s
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