LARRY’S MOVEMENTS
Larry passed a restless night. He slept but little and frequently he
got up to peer from the darkened window. Sometimes he heard voices in
the next room, and he knew the men were on guard.
“I must keep up my courage,” thought the boy, “someone will surely come
for me. This is New York, and they have lots of police.”
But Larry forgot that the very size of the city was a factor against
his being found very soon.
Toward morning he fell into a doze and got a little sleep on the pile
of blankets. He was awakened by one of the men coming into the room.
The fellow had a plate of bread and butter and a cup of coffee.
“We ain’t going to starve you,” he said, in not an unkind tone. “We
don’t want to hurt you any, but we’ve got to protect ourselves.”
Larry did not answer. He took the food, of which he was beginning to
feel the need. The coffee warmed him and he felt better after drinking
it.
“Remember now, no tricks,” the man warned as he prepared to leave. “The
windows are guarded.”
Left to himself once more, Larry walked over to the window and examined
it. As the man had said there were several wires near the casement, and
they seemed to run into the next room.
“I don’t believe it is an electric alarm at all,” thought the boy.
“What would they want of a burglar alarm on a window so far from the
ground? I’m going to try and see, anyhow.”
At first he thought he would raise the window and see if the men rushed
in.
“No, I have a better plan,” said Larry after a moment’s thought.
He took from his pocket a bunch of string. He had not yet gotten over
that habit he formed while in the country, for a boy there doesn’t have
as many chances to get cord as does a city chap, so they generally
carry some with them.
Larry fastened one end of the cord to the lowest wire. Then, unwinding
the string, Larry went to the farthest side of the room, pulling the
twine taut after him.
“We’ll see if the alarm goes off when I break the wire,” he said. He
knew burglar alarms were constructed on the principle that if one wire
in the circuit was broken by the opening of a door or window, it would
cause a bell to ring. He was now going to break the wire and see what
happened. He thought that by doing it at long distance, by means of the
string, he could fool the men. If the bell did ring, and they rushed
into the room he would be far away from the window, and they would
wonder who had severed the copper conductor of electricity.
Larry was a little nervous over the outcome of the experiment. He did
not just know what would happen, and he was somewhat afraid of what the
men might do.
“Well, here goes,” he said in a whisper.
He gave the cord a sudden jerk, his heart beating so fast and hard that
he could almost hear it. He strained on the cord. It began to stretch
and then, with a suddenness that startled him, it broke in the middle.
“That wire’s pretty strong,” thought the boy.
He repaired the break, went back to the far side of the room, and began
to pull steadily on the cord. This time it held and, a few seconds
later, with a sudden and loud snap the electric wire broke.
For a moment Larry stood in breathless anxiety, waiting to see what
would happen. He half feared that, after all, the electric wire
might lead to an alarm. But, as the seconds passed, and no one came,
Larry realized that the men had been deceiving him. There was no
burglar attachment to the window and he could raise it and not be
discovered.
“I’d better wait until dusk, however,” the boy thought. “They can’t see
me so well then.”
Several times during the day the men came back to the room. The tall
one brought Larry his dinner, but had little to say. The boy had tied
the broken wire together, and removed the string, so that no evidences
remained of what he had done.
He could tell, by the occasional conversation in the room next to him,
that the men were still there, and he knew it would not do to try to
escape while they were so close. His only hope was that they would go
out. And this happened shortly after one of them had brought in a plate
of sandwiches and a glass of milk for the prisoner.
Larry heard them going down the stairs, and the lad could hardly wait
for them to get all the way down, so anxious was he to open the window.
Raising the sash proved a harder job than he anticipated and it was
quite a feat for even his sturdy muscles. The window had evidently not
been opened in some time, and stuck. At last, however, Larry raised it.
It was a relief to breathe the fresh air, for the room had been close,
but it was better to feel that he had now a chance to get away.
Looking cautiously forth from the window Larry could not see anyone.
The ground below was deserted. It was quite dusk now, and he resolved
to make his attempt.
But now that he had the sash up and could look out, a new difficulty
presented itself. This was the fact that the fire escape platform was
three windows away from the one where Larry was. He did not see how
he was to reach it. There was just one way, he figured, but it was so
dangerous that he hesitated considerably about taking it.
This was to edge along on the window sills until he had reached the
platform. Once there it would be easy to get to the ground. But the
trip across would be risky.
Carefully Larry examined the ledges. They were broad and substantial,
and by some chance of architecture the sill of one window nearly met
that of the next. One would need to be very careful in edging along the
narrow ledge. To a fireman the feat would probably have presented few
difficulties, but to an untrained lad it was very great.
“I’m going to try,” said Larry determinedly. “I must get away from
here, now that I have the chance.”
He crawled out on the ledge and looked down. Through the half-darkness
he could make out the ground below and a feeling of dizziness caused
him to reel.
“I mustn’t do that again,” he said to himself, for he remembered the
ill effects of looking down from great heights. “I must keep my eyes in
front of me.”
Carefully and cautiously he stood erect on the narrow ledge. He found
that the window casings gave a fairly good hold for his fingers as he
edged his way along. Then he began to travel over the dangerous path.
He went a few inches at a time, feeling to make sure that each forward
step was firm before trusting his whole weight on his foot.
Nearer and nearer he came to the fire escape platform. Now but five
feet separated him, and a few seconds later he was able to leap down on
it.
He felt that he had now fully regained his liberty, and with a feeling
of thankfulness he began the descent of the iron ladders. Past the
second and third floor windows he made his way and was on the last
ladder when a voice from below cried:
“Stay where you are! If you come down any further I’ll shoot!”
Caught! The men, Larry thought, had returned just as he was about to
jump to the ground and run away. Three minutes more and he would have
been safely off.
“I’ve caught you!” the voice went on. “You will go around trying to rob
places, will you! Didn’t think anyone would see you, I s’pose, but I
happened along, though I can’t see what you could steal in that old
factory.”
By these words Larry knew he had been stopped by someone other than
the two men. He looked down and saw a short stout figure, in the fast
growing darkness, standing at the foot of the ladder.
“I’m not a burglar!” ventured Larry mildly.
“Bless my soul, it’s a boy!” the voice went on. “Well, well, what is
the world coming to when mere lads go out burglarizing!”
“I’m not a burglar,” said Larry with some spirit.
“Don’t tell stories, boy!” the man below said.
“I’m not.”
“But can’t I see that you are a burglar?”
“I’m escaping from this building,” Larry went on.
“Of course, I can see that easy enough,” the man said. “That’s what all
burglars want to do--escape. But I’ve caught you!”
“Well, I’m coming down,” Larry continued. “If you think I’m a burglar
you can take me to a police station.”
Indeed Larry would have asked nothing better just then than to be taken
before some friendly bluecoats.
“All right,” the man continued. “But mind, don’t try any tricks on me!
I’m strong, and I’ll tackle you if you start to fight.”
“I won’t fight,” spoke Larry mildly.
Then he continued on down the ladder and finally reached the ground. He
confronted the man, who thought he had effected an important capture.
That individual was a mild appearing, short, stout old gentleman with
white hair and whiskers. He looked at Larry as well as he could in the
darkness.
“Stand still until I strike a match,” he said. “I want to have a good
look at you.”
“You don’t look like a very bad burglar,” he said after a close
examination. “But you never can tell nowadays about burglars. Some of
the best looking are the worst thieves. You come along with me.”
“We’d better hurry,” said Larry, “or the two men might come back and
catch me again.”
“What two men?”
Thereupon the boy told his story briefly.
“Why, you astonish me!” the old gentlemen exclaimed. “To think that
such things can go on in New York. I must write a letter to the papers
about it to-morrow. Come along, young man. We’ll find a policeman at
once and he’ll arrest the gang.”
This was easier said than done, for the building where Larry had been
held captive was in a lonely and unfrequented suburb of the city. The
old gentleman, who seemed to have forgotten that Larry might possibly
be a burglar, explained that he had been taking a long walk, as was
his custom, when he espied the boy descending the ladder. The two
walked on for some time, more than a mile, in fact, before they saw,
standing under a solitary gas light, a policeman.