HE
Omaha
Illustrated
Bee
NUMBER 311.
Entered Srcond Class at Omaha Tostofflce Published Weekly by The Bee Publishing Co. Subscription, 2."0 Per Year.
MAY 29, 1003.
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(Ttg Amateur fecksmaal
1
ADVENTURE
NUMBER
THREE
i
II
lLe Premier Pas
iiiii
II FOURTH STORY 1 I -sTiaif1!!?
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B ...... WEEK I 1 1 he Amateur Cracksman! 71
It 1, 1 rT----JM
By E. W. HORNUNO.
Author of "The Shadow of the Rope." "The Rogue's March."
"A Bride from the Bush," "Stlngaree Stntici." "Dead Men Tell No
Tales," etc.
Copyrlgnt IK by Charles Scrltner Bono.)
Third Raffles Story
T
HAT night h told me the story of his earliest crime. '
Not since the fateful morning of the Idea of March,
when he bad just mentioned It as an unreported In
cident of a certain cricket tour, bad 1 succeeded in
getting a word out of Raffles on the subject. It was
not for want of trying; he would shake bla bead and watch hla
cigarette smoke thoughtfully, a subtle look In his eyes, half
cynical, half wistful, as though the decent, honest days that were
no more had bad their merits after all. Raffles would plan a
fresh enormity or glory In the last with the unmitigated en
thusiasm of the artist. It was impossible to imagine one throb
or twitter of compunction beneath those frankly egotistic and In
fectious transports. And yet the ghost of a dead remorse seemed
still to visit him with the memory of bis first felony, so that I
had given the story up long before the night of our return from
Milchester. Cricket, however, was in the air, and Raffles' cricket
bag, beck where he sometimes kept It, in the fender, with the re
mains of an Orient label still adhering to the leather. My eyes
had been on this label for some time, and I suppose his eyes had
been on mine, for all at once be asked me if I still burned to bear
that yarn.
"It's no use," I replied. "Yon won't spin It, . I muBt imagine
It for myself."
"How can you?"
"Oh, I begin to know your methods."
"You take it I went in with my eyes open, as 1 do now, eh?"
"I can't Imagine your doing otherwise." '
"My dear Bunny, it was the most unpremeditated thing I
ever did in my life."
His chair wheeled back Into the books as be sprang np
with sudden energy. There was quite an Indignant glitter in
his eyes.
"I can't believe that," said I, craftily. "I can't pay you
such a poor compliment."
"Then you must be a fool"
He broke off, stared hard at me, and In a trice stood smiling
fn his own despite.
, "Or a better knave than I thought you, Bunny, and by Jove,
-It's the knave! Well I suppose I'm fairly drawn; I give you
best, as they say out there. As a matter of fact, I've been think
ing of the matter myself; last night's racket reminds me of it
in one or two respects. I tell you what, though, this Is an oc
casion in any case, and I'm going to celebrate it by breaking the
one good rule of my life. I'm going to have a second drink!"
The whisky tinkled, tho syphon fizzed, the Ice plopped home;
and seated there in his pajamas, with the inevitable cigarette,
Raffles told me the story that I had given up hoping to hear.
The windows were wide open; the sounds of Piccadilly floated
In at first.; Long before be finished the, last wheels bad rattled,
tbe last brawler was removed, we alone broke the quiet of the
summer night."
' . No, they do you rery well. Indeed: ,Ybu pay for
nothing ut the drinks, so to speak but I'm afraid mine were of
a comprehensive character. I had 'started in a bole, I ought
really to have refused the Invitation; then we all went to the
Melbourne Cup, and I bad the certain winner that didn't win,
and that's not the only way you can play the fool ki Melbourne.
I wasn't the steady old stager I am now, Bunny; my analysis was a
confession in Itself.
and I swore they shouldn t I tried the Jews, but they're extra fly
out there. Then I thought of a kinsman of sorts, a second cousin of
my father's whom none of us knew anything about, except that he
was supposed to be In one or other of the colonies. If be was a rich
man, well and good, I would work him; if not, there would be no
harm done. I tried to get on his tracks, and, as luck would have it, I
succeeded (or thought I had) at the very moment when I happened to
have a few days to myself. I was cut over the hand. Just before the
big Christmas match, and couldn't have bowled a ball if they had
played me.
"The surgeon who fixed me np happened to ask me If I was any
relation of Raffles of Raffles of the National bank, and the pure luck
ol It almost took my breath away. A relation who was a high official
in one of the banks, who would finance me on my mere name could
anything be better? I made up my mind that this Raffles was the
mnn I wanted, and was awfully sold to find next moment that he
wasn't a high official at all. Nor had the doctor so much as met him,
but bad merely read of him in connection with a small sensation at
v the suburban branch which my namesake managed; an armed robber
.had been rather pluckily beaten off, with a bullet in him, by this
Raffles; and the sort of thing was so common out there that this was
the first I bad heard of it! A suburban branch my financier had
faded into some excellent fellow with a billet to lose it he called his
soul bis own. Still a manager was a manager, and I said I would
soon see whether this was the relative I was looking for, if he would
be good enough to give me the name of that branch. .
" 'I'll do more,' said tie doctor. 'I'll get you the name of the
branch he's been promoted to, for I think I heard they'd moved him
up one already.' And the next day be brought me the name of the
township of Yea, some fifty miles north of Melbourne; but, with the
vagueness which characterized all his Information, he was unable to
1 say whether I should find my relative there or not. .
" 'He's a single man, and his initials are W. F.,' said the doctor,
who was certain enough of the immaterial points. 'He left his old
post several days sgo, but it appears he's not due at the new one till
the New Year. No doubt he'll go before then to take things over and
settle In. You might find him up there and you might not If I were
you I should write."
'"That'll lose two days,' said I, 'and more if he Isn't there,' tor
I'd grown quite keen on this up-country manager, and I felt that if I
could get at him while the holidays were still on a little conviviality
might help matters considerably.
"Then, said the doctor, 'I should get a quiet horse and ride.
You needn't use that hand.'
"'Cant I go by train r
"'You can and you can't Yon would still have to ride. I sup
pose you're a horseman?'. .
" 'Yes.'
" 'Then I should certainly ride all the way. It'a a delightful mad,
through WhlttlcBea and over the Plenty Ranges. It'll give you some
idea of the bush, Mr. Raffles, and you'll see the sources of the water
supply of this city, sir. You'll see where every drop of it comes from,
the pure Yan Yean. I wish I had time to ride with you.'
" 'But where con 1 get a horse?"
"The doctor thought for a moment.
" I've a mare of my own that's ss fat as butter for want of work,'
said he. 'It would be a charity to me to sit on her back for A hundred
miles or so, and then I should know you'd have no temptation to nse
that hand.'
" 'You're far too "good I protested.
" 'You're A. J. Raffles,' he said.
"And If ever there was a prettier compliment or a finer instance
of even colonial hospitality I ran only say. Bunny, that I never heard
of either."
He sipped his whisky, threw. away the stump of bis cigarette and
lit another before continuing . (
"Well, I managed to write a line to W. I'. niy own hand,
which, as you will gather, was not. very badly wouiided It was simply
this third finger that was .spilt and. In splints and th next mornlnc
the doctor packed n off on a botlne beat that would have done for
an ambulance. Utit the team came up to nee me start; the rest were
rather sick with Uie for not stopping to see the match out, as Sf I could
! S 1 iff ' Wi r IK
I PULLED UP AND LAY WITH MY EAR TO THE GROUND FOR TWO OR THREE MINUTES. Posed by Kyrle Bellew.
help them' win by watching them.. They little knew the game I'd got
But the others didn't know how hard up I was,N on myself, but still less did I know tbe game I was going to play.
"It was an interesting ride enough, especially arter passing toe
place called WhlttU-sea, a real wild township on tbe lower slope of tho
ranges, where I recollect hnvlng a deadly meal of hot mutton and tea,
with the thermometer at three figures in' the shade. The first thirty .
miles or so was a good metal road, too good '.o go half round tbe world
to ride on, buf after Whlttlesea it was a mere track over the ranges,
a track I often couldn't see and left entirely to the mare. Now it
dipped into a gully and ran through a creek, aud all tbe time the local
color was Inches thick gum trees galore and parrots, all colors of the
rainbow. In one place a whole forest of gums had been ring-barked
and were Just as though they had been painted white, without a leaf
or a living thing for miles. And the first living thing I did meet was
the sort to give you the creeps; it was a riderless horse coming full
tDt through the bush, with the saddle twisted around and the stirrup
irons ringing. Without thinking, I had a shot at heading him with the
doctor's mare, and blocked him Just enough to allow a man who came
galloping after to do the rest. ,
" " Thank ye, mister,' growled the man, a huge chap in a - red-
'fir f mTt ' - . :M K
Il If I f
f
JUST AS I WAH READY TO GO THERE CAME A VIOLENT
KNOCKING AT TUB OUTER DOOtt.-roJcd by Kyrle Bellew.
checked shirt, with a beard like W. G. Grace, but the very devil of an
expression. ...... .
'"Been an accident? said I, reining up.
" 'Yes,' said he, scowling as though he defied me to auk any more.'
"Well, Bunny, I may be a blackguard myself, but I don't think I
'ever looked at a fellow as that chap looked at me. But I stared htm
out, and forced blm to admit that It was blood on the twisted saddle,
and after that he became quite tame. He told me exactly what had
happened. A mate of his had been dragged under a branch and had
his nose Banished, but that was all;. bad sat tight till he dropped from
loss of blood; another mate was with him back in tbe bush.
"As I've said already, Bunny, I wasn't the old stager that I am
now in any respect--and we parted good enough friends. He asked
me which way I was going, and, when I told him, he said I should
save seven miles and get a good hour earlier to Yea by striking oft
the track and making for a peak that we could see through the trees
and following a creek that I should see from the peak. Don't smile,
Bunny! I began by saying I was a child In those days. Of course,
tho short cut was the long way round, and it was nearly dark when
that unlucky mare and I saw the single street of Yea.
1 was looking for the bank when a fellow In a white suit ran
down from a veranda.
"Mr. Raffles?' said he.
'VMr. Raffles!' said I, laughing, as I shook his band.
"You're late.'
" 'I was misdirected.' '
"'That all? I'm relieved,' he said. 'Do yon know what they
are saying? There are some brand new bushranger on the road
between Whlttlesea aud this a Second Kelly gang! They'd have
caught a Tartar in you, eh?
" 'They would In you,' I retorted, and my tu quoquo shut him up
and seemed to puzsle him. Yet there was much' more ense in it than
ln his compliment to me, which was absolutely pointless.
" 'I'm afraid you'll find things pretty rough,' he resumed, when
he had unstrapped my valise and handed my reins to his man. 'It's
lucky you're a bachelor like myself.' , .
"I could not quite see the point of this remark either, since, had
I been married I should hardly have sprung my wife upon blm in
this free and easy fashion. I muttered the conventional sort of thing,
and then he said I should find it all right w hen I settled, as though
I had come to graze upon blm for.' weeks! 'Well,' thought. I, 'these
colonials do take tbe cake for hospitality V And, still marveling, I let
him lead me Into the private part of tbe bank.
"'Dinner will be ready in a quarter of an hour,' said be as we en-'
tered. 1 thought you might like a tub.flrst, and you'll find all ready
In the room at tbe end of the passage. King out if there's anything
you want Your luggage hasu't turnoU up yet; by the way, but here's
a letter that came this morning.'
" 'Not for me T
" 'Yes; didn't you expect one?
" 'I certainly did not!
"Well, here It is.' '
"Aud, as be lit 'me to my room I read . my own superscription of
tbe previous day to W. F. Raffles!
"Bunny," you've bad your wind bagged at footer, I daresay; you
know what that's like? AH I can say is Unit my moral wind was
bagged by that letter as I hope, old chap, I have never yet bagged
yours. I couldn't speak. Icould only slaud with my own letter in
my hands until be had tbe good taste to leave me by myself.
"W. F. Raffles! We had mistaken each other for W. F. Raffles
Small wonder w hud
was that we had not
discovered our mutual mistake. How tbe other man would have
laughed! But I 1 could not laugh. By Jove, no, it was no laughing
matter for me! I Raw the whole thing In a Hash, without a tremor,
but wjsi the direst depression from my own single point of view. Call
It callous If yon like. Bunny, but remember that I was In much the
same hole as you've since been in yourself, and that I had counted
on this W. F. Raffles even as you counted on A. J. I thought of the
man with the W. G. ,beard.jjie riderless horse with the bloody saddle
the delllierate misdirection that had rut me off the track and out
of the way and now the missing manscer and the report of bush
rangers at this end. Bot I simply don't rreteud to have felt any
personal pity for a man whom I bad never seen; that 'klud of
for the new manager who hod not yet arrived!
conversed at cross purposes; the ouly wonder
pity's usually rant;' and tesldcs, all mine was needed for myself.
"1 was In us big a hole as ever. What the devil was I to
do? I doubt If I had sufficiently Impressed upon you the abso
lute necessity of my returning to Melbourne In funds. As a
matter of fact, it was less the necessity than my owu determlna
tion, which I can truthfully describe as absolute.
"Money I would have but how but how? Would this
stranger be open to persuasion if I told hltu the truth? No;
that would set us nil scouring the country for tho rest of the
night. Why should I tell him? Suppose I left him to find out
out his mistake, would anything be gnlned? Bunny, I give you
my word that I went In to dinner without a definite intention in
my head, or one premeditated He upon my lips. . I might do the
decent natural thing and explain matters without loss of time;
on the. other hand, there was no hurry. I hud not opened the
letter, and could always pretend I had not noticed the initials;
meanwhile something might turn up. I could wait a little and
see. Tempted I already was, but as yet tho temptation was
vngue, and Its very vagueness made me tremble.
" 'Bad news. I'm afraid? said the manager when at last I sat
down at his table.
"A mere annoyance,' I answered I do assure you on the
spur of the moment and nothing else. But my lie was told; my
position was taken; from that moment onward there was no re
treat. By Implication, without realizing what I was doing, I
had already declared myself W. F. Raffles. Therefore W. F.
Raffles I would be in that bank for that night And the devil
teach me how to use my He!"
Again he raised hU glass to his Hps I had forgotten mine.
His clKurette case caught the gas light as he handed It to me. I
shook my head, without taking my eyes from his.
"The devil played up," continued Raffles, with a laugh. "Be
fore I. tasted my soup I had decided what to do. I had de
termined to rob that bank Instead of going to bed aud to bo
back In Melbourne for breakfast if the doctor's in are could do
it. I would tell the old fellow that I bad missed my way ands
had been bushed for hours, as I easily might have been, aud
bad never got to Yea at all. At Yea, on the other hand, the
personation and robbery would ever after be attributed to a
member of the gang that had waylaid and murdered the new
managed with that very object Y'ou are acquiring some ex
perience in such matters. Bunny. I ask you, was there ever a
better get-out? Last night's was something like It, only never
such a certainty. And I saw It from the beginning saw to tho
end before I had finished my soup.
"To Increase my chances the cashier, who also lived in the
bank, was away over the holidays, had actually gone down to
Melbourne to see us play; and the man who had taken my horse
also waited at table, for he and his wife were the only servants,
and they slept in a separate building. You may depend I ascer
tained this before we bad finished dinner. Indeed I was by
way of asking too many questions (the most oblique and deli
cate was that which elicited my host's name, Ewbauk), nor was
I careful enough to conceal their drift.
'"Do you know, said this fellow Ewbank. who was one of
the downright sort, 'If it' wasn't you, I should say you were in a
funk about robbers? Have you lost your nerve? -
"""'I hope not aald I, turning Jolly hot I can tell you; 'but
well, it's not a pleasant thing to have to put a bullet through a
fellow."
'No?' said he, coolly. 'I should enjoy nothing better myself;
besides, yours didn't go through.'
" 'I wish it had" I was smart enough to cry.
. " 'Amen,' said he.
"And I emptied my glass. Actually I did not know whether
my wounded bank robber was in prison, dead or at large.
"But, now that I had had more than enough of It Ewbank would
come back to the subject. He admitted that the staff was small, but
as for himself, he had a loaded revolver under his pillow all night
under the counter all day, and he was only waiting for bis chance.
'"Under the counter, eh?' I was ass enough to say.
" 'Yes; so had you!
"He was looking at me In surprise, and something told me that to
say 'Of course; I had forgotten!' would have been quite fatal, con
sidering what I was supposed to have done. So I looked down my
nose and shook my bead.
"'But the papers said you had!' he cried.
'Not under the counter,' said I.
""But it's the regulation!
"For the moment, Bunny, I felt stumped, though I trust I only
looked more superior than before, and I think I Justified my look.
'The regulation! I said at length, in the most offensive tone at
my command. 'Yes, the regulation would have us all dead men!
My. dear sir, do you expect your bank robber to let you reach for your
gun In the place where he knows It's kept? I had mine In my pocket,
and I got my chance by retreating from the counter with all visible
reluctance.'
"Ewbank stared at me with open eyes aud a five-barred forehead,
then down came his fist on tbe table.
"'By God! that was smart! Still.' he added, like a man who
would not be In the wrong, 'the papers said the other thing, you
know!'
"'Of course,' I rejoined, 'because they said what I told them.
You wouldn't have me advertise the fact that I Improved upon the
bank's regulations, would you?'
"So that cloud rolled over, and by Jove It was a cloud with a
golden lining! Not silver real good Australian gold! For old Ew
'bank hadn't quite appreciated me till then; he was a hard nut a
' much older man than myself, and I felt pretty sure be thought me
fcyoung for the place, and my supposed feat a fiuke. But I never saw
a man cnange Ms mind more openly. lie got out his best brandy,
he made me throw away the cigar I was smoking, and opened a fresh
box. ' He was a convivial looking party, with a red mustache, and
a very humorous faco (not unlike Tom Eramett's), and from that mo
ment I laid myself out to attack him on bis convivial flank. But he
wasn't' a Rosenthall, Bunny; he bad a treble seamed, hand-sewed
head, and could have drunk me under the table ten times over.
".'All right I thought, 'you may go to led sober, but you'll sleep
Ilk a timber yard!' Aud I threw half he gave me through the opeu
open window, when he wasn't looking.
"But he was a good cjiap, Ewbank, and don't you imagine he was
at all intemperate. Convivial I called him, and I ouly wish he had
been something more. He did, however, become more and more
genial as the evening advanced, aud I had not much difficulty in get
ting him to show me round the bank at what was really an unearthly
hour for such a proceeding. It was when he went to fetch the re
volver before turning in. I kept him out of his bed another twenty
minutes, and I knew every Inch of the business premises before I
shook hands with Ewbauk in my room.
"You won't guess what I did with myself for the next hour. I
undressed and went to bed. Tbe Incessant strain Involved In even
the most deliberate Impersonation Is the most wearing thing I know.
Then how much more so when the impersonation Is Impromptu!
There's no getting your eye in; the next word may howl you out; It's
battlns in a bad light all through. I haven't told you of half the
tight places I was In during a conversation that ran Into hours and
became dangerously Intimate toward the, end. You can Imagine
tbem for yourself, and then picture me spread out on my bed, getting
my second wind for the big deed of the night.
"Onto more I was In luck, for I had not been lying there long
before I heard, my dear Ewbank snoring like a harmonium, and the
music never ceased for a moment; it was as loud as ever when I crept
out and closed my door behind me, as regular as ever when I stopped
to listen at bla." And I have still to hear the concert that I shall