ot 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