The Argosy, Volume XLIV — page 289: what you’re looking at

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

THE GREAT BANK ROBBERY. we'd make a trio that could live on the fat of the land: There’s a job on now that will net us hundreds of thousands each. We need three to work it. Will you go in?” “T must know something about it be- fore I answer.” Jarvis snorted in anger. It was the first time he had shown any impatience with me. “You blamed fool!” he cried. “ You sniveling idiot! Here is a chance by the turning of a lock to make yourself rich. It is due you. I say you are a fool. Wil they help you to earn a living? ” “No, but I shall not enter into any- thing that is dishonest.” “ Oh, you are like the rest!” he cried in a rage, shaking his fist ii my face. “ You took the earnings of thousands of poor people, and made promises that you couldn’t keep.” “T could have kept them if Wilkins had not, run away with the money.” _ “Never! Wilkins knew that, and showed more brains than you did. He got the money, and you got the stripes. But I say, where is your gratitude? Haven’t I fed and housed you? Haven’t I stood by you? Now you look at me in scorn and say—none of you for me.” “T don’t say that, Jarvis. And you must remember that you have not told me anything about this business.” “But now I am afraid to oad ‘you. You'll squeal.” “ Do you mean I will betray you?’ “ Sure, that’s just what I mean.” I pondered over this a while. “You’ve got the prison brand on you, and will never get rid of it,” he said. “ Why not come in with us and get the wealth?” “You haven’t told me how.” Jarvis stuck his hands in his pockets and looked at me reflectively. — “ Merrill, I believe ve got—no, no— I won’t lie. But I do believe Vera has a Bible that she uses sometimes to read in. Ever read a Bible, Merrill? ” “Certainly. J regard it not only asa sacred book, but a vast library of infor- mation as well as good literature.” “Do, eh? Well, all I know about a Bible is that they take oaths on ’em and write in marriages and births and deaths.” 285 “There are usually blank leaves for that purpose in what is called a family Bible,” I said. “ Well, I don’t know whether this is a family Bible or not, but I'll get it.” He left me, and I plunged into the problem what a Bible could have to do with getting rich by plunder. For I was sure 1t was some kind of knavery that Jarvis was proposing to me. I could readily understand the man. Hewas of a fiber that, once turned down, could never struggle upward again. His nature was such that once known as a rogue, he would be a rogue and gain all he could by it. He soon returned with the Bible. “ Now, look here, Merrill,’ he said, “T know yowll keep your oath. I sup- pose you are waiting to hear of this scheme, and when you hear it, you'll maybe come down from your perch and go in with us.” I did wish to hear what he had to say, and so far as the oath was con- cerned. I considered myself so far out of the running as an honest man in the estimation of all, that even if [ did give information it would be looked upon as the spleen of one rogue venting his enmity upon another. Without much study I took the sol- emn oath never to tell a soul on earth what Jarvis was about to tell me. He took the Bible and laid it upon a table, and I fancied I could detect an air of reverence even in nim as he handled it. “ Now, then, Merrill. listen atten- tively while I talk, and don’t interrupt.” “T will,” I answered. “Say, Merrill, you understand these things better than I do, and if I don’t use the right words, or give the correct explanation of things, you'll know what I mean. You've been a financier, you know.” He spoke with a leer, and I felt like punching him. But true to my promise, I did not speak. “Now, listen again. In the bank of the man who has done you the most harm—I mean that sneaking hypocrite Elsmere—there’s a pile of monev in gold and bank notes. Of course there is always a lot of money there. “ But there is a peculiar situation ex- awa (GO) AOOIK (GO) awa