CHAPTER XI.

LUCAS' "JOB."

THE next morning at an early hour Lucas went forth with his workman's bag upon his shoulder. Gus heard him tell Sally Dent that he had had the luck to get a good job of work, which would probably keep him out till late at night. Then, beckoning Gus to walk beside him a few steps, Lucas said to him, as soon as they were beyond the houses, and no one was within hearing—

"Look here, Gus; I want your help in a job I have in hand to-night. If you're a good little chap, and do what you're told, and ask no questions, I'll give you a bob, a whole bob, for yourself, do you hear?"

Gus nodded, and his eyes sparkled with pleasure. It was rare good fortune for him to have the chance of earning a shilling.

"Can I do the work, do you think?" he asked anxiously. "Is it easy?"

"Oh, your part's easy enough," said Lucas, with a laugh. "All you've got to do is to obey orders. Now listen to me. Jack will bring you this evening to meet me. You must leave home at six o'clock—not a minute later. Now mind, I depend on your coming, and you must not disappoint me. If you've got the baby to mind, you can give it to Lucy, and she will look after it. Now promise me that you will come."

"I'll come," said Gus; "I'll be sure to come; but what am I to do?"

"Never mind what you have to do; I'll show you when you come. You are to do whatever I tell you, do you hear?"

"Yes," said Gus; and with that Lucas dismissed him, and the boy ran back to the house.

Gus wondered many times that day what the work could be for which Lucas needed his help. In the afternoon, Sally Dent gave the baby to his care, and when evening came, she lay in a drunken slumber. Gus amused the baby and kept the other children quiet till it wanted but a few minutes to six o'clock. Then, with the baby in his arms, he knocked at Lucy's door.

Lucy opened the door a little way and looked out; then, seeing it was Gus, she opened the door wider, and invited him to come in. Jack was seated at the table, hastily devouring a substantial meal.

"So you've come," he said, nodding to Gus; "that's right. We must be off in a minute or two."

"Is Gus going out with you?" asked Lucy in surprise.

Her brother only nodded.

"Yes, I'm going," said Gus; "and I've brought you the baby, because Mrs. Dent's asleep, and there's no one to mind him. I hope you won't find him a trouble; your father said you'd take him."

He held the baby out to Lucy as he spoke, but she had turned very white, and seemed to have lost all strength. Instead of attempting to take the baby she sank on to a chair, weak and trembling.

"Ah, I see you're not strong enough to hold him," said Gus, full of sympathy. "He is heavy; but perhaps he will lie on the rug for a bit. He'll keep quiet sometimes if you give him something to suck. A potato's as good as anything. I wish you needn't have him, but I promised your father I'd go."

"And you'd better keep that promise, and any other you've made to my father, let me tell you," said Jack significantly.

A shiver ran through Lucy's slender frame, but she controlled herself and said—

"Have you had your supper, Gus?"

"No," said the boy, looking wistfully at the well-spread table.

"You must have some then," she said quickly; "you cannot go out without having eaten."

"Give him a hunch of bread, and let him eat it as he goes along," said Jack, rising from the table as he spoke.

Lucy began to cut some bread and butter, whilst Gus carefully placed the baby on the hearth-rug and gave him a spoon to amuse himself with. Having buttered two thick pieces, Lucy placed between them a slice of cold bacon; then, as she thrust the whole into Gus' hand, she whispered, "Oh, Gus, I wish you were not going with them! Be careful; oh, do be careful!"

"Now then, are you coming?" cried Jack roughly from the door.

Gus could not reply to Lucy. He felt uneasy as he hurried after Jack, and he wondered why Lucy had bidden him to be careful. Did she know more about the evening's job than he?

For a while Gus and Jack trudged on in silence. Gus had often to break into a trot in order to keep up with Jack's long strides. They took the way Gus now knew so well, and which he had twice before trodden in Jack's company. The day had been dull, and night was closing in early. A grey mist was creeping over the fields, and the wind, which blew in their faces, brought with it tiny drops of rain.

When they had gone some distance, and were in a lonely part of the road, Jack suddenly halted beneath a lamp-post, and drew something from beneath his coat.

"There, lad, do you know what that is?" he inquired, pointing at Gus the thing he held.

Gus recoiled in a manner that showed he knew it to be a deadly weapon.

"Ah, I see you do know," said Jack coolly; "that's my father's revolver, and I'd have you know he'll think nothing of turning it against you if you do not please him in this night's business. He'll just hold it like that and fire, and you'll be as dead as a door-nail in half a second."

Gus trembled at the prospect. Having shown him this incentive to obedience, Jack put the firearm back into its place, and they marched on again. A little further, in the darkest part of the road, Lucas met them.

"Here you are then," he said in a tone of relief. "You are a little late; I began to fear something had gone wrong. The dinner-bell has rung. We need not have feared it would not be dark enough by seven. I've got a ladder that the painters left in the garden below. Things are all as square as possible, and in another ten minutes it will be safe."

They went on a few steps, and then halted at a gate. The place seemed familiar to Gus.

"You wait here," said Lucas, "whilst Jack and I go in; I'll come for you in a minute. Have you brought my revolver, Jack?"

Gus saw the revolver handed over to Lucas. His heart misgave him. How he wished the night's business was over!

Jack and Lucas passed into the shrubbery, and Gus stood alone, cold and miserable. The mysterious character of Lucas' proceedings alarmed him. He longed to run away, but he dared not, and the next minute Lucas was again by his side.

"Now come with me," he said; "and, mind you, if you don't do exactly as I tell you, it will be the worse for you. You are not to ask questions, but just to do as I tell you; do you hear?"

"Yes," said Gus; but he felt sick at heart as Lucas hurried him up the garden.

Gus saw dimly before him a long, low house, with a verandah. In spite of the gathering mist, he recognised it as the house in which Miss Edith lived. There was the window where, on the previous morning, he had sat and been regaled with cake and milk. The window was closed and shuttered now, and so were all the windows on the ground-floor. But at the side of the house was a small window, which was open a little way. Against this a ladder had been placed.

"Take off your shoes," said Lucas to Gus.

The boy obeyed trembling.

"Now, Gus," said Lucas in low, deliberate tones, which nevertheless had a certain thrill of excitement, "you're to go up that ladder and get in at that window. You will find yourself in the bath-room of the house. The door is open, and you can pass out into the passage, and go into all the bedrooms on this side the house. You must look quickly round the room, and take everything of value. If there's a watch on the dressing-table take it; every brooch, every ring take. Slip them into your pocket, and bring them to me. Now see how cleverly you can manage it."

Gus heard him in the utmost bewilderment and terror.

"That would be stealing!" he cried. "Oh, I can't steal!"

"Hold your tongue!" cried Lucas, shaking him roughly; "it's not stealing—at least it is not your stealing, it's mine. The window is too small for me to get through, so you do it for me."

"Oh, I can't do it; don't ask me!" cried Gus.

"You can, and you shall," said Lucas. "What are you afraid of? The family's in the dining-room having dinner, the parlour-maid is waiting on them, the cook's busy in the kitchen, and the housemaid has gone for a holiday. No one will hear you; you can get all there is, and be back in five minutes. Go along with you."

"I can't!" cried Gus, falling on his knees before the man. "I can't do that! Please, Mr. Lucas, do not ask me! Indeed, I cannot steal!"

"There, what did I tell you?" said Jack, turning to his father. "There's no doing anything with a boy like that. I said he would spoil it all, and so he has."

"But he shall not spoil it!" cried Lucas fiercely. "I'll see to that. Gus, you go up that ladder and do as I tell you, or, as sure as I stand here, I'll blow your brains out. See—" and he drew out his revolver—"if you do not go at once, I'll fire. Now, are you going?"

The aspect of the man was so fierce, he looked so capable of executing his threat, that instinctively Gus shrank from him and turned towards the ladder. Jack pushed him on to the lowest rung, and feeling that the weapon was still pointed at him, Gus went up the ladder, closely followed by Jack.

"Go on, go on," said Lucas, "or I fire."

Jack opened the window as wide as he could, and helped Gus to get into the room.

"Now go on," said Jack, pointing to the door. "Go through all the rooms, and be sharp back. We'll half kill you, if you don't bring all you can find!"

Thus urged, Gus passed out of the bath-room into the passage, and Jack waited nervously for his return. Five minutes passed, ten minutes, but the boy did not return.

"What can be keeping him so long?" asked Lucas anxiously, at the foot of the ladder. "They'll have done dinner directly. Can't you whistle to him?"

"It's hardly safe; some one might hear," said Jack. Nevertheless, he attempted a soft whistle.

"Can they have got hold of him?" asked Lucas nervously. "We must be off if he does not soon appear."

"Little humbug! I said he would spoil all," returned Jack. "What's to be done?"

At that moment there was the sound of a window opening at the other side of the house, followed by what seemed like a splash and a faint scream. Almost instantly another window was thrown up with a noise, and a female voice screamed shrilly, "Help, help! Thieves! Murder! Help!"

Jack was down the ladder in a second.

"Confound him, it is all up!" cried Lucas; and waiting only to throw the ladder into the shrubbery, they were off.