JOHNNY HARDING'S VISITORS.
About nine o'clock, in the same evening in which happened the events we
have just described, Johnny Harding leaned idly over the counter in Mr.
Henry's store, whistling softly to himself, and gazing through the open
door at a vessel in the harbor, which was about to begin her voyage to
the West Indies. He looked as though he had been preparing for a game of
fisticuffs with somebody, for his coat was off, his collar thrown open,
and his sleeves were rolled up to his elbows. But there was no one in
Newport with whom Johnny was likely to get into trouble, for he was one
of those easy, good-natured boys who seldom have any differences with
their fellows. He had worked hard all day, and this was the first
leisure moment he had been allowed since morning. He had taken advantage
of it to pull off his coat and enjoy the cool breeze of the evening.
Johnny, as we have before remarked, was now as steady, well-behaved a
boy as could be found in the village. He had seen the time when he had
thought it exceedingly "smart" to take part in some desperate scheme for
mischief--like stealing 'Squire Thompson's horse and wagon, and
presenting him with some of his own fruit and vegetables, for
instance--but he had come to the conclusion that not only was that a
poor way to enjoy one's self, but it was a sure method of gaining a very
unenviable reputation. Tom's runaway expedition had opened his eyes. A
few of his companions congratulated him, and said that in bringing the
Swallow back to land, after Rich had lost her in the ocean, he had
performed an exploit to be proud of; but those whose opinions were worth
any thing, shook their heads at him; and, although they did not have
much to say about it, their actions indicated that they thought Johnny
might have been in better business than running away with a lot of lazy
students. Johnny began to think so too, and saw it was high time he
turned over a new leaf, if he ever expected to be any body in the world.
One thing that convinced him of this fact was, the manner in which Mr.
Henry treated him.
There was a vacancy in the store, and it had been promised to Johnny,
whose highest ambition was to become a business man. One morning he
presented himself before the grocer, who was not a little surprised to
see him. "Ah, yes," said he, when Johnny had made known his wants, "I'd
like to have you here. I don't know any one in Newport I would rather
have for a clerk in my store, if I was only sure you could be trusted.
But do you think you could put much faith in a boy who is continually
running around of nights, and who is always in some kind of mischief?
When I promised you the situation I had no idea you were a Night-hawk,
you know."
Johnny thrust his hands deep into his pockets, and walked thoughtfully
out of the store. He had never taken that view of the case, but he could
not keep seeing that the grocer was right. He was angry at himself when
he thought how foolish he had been, and, consequently, when some of his
friends called on him that night, to inquire why he had missed the last
meeting of their new society, Johnny answered them rather abruptly.
"I won't have any thing more to do with it," said he.
"Why, Harding, what's the matter?"
"The matter is just this," replied Johnny. "I can see, now, that I would
have been a great deal better off in the world, if I had never had any
thing to do with secret societies that were organized for nothing but
mischief. Experience is a hard school, fellows, but it is a thorough one
and I'll never forget the lesson I have learned there. I am going to
behave myself now."
"Well, this beats me, I never thought you would turn spooney."
"Say what you please, my mind is made up, and you can't turn me, any
more than you can turn Tom Newcombe, when he has an idea. The society
can get along without me."
Johnny was as good as his word, although it required the exercise of all
his firmness to resist the pressure that was brought to bear upon him.
The society found it uphill work to get along without him, for he held a
high position in the organization, and was the only one in it who could
study up a plan for mischief at two minutes notice. Its members had
often been sadly in need of the services of Tom Newcombe; and, now that
Johnny was gone, the exploits were hardly worth boasting of. They tried
to induce him to come back. They coaxed, praised, and ridiculed him, but
it was in vain. Johnny had made up his mind after mature deliberation;
he knew he was in the right, and for two months he held firmly to his
purpose.
One night, as he was coming home from school, he met Mr. Henry, who
began to laugh the moment he came in sight of Johnny. "Is this true that
I hear about you?" he asked, as the boy came up. "Are you a spooney?"
"I don't know, sir," was the reply. "If trying to behave myself makes me
a spooney, I suppose I am one."
"Don't you find it hard work?"
"Sometimes. They bother a fellow so. But I don't care for that. I'm
bound to stick to it."
Johnny moved off, and so did Mr. Henry, but when the latter had made a
few steps, he stopped and looked back. "Johnny," said he, "if you feel
like walking around to-morrow, we'll talk the matter over."
Johnny did feel like "walking around," and he made his appearance at the
store bright and early. It did not take long to arrange matters to his
satisfaction, and he had now been in Mr. Henry's employ about two weeks,
and he began to believe that he was in a fair way to redeem himself. Mr.
Henry was of the same opinion. He had faith in Johnny's good
resolutions, and he never had occasion to regret that he had taken him
into the store.
Johnny's employer stood at his desk putting away his books and papers,
while the clerk leaned on the counter and watched the vessel in the
harbor. At last Mr. Henry closed and locked his safe, and, turning to
Johnny, said:
"I shall leave you to-night with a big responsibility."
"How much is it, sir?" asked the clerk, who knew that the grocer had
reference to the money in the safe.
"Seven thousand dollars," answered Mr. Henry. "The greater portion of it
belongs to my brother, who has come down from Boston to take up a note
that falls due to-morrow. If he fails to pay it, his creditors will have
something to say to me, for I indorsed the note. There are also two
thousand dollars of my own money in the safe, with which I intend to pay
some bills in the morning. If I lose it I am ruined. I shouldn't wonder
if you had visitors to-night," added the grocer, as he picked up his hat
and cane; "so keep your eyes open."
"All right, sir," replied Johnny. "I'll defend that safe against an army
of burglars."
Mr. Henry was jesting, and so was Johnny; not about the money, or the
trouble its loss would occasion, but about the robbers. There was
certainly that amount in the safe, and it was equally certain that it
was needed for just the purposes that Mr. Henry had indicated, but he
was not in earnest when he told his clerk to look out for visitors. No
one ever dreamed of such a thing as a burglary in Newport. Johnny had
never heard of one, except through the papers, but this night was to add
a new chapter to his experience.
"Seven thousand dollars!" said he to himself, as he walked out of the
store, and began putting up the shutters. "That's a nice little sum of
money. I wonder if I shall ever own as much! I should say not, unless I
get a big increase on my present salary. People don't live long enough
nowadays to grow rich on four dollars and a half a week. Never mind,
every dog has his day, and who knows but there is one coming for Jack
Harding? What can I do for you this evening, gentlemen?"
This question was addressed to a couple of rough-looking men, who just
then entered the store. Johnny tried to obtain a glimpse of their faces
as he spoke to them, but he did not succeed, for their features were
concealed by the collars of their pea-jackets, which were pulled up
around their ears, and by their slouch hats, which were drawn down over
their eyes.
"A couple of sailors, with the ague," soliloquized the clerk, snatching
up his hat and fanning himself vigorously, when he thought how near
sweltering he would be if he was bundled up like that.
The customers stood in the middle of the floor, looking about them with
every expression of curiosity, like country fellows who had just come
out of their native woods, while Johnny leaned one elbow on the counter
and waited for them to make known their wants.
"Where's the boss?" inquired one of them at length.
"Do you mean Mr. Henry? He has gone home."
"Will he be back to-night?"
Johnny replied that he would not.
There was another long pause, during which the men gazed about the
store, and appeared to be examining every article of merchandise in it,
and finally one of them walked up to the counter, while his companion
strolled toward the little office where Johnny slept. He first looked at
the clerk, as if trying to recognize an old acquaintance in him, and
asked: "Got any pipes?"
"Plenty of them, sir," was the prompt reply. "We have a fine assortment,
that was just received from Boston this morning."
Johnny thought he had by this time become well enough posted in his
business to tell, by the appearance of his customers, what quality of
goods they wanted. He thought this man was a common sailor, and he put
out for his inspection a box of cheap clay pipes. The man took his hands
out of his pockets to examine the pipes, and Johnny saw that they were
fair and white, looking very unlike the brown, toil-hardened hands of a
sailor.
"He must be a captain," thought the clerk. "If he is, he wants something
better than a clay pipe. Here are some genuine imported meerschaums, in
the showcase, sir," said he.
The customer was a long time making up his mind which he wanted. He
looked first at the clay pipes, then at the meerschaums, weighed several
of the latter in his hand, and finally he pulled out his pocket-book.
Then it took him some time longer to find a five cent piece; and when he
had paid for one of the clay pipes he rested his hands on the counter,
and looked up at the articles on the shelves, as if wondering if he did
not want something else. Johnny waited patiently for him to come to some
conclusion on this point, and, at the same time, kept close watch of the
other customer, whose movements were somewhat singular. He first
produced a pipe from the pocket of his pea-jacket, and, walking around
the end of the counter to the match-box, prepared to indulge in a smoke.
Johnny, out of the corner of his eye, saw that, while he was filling his
pipe, his gaze wandered up the space behind the counter, until it rested
on the safe, which he regarded long and earnestly. If Johnny could have
read the thoughts that were passing through his mind, they might have
caused him some uneasiness; but, believing that the man had found an
object of curiosity in the strong box, he felt disposed to laugh at him.
"Where could he have passed all his life, anyhow?" thought the clerk.
"He never saw a fire-proof safe before. What would he say, I wonder, if
he could look at the combination lock inside, that can't be opened, even
by a man who understands it, in less than ten minutes!"
After burning half a dozen matches, the customer got his pipe lighted to
his satisfaction, and began walking about the store again. He glanced
into the little office where Johnny slept, went to the front door and
gazed up and down the street, thence to the side door, which he opened,
and looked out into the passage-way that ran between the store and Mr.
Newcombe's elevator, and finally he examined the shutters that Johnny
had just put up. Having completed the rounds of the store, he began to
whistle, whereupon the man at the counter picked up his pocket-book and
followed his companion, who walked out on the wharf.
"Does any body suppose they ever saw a grocery-store before?" said
Johnny, to himself, as he stood in the door and watched his customers
until they disappeared in the darkness. "I've seen some green men in my
time, but these carry off the palm. The one that bought the pipe is not
a sailor, for, if he was, he would not have been so particular. He would
have taken whatever was offered him, and paid double its value, if I had
seen fit to demand it, and without a moment's hesitation. They are
hard-looking fellows, anyhow."
Having thus expressed his opinion of his customers, Johnny struck up a
cheerful whistle, and resumed the work of putting up the shutters. When
this had been done, he locked the door, and put out all the lamps except
one, which he carried into his bed-room, and sat down to read until he
should become sleepy. The book was so interesting that Johnny forgot
that he had worked hard all day and was very sleepy, and it was
half-past ten o'clock before he knew it. Finding that his eye-lids were
growing heavy, he went the rounds of the store once more, tried all the
doors and windows, to make sure that he had fastened them securely, and
then tumbled into bed. He always slept the sleep of the healthy, and, on
this particular evening, he slept so soundly that he did not hear what
was going on at the side door, which opened into the passage-way. About
midnight, however, he awoke with a start, and with a presentment that
there was something wrong. He was not mistaken, for when his eyes were
fairly open, he found that his bed-room was flooded with light. He was
not alone, either; there were two persons in his room who had no
business there. One was standing in the door-way, holding a
sledge-hammer and an iron punch in one hand, and a short piece of rope
in the other; and the one who stood at the head of his bed carried
something the clerk did not like the looks of--a revolver, the muzzle of
which was pointed straight at his head. A single glance was enough to
establish the identity of these unwelcome visitors. They were his
customers of the previous evening.
"What are you doing in here?" exclaimed Johnny, starting up on his
elbow. "Get out o' this!"
"Silence!" whispered the man with the revolver, seizing Johnny by the
shoulder and placing the muzzle of the weapon against his forehead. "If
you utter another word you are a dead man."
The bare thought of being awakened out of a sound sleep, to find a
couple of burglars in one's bed-room, is enough to send a thrill through
the strongest nerves; and Johnny, although he was far from being a
coward, was thoroughly frightened. He knew, however, that he was in no
danger of bodily harm as long as he obeyed the robbers' injunction and
kept quiet. They were not there to injure him--they were after the seven
thousand dollars in the safe; and Johnny was powerless to prevent them
from taking it.
"Come in here and tie him, Ned," said the man with the revolver.
Ned, after depositing his hammer and punch on the floor, advanced into
the room, and almost before Johnny could tell what had happened to him,
he was lying on his face in the bed, with his arms fastened behind his
back, his feet tied to the bed-post, and a towel bound tightly over his
mouth.
"Now, then, my hearty, you're safe, and the best thing you can do is to
keep perfectly still. We don't want to hurt you, but if you begin any
fuss, we'll settle you in a hurry."
So saying, the robbers left him, and began their work in the store.
From the position in which he lay, the clerk could witness all their
operations, and he could not help thinking that the burglars were very
expert in their business. They moved quickly, but so noiselessly that
Johnny, if he had not seen them, would not have known that they were
there. They first pulled the counter from its place, and wheeled the
safe into the middle of the store; after which one of them laid a coil
of rope upon the floor, and by their united efforts, the safe was tipped
over on its back and placed upon it. Their next move was to strip the
blankets and quilts from Johnny's bed, and wrap them around the safe,
leaving a small opening in them directly over the lock. Then one of the
robbers picked up the punch, and held it close to the handle of the
lock, and the other, with one swift blow of the sledge-hammer, drove its
sharp point through the thin sheet of iron that formed the outside of
the safe. Into the hole thus made they poured a quantity of powder,
adjusted a slow match, which one of them touched off with the cigar he
had been tranquilly smoking all the while, and then the robbers, hastily
closing the slide of the dark lantern, retreated outside the building to
await the result. The clerk was sure they had gone out, for he heard the
side door open and close very carefully.
"They're going to blow the safe open," thought Johnny, as he lay and
watched the slow match, flashing and sparkling as the fire approached
the powder. "I hope it will make an awful noise. Where's Mr. Newcombe's
night watchman, I wonder, that he didn't see these fellows come in
here!"
A single flash of light illuminated the store for an instant, and then
came the report. It was not near as loud as Johnny expected it would be,
for it was deadened by the blankets and coil of rope; but it jarred the
glassware behind the counter, and he hoped it might attract somebody's
attention. For five minutes he lay listening and waiting, but the
robbers did not return. Could they have been frightened from their work?
If that was the case, Johnny wished that the person who had alarmed them
would come in and release him, for his position was getting to be very
uncomfortable. Five minutes more elapsed, and then he heard the side
door open, and stealthy footsteps enter the store. The lantern blazed
up again, and Johnny was astonished to see that the robbers had been
reenforced. There were seven of them now.
"A thousand dollars apiece for the rascals," said he, to himself.
"That's a good deal for one night's work. Mr. Henry little imagined,
when he told me that I should have visitors before morning, that his
words would come true!"
Johnny brought his soliloquy to a close very suddenly, raised his head
as high as he could from the bed, and gazed earnestly at the robbers'
companions. He was certain that he had seen them before. He winked his
eyes hard, and looked again. There could be no mistake about it. The
new-comers were Sam Barton and his band of outlaws. He had believed that
the governor was at the bottom of the harbor, but there he was, as
lively and full of mischief as ever. Johnny had never been more
bewildered in his life.