E room In the Fourth Nat1onal
bank of Springfield. ILL.,, in
which the new vault had been
constructed, was large, SOM
her Enclosure, with door at one side.
opening from the assistant cashiers
Office. and one directly opposite, which
led to narrow hallway opening into
the main hall.
Along this narrow hallway were
doors opening into the offices OF va
rious officials 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
receptacle for the banks books OF
account. Therefore 1t 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.
The 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
pquaed source of delight to Bobby
and Kitty. whose active imaginatfons
readily converted the interior of the
vault into the cave of daring SNUG
glers who. presumably gone on des-
perate enterprise. had left deserted their
secret cavern and the precious con-
traband articles which. Bobby assured
Kitty, were 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 SUI
periority over a mere girl and the
superiority of the ''men folk" in gen.
eral. insisted that she go first into the
yawning blackness of the big safe?
Surely she must maintain the tradi-
tons 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 went. her waxen faced dolly
clutched tightly against her throbbing
bosom-yet in she went. Suddenly the
huge door scraped shut. All was black
ness. AS she screamed in her fright
she heard the click Of the metal bars
as Bobby playfully turned the ham
dies. Then all was silent. save for
the means of the little girl as she lurch-
ed blindly toward the door Of the safe
and scratched the metal thicknesses
with her tiny nails.
The dolly fell to the floor, the ends
of the soft little fingers began to bleed
from frenzied contact with the bars
that ribbed the interior Of the safe
door, and after a few moments the
wee girls form sank Imply to the bot
tom of the vault, where she gasped
convusively to breathe in the air that
was gradually losing its life support
ing qualities. Not many minutes
would elapse ere she had consumed all
the precious oxygen In the suffocating
interior of the necessarily air tight
vault.
AS Jimmy Valentine dashed into the
vault room he cried to Red Flanagan.
who was at his heels:
go get one Of the clerks to run for
some sandpaper. Pumice stone is too
soft for this job. My fingers are not
in shape for a trick like this. Go!
Run"
Red turned and darted away on his
urgent errand. Well he knew just how
necessary it was for Jimmy Valentine
to have sandpaper to rescue Kitty if it
were true that the skin on his fingers
had grown calloused or had reached
even It's natural thickness.
Jimmy Valentine pulled manfully at
the handles of the vault door, Per-
haps, after all, the combination had