The Safe Breakers' Gang — page 5: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

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The three H’s—Hunt, Hall & takes such a hazardous career, and he might as well Hyde!” exclaimed Tad. come to his end by meeting me as to have his head The dwarf writhed and grinned in acknowledgment of knocked off one of these days by passing under a low the fame of the great trio of man-hunters. | bridge that he doegn’t look out for |” He saw a shadowy figure below—a’ dwarfish figure, so it seemed to him. But it did not climb up. In another CHAPTER ITI. moment it stole away as silently as it came. “ Who was that, anyway?” said Jules Jepworth, under his breath. And for the first time asense of vague un- The robbing of the safe in the office of the little railway easiness crept upon him. station at Tin Bridge was, in truth, only a bit of by- play | Had he known that the dwarfish tigure was that of Kirk on the part of Jules Jepworth, the safe-breaker. Hyde, of the famous ‘‘three H’s,” his alarm would have It might be said that he did it merely to keep his hand assumed a more definite form. in while he was waiting for the train on which he wished But this was something which he was not to discover to escape to another locality. until later, and in a different manner. Jules Jepworth was one of the most remarkable menin, Presently, to his intense relief, he felt the jolt and the country. heard the clanking of straightening links of the train, He knew what it was to mingle as an acknowledged showing that it was once more in motion. equal with the finest ladies and gentlemen in social gath- Slowly the train rolled on its way, leaving the red and erings in several of the leading cities of the land. green switch-lignts of Tin Bridge out of sight. He had held positions of trust in banking houses and Jules Jepworth did not expect long to remain in his with great mercantile establishments. present position undiscovered. He had been the superintendent of an important di- The train kept on for two hours, making onlj a single vision on a great railway, besides having held various stop during the period. subordinate positions. | At last it began once more to slow up. Therefore there was no class of business with the details A brakeman came running along the tops of the cars, of which he was not more or less familiar. setting up the brakes as he went. Last, but by no means least, he had worked in a great There was no brake between the cars where Jepworth safe-making shop, and was himself the inventor of a safe- was concealed; but as the train came to a pause he saw lock which was considered one of the best made. the brakeman stop above him and peer down, as it seemed, When he began life he had intended to follow an honest directly into his face. trade or profession. But an adverse circumstance aroused Without hesitation the safe-breaker climbed to the top, in him a spirit of bitter revolt against the world. and stood tace to face with the brakeman. He resolved, then, to henceforth live at war with those The latter raised his lantern, and held it so as to obtain with whom he could not win success in peace. a good view of the other’s face. This, in brief, was the foundation of the career of Jules * Another stowaway, eh?” exclaimed the man, with an Jepworth; the most expert manipulator of locks, and exultant grin. chief of the boldest safe-breakers’ gang in the country. | “Yes, my friend. But I’m not the kind that can’t pay At the moment when Kirk Hyde, the “tail-ender”’—as their fare. Name your price, and here is your money.” he called himself—of the famous ‘‘three H’s” emerged The brakeman stared at the roll of bills which the stow- from the angle of the station building to follow Tad away held in his hand. Silsby, Jepworth hurriedly snatched a yalise from under-| “If you had money to pay, why did you steal a ride?” neath the bench where the telegraph instrument was sit-| ‘‘Because I chose to, my friend.” uated, and then glided toa window at the rear of the} “ You’re an independent one, I’ll say that for you !” small waiting-room. “Name your price, and take your money.” The window was open a crevice; Jepworth flung the; “I don’t get my money that way. There’s been too sash as high as it would go and leaped forth. | much of this business lately, and the company has turned Like a shadow he darted across the narrow open space off two or three men for not making an example of the beyond, and by ashort detour reached the train which beats. I don’t propose to be fired for any such reason. had just come in. Come along, and we'll see Joe Spring.” He approached it from the side farthest from the sta-| Jules Jepworth smiled, but did not stir. tion, and at a point about midway between the forward} “Who is Joe Spring?” he asked. and rear ends. } “ Conductor.” He climbed the brakeman’s ladder between two cars,| “And if we go and see him what will he do?” secured the valise, which was quite heavy, to one of the; “You'll find out soon enough. Come along, or ’ll make eens. near the top, and then settled himself to calmly ye!” A BOLD RUSE. | The brakeman was plucky. There was that in the eho : 3 3 . Every- ‘of the stowaway which would have deterred many fron seemed to fev his purpose... m Ra UE ne a tioronl ng, atone to vepioteg. 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