Roy Norton

“ For the first time he hesitated, bent forward, and scowled at the tops of the blankets, apparently recalling that he had packed the stolen treasure with nothing but layers of currency covered by a newspaper. He caught his breath, held it, and the watchers could discern in that well-lighted room the hardening of his face, the setting of his jaws, and his increasing hesitancy, as he glanced sideways at those who surrounded him, desperate men all, none of whom would hesitate to kill him in the passion of swift disappointment. ”

“ It would be easy in New York, but San Francisco is on a peninsula, and is hard to escape from, if the police decide to watch every man who leaves the town by ferry, steamer, or trains that run from one point. You two miners offered Carruthers a way out. You were shipping mining machinery, by freight, from the Acme Company. If he could get one of their packing cases, or another, and imitate the stencil, then get the stuff to his rooms, pack it, and land it in with your lot, not a soul on earth could suspect that a fortune was actually being smuggled out of town. ”

“ The watchers saw the heavy box carried inside the cabin, and Goliath, whose position commanded a view of the interior, saw it deposited on the floor. A littered table, some cooking utensils and supplies indicated that one or perhaps more of the men had occupied the cabin for several days, and Goliath shrewdly surmised that one man at least, probably the teamster, had been there long enough to familiarize himself with the way of the partners’ camp, and had probably watched it more or less for some time to assure himself that the new men were actually mining. ”

“ All its fancy vaults and safes and everything, had been gone through as if they were of paper. What showed the marks of experts was that, although the bank had been robbed of a hundred and eighty-five thousand dollars, nothing whatever was taken but worn currency and gold.
The gold was the mistake! Gold is heavy as we all know. The burglars hadn’t been able to resist it, clever as they were, and had gotten away with nearly three hundred weight of gold. That proved to us that several men were on the job, because no one man could have carried it very far. ”

“ Carruthers growled. “I didn’t want to wipe ’em all out, if it could possibly be helped. They’re such a simple lot of boobs.”
The wagon moved forward, slowly, with the horses sometimes stumbling over the stumps, and the driver wishing that the moon would rise; but David crouched beside the road and waited until his friends arrived. Unlike the criminals, these had no more fervent wish than that darkness might continue to hide their movements, as well as to render the progress of the wagon slow. ”

“ David did not heed his partner’s interruption, but said, “Best thing for you to do, Carruthers, since you won’t stop and take a snack, is to go back and bring your team down here. The men most always go over to the bunk house as soon as they’ve grubbed, and sit around on a bench outside. Your box is in our cabin under my bunk. I can make some sort of excuse to them fellers so they won’t think nothin’ about it, if they was to see you load it in the wagon. ”

“ Carruthers glanced across to the mess house where the card players were still visible, promised to call on the partners and spend a day or two with them after he had finished his work, inquired about the fishing and shooting in that locality, referred to the additional twenty-five dollars he had paid them, and turned to wave them good night as the buckboard moved away. The partners scrupulously obeyed Morgan’s instructions, by undressing with the lamp lighted, extinguishing it, and then reclothing themselves in the darkness. The detectives did likewise. ”

“ Much of the Mission is highly respectable, inhabited by persons of humble means, honest folk who work hard for a living; but are not millionaires. It has hotels that are frequented by hard-working and respectable visitors from upcountry, downcountry, or the mining sections. And in one of these hotels were for a few days quartered a certain pair of mining partners widely known as David and Goliath—whimsically known as such, because of their difference in stature and methods in enterprise. ”

“ The partners agreed, and then suddenly exchanged glances.
“Dave, do you think we ought to—about that box—you know what Carruthers——”
“Carruthers? Carruthers?” exclaimed Morgan, abruptly sitting up from where he had been lounging on the doorstep.
“Pshaw! Might as well tell ’em, Goliath,” said David. ‘We ain’t got nothin’ to fear from these fellers. They’re officers of the law. They know how to keep their mouths shut about banking business. They know that banks is mighty particular.” ”

“ There must have been four men, or possibly five, in on the job. One of them was probably the expressman who was so conveniently waiting to haul the chest from where it was turned over to you to the freight depot; and perhaps another is, or was, a porter in the hotel where you two men stopped. Carruthers furnishes the brains for the combination. He and his gang had spotted the bank, and by studying it and the methods of the watchmen, had decided how to crack it. The only thing that bothered them was how to get away with such a lot of loot. ”

“ Goliath exclaimed with a broad grin. “Don’t seem to go anywhere else at all. Ain’t got to know anybody else at all.”
“Except three or four fellers that boards here in these diggings,” David said. “One or two of ’em seem all right. That night watchman feller, Carruthers, seems a pretty good chap.”
“He’s another feller that’s got a job I wouldn’t hanker after. Night watchin’ a bank wouldn’t suit me at all, what with all the desperate burglars and such there is in a place like this. Must be a mighty big responsibility, eh?” ”

“ Moreover, two watchmen, who had been sandbagged, then bound and gagged, agreed that there were more than two men on the job. One of them recovered consciousness enough to be certain that, although nothing but the outer vault was blown, there was one man in the gang who was so expert that he turned all the locks-of the inner safes in about as much time as it would take a hungry man to eat a meal. ”

“ They had not expected to see any of their police acquaintances again; but, when they came to the ferry slip, saw not only Morgan, the chief plain-clothes man, but several others they recognized. They would have remained to talk a few minutes with their new friends, but found them all strangely intent and preoccupied.
“Sorry I can’t have a chin with you boys,” said Morgan mysteriously, and in a heavy-villain air of secrecy, “but the fact is we’re keeping an eye on every one that boards a ferry to-day. We’re hoping to pick up one or two chaps that are wanted mighty badly.” ”

“ The fraternity that pits its wits against law, order, and the safe possession of property can still draw maps of every alley, byway, or warren on the Mission side; and—such memories are frequently useful for the illicit. ”

“ It he calls for it himself, he will first make certain that he’s not being led into a trap. If he doesn’t, all we’ve got to do is never, under any circumstances, to lose sight of that box full of stone, because, sooner or later, it will lead to some of his gang.”
The letter, phrased less perfectly and entirely clothed in David’s language was mailed on the following day, while four San Francisco detectives, superintended by Goliath, learned the art of building a cabin that would appear as a mess and bunk house. ”

“ The partners admitted that they had heard of it all their lives.
“Good!” said Carruthers, and went on, still more impressively. “Then you'll understand that they never hire any one to do anything for them unless they know absolutely, that they’re honest. Well, I had to draw my pay to-day, and I overheard the head of the safety deposit ordering one of the clerks to find out the best way to have a box of stuff shipped up-State, and he was growlin’ about the silly things that depositors expect a banker to do for them. ”

“ Morgan agreed. “But—Carruthers? Who is Carruthers? What’s Carruthers got to do with it?”
“Him? Oh, he’s a feller we got acquainted with while we was stoppin’ at the Observatory Hotel in Frisco. Nice feller, Fact is, he’s the chap that put us in the way of makin’ this twenty-five dollars for doin’ nothin’. He’s night watchman up at the Steamship National, Carruthers is. Got a mighty responsible position, I reckon.”
“It certainly is,” Morgan admitted, and then getting to his feet. “Well, let’s get at it and take down the bunk and shift that box so we can do this job of carpentering.” ”

“ They used to send him out to open safes and vaults and strong boxes, whose mechanism had gone wrong, or when combinations were lost. The men who do those jobs are always skilled and specially trained; and entirely trustworthy men, Maybe it was the temptation, or—Heaven knows what!—but, anyhow, the company made a mighty big mistake in educating and then trusting O’Leary. He went wrong. One night, he cracked a safe in a country bank, and if his pals hadn’t squealed, would never have been suspected. He did about three years for that job, and then, when he came out, turned loose. ”

“ But he didn’t change hotels, so we got a man in there one day and went through all his stuff, without finding a thing. We had his mail watched; but he received one letter only in three months, and that was merely a reply to one he’d written to a Seattle firm asking for a job. He joined a trades union, took out a card in the public library, spends most of his evenings indoors reading, and on Sundays goes to church. He’s always been a teetotaler as far as we can find out, doesn’t smoke, never mixes up with women of any sort, good, bad, or indifferent. ”

“ It seems an old cuss that has had a box of stuff stored in the safety-deposit cellars for about five years, wants it shipped up to somewhere near where you two men go, and then left in some responsible, honest person’s care until he calls for it, or sends for it, and he’s ready to pay the shippin’ charges and give the fellers that look after it twenty-five bucks for their trouble. ”

“ He took from his pocket a typewritten paper that he handed to the partners who thoughtfully read it:
Dear Mr. Carruthers: Your bank has never sent for the box you gave us to take care of. We don’t like to keep it any longer, because we've opened up our ledge and are going to put on a gang of men to work. Somebody might get on the job that would get curious about the box and break it open to see what’s in it. You'd better get some one else to keep it for you. ”

“ She’s heavy. Reckon this man Gardner, who owns it, must have it full of scrap iron. Funny what stuff some people set values on, ain’t it?”
The partners repaired to the hallway where stood a big packing case, and David gasped with surprise when he saw the stenciled letters on the outside: ‘From Acme Mining Machinery Company, San Francisco. Handle with care.’
“Funny!” he exclaimed. “That’s the place where we bought our stuff from.”
“That so?” said Carruthers, and then brightening up with an idea, laughed, and said, “Say, it’s a piece of luck, that this box came from them some time, ain’t it? ”

“ I'll take Bill with me on that job, and think it’s best to leave Pete here with you two until we come back; because—boys, you’re up against at least three or four, and possibly, five men who, if it came to a show-down, wouldn’t have any more hesitancy in wiping you out than they would in killing a couple of lambs. If it happened that they showed up here and you weren’t on guard, I can’t tell what might follow. Carruthers’ way would be to send you some sort of order, probably signed by him for the bank, to turn the box over to bearer, and so forth. ”

“ Inclosed find money order for twenty-five dollars. You will get that much more when I call or send. Wishing you the best of luck, I am, yours truly,
John Carruthers. “It’s ten chances to one that he will study this place well before he calls or sends any one for the box,” David remarked; “so, if you want to really nab him; it’s best for all of you to really mine. Besides—we don’t kick none on having a good, husky gang of men for nothing in wages.”
For a whole week they waited and worked. Morgan declared that it was doing him much good physically. ”

“ Morgan adjured, “that you are dealing with cool, desperate, and murderous men. Pete knows the danger. And as for Bill and me, we shall probably be back here in about three days—just as soon as I can get my plans laid. Well, so-long!”
Goliath and Pete put in the day restoring the box and trunk within to their original appearance, and rebuilding the bunk above them. When David returned late at night, and on foot, after having delivered the borrowed buckboard, the cabin wore its habitual look. ”

“ For if anybody’s got any kick, now’s the time to make it. We're all here.”
He looked challengingly around, and then when none raised an objection, reached over and took a hammer from the table and began ripping the metal binding off the box. Obedient to Morgan’s whispered orders the detectives and the mining partners had taken positions around the cabin and were peering through the chinks where time had melted away the mud in places, thus giving view to all within. ”