The Bottineau courant. (Bottineau, Bottineau County, N.D.) 1895-1929, 1916-04-27

WHATS the m0II6Tl lou lOOA IA
in!" exclaimed George. "Perspira
ton is standing out all over your face
and you are trembling"
Il told you I was . sick man ana
you wouldn't believe me. But ! ex-
pect / will be all right when, we GET
fairly under way
They made talk for and hour or so.
Then Hemenway invited George to
dine with him, and they went down
town. After q good dinner Hemen-
|. way felt his nervousness disappearing.
"Vve got to relieve Jim. and ! bet
ter be going" said George.
"All right. Got plenty Of cigar
ettes?"
"You bet"
"Pens and ink, paper and every
thing you need?"
"All fixed"
"Well, pll see you on board at Q v
en- tomorrow. Better order q taxi to
be at the house at six to serve as an
alarm clock. So long"
Hemenway killed time until nine
O'Clock and when he arrived at his
office the janitor was just about fir
fishing up.
Say, Mr.. Janitor, my office is get
ting rather dusty. Come in on Mon
day and give it a cleaning will your"
"Sure. Working tonight, Mr.. Hem
enway?"
eyes: I have a lot Of figuring to
do" He unlocked his door. "And
that's no lie,,' he added to himself as
he locked the door behind him.
Hemenway pulled down the shades,
unscrewed the tops Of the boxes he
had ordered, arranged the excelsior
within, opened the trunk. and tooK
out the trays.
He removed from the bottom Of the
trunk a suit case, a small, new Ian
tern, a quart Of kerosene oil, six bulls
eye electric %flashers, q suit of dun
garees, jumper and overalls. q pair or
rubber sandals, q ~clothesline, and
twenty-three feet of rope ladder.
He took off his coat, vest, trousers,
shirt, put on the dungarees, and slip
ped the sandals over his rubber beet.
ed shoes.
He filled his lantern, moved a table
IN a corner Of the room, turned up tho
rug underneath, put out the gas. and
sat m%otionless in his chair for ten
minutes.
At the end Of that time he lighted
a flasher, took a nail puller from the
suit case, and removed the nails In a
part of the exposed flooring. It was
evident he had been owe the ground
before, as the nails yielded with hard.
ly an effort
. "Pretty work." said Hemenway to
!. himself as he removed the boards and
: disclosed a hole about three feet
square II couldn't even tell myself
where l had sawed those boards and
pieced them together again. This old
fogy bank won't know what struck II
when I get through. They don't ever
keep a Waterman here. He's a lucky
. fellow, too. II he only knew it, who
ever he is. But to work, to work"
Hemenwzy lowered himself into thu
: hole. his feet striking solid bottom al
, about four feet. Grabbing his flasher
. he peered around. He was in a space
about twelve feet square.
He was in fact in the walled W
space directly over the banks vault
and the solid bottom he was standing
: on was the top of the vault itself.
{ By nice calculation Hemenway hat
made the hole in the flooring over ont
! corner OF the vault. STOPPING to avoit
l the beams overhead, he made his way
to the front OF the vault where hi
found, Just where he had left them OF
his last previous VISIT there. two one
gallon demijohns and two tall, narrow
glass Tipped pitchers.
These were placed within q circle
that Hemenvay had described witt
some care abont two feet in diameter
This circle showed flashy and irregu
lar edges, as though some acid had
eaten into the steel OF the vault.
: "'Ha!" exclaimed Hemenway under
his breath. Everybody on the mark
! an set and ready for the pistol. Well,
here goes, and may the best man
win
He uncorked the two demijohns,
filled n pitcher from n OF then,
and the second pitcher from the other.
Into the jagged groove OF the circle
he poured from the first pitcher unit!
he had completed the circumference.
Then taking the second pitcher he be-
gan. with extreme care, to pour the
contents in the same groove.
The effect was strange and wonder
full. When the two liquids met there
was a bubbling like peroxid on raw
flesh. The steel began to soften. and
when the bubbling ceased, as it did
after a time when the mixture lost its
potency, there remained a kind Of We
terry mud.
This HemenWay removed with Q
stiff brush and then repeated the pro
cess OF pouring n liquid on the
other. At the end OF an hour he was
gratified to hear q splashing on the