CHAPTER XXXVIII.

HOLDING THE FORTRESS.

It was a bold act for a boy of Wade’s years and strength. But he had every advantage, or he would not have dared to tackle a full-grown man. The boxes, in one of which he had made his bed, were piled up three tiers high; and to escape observation, he had made his bed in the upper one. The end of the pile was like a pair of stairs, as the boxes had been left for the convenience of the men who had put them in this shape.

Wade stood on the second tier, about six feet from the pavement. The robber in the street was stooping down, and appeared to be arranging the goods brought from the store in convenient shape for carrying them away. Taking this moment for the act, he jumped down, so that his cowhide shoes hit the man fairly on the head. He was evidently stunned by the blow; for he stretched out on the pavement, and did not move.

But Wade knew there was another, if not two more of them; and his plan had succeeded so well, that he determined to repeat the movement. He sprang back to the top of the second tier of boxes as soon as he could gather himself up. As he rose he picked up a heavy piece of board which been part of the cover of one of the cases. When he had reached his perch, he heard rapid footsteps in the store. The burglar inside had heard the noise, though he must have been in the front part of the store, for it took him some time to reach the back street.

The instant he was out of the door, and before he could ascertain what was the matter with his companion, Wade leaped down upon him, intending that his feet should hit the man in the head. He did strike the robber in the head, but he was not stunned like the other; and Wade hit him a crushing blow with his club, which settled him for the moment.

The brave boy looked his victims over, and satisfied himself that both of them were either dead or stunned, for they did not move. The last one he had overthrown had a dark lantern in his belt, of which Wade relieved him, and then went into the store.

He had heard a groan, and he listened for it again. It was some time before it was repeated, but at length he heard it; and, following in the direction it led him, he found a man gagged and bound to a post. He was breathing very heavily as though he was struggling for breath.

[Illustration: WADE HIT HIM A CRUSHING BLOW WITH HIS CLUB.--Page 302.]

Wade did not lose a moment in releasing the man, and taking the gag from his mouth. The victim was so exhausted that he could not speak, or he pretended to be so; and Wade did not wait for him to do so. He gathered up the cords with which the man had been tied, and took a large coil of line that lay on the floor near the post, and returned to the insensible robbers in the street. With the cords he proceeded to tie their arms behind them.

Before he had completed the job, the man from the store joined him, having partially recovered from the hard usage he had had at the hands of the burglars. Wade was not content with binding their arms behind them; he tied their ankles together so that they could not run if they should suddenly recover the use of their senses. The man from the store assisted him at the work. While they were thus engaged, they heard the report of a pistol, and Wade was conscious of a whizzing noise near his head.

“There are more of them,” said the man, who seemed to be trembling with apprehension. “But I have a pistol.”

“Use it, then, if you see anybody,” replied Wade.

The man, who was a clerk in the store, looked up and down the street, and then fired his pistol twice.

“Very likely there are two more of them; and we had better get into the store, or we may be shot,” said the clerk.

“All right; but we will drag these fellows in with us,” replied Wade.

“We had better lose no time, for a bullet may make an end of us at any minute.”

“It won’t take us any longer if we make sure of these men,” added Wade, as he dragged the first one that had fallen into the store.

The clerk took hold of the other, but he seemed to lack the strength to move him; and Wade had to help him.

“Now shut the door,” continued the active youth, suiting the action to the word. “Can you fasten it?”

“I suppose the rascals have spoiled the lock,” replied the clerk.

But Wade found the key on the floor. The burglars appeared to have turned it with their nippers, and then pushed it out on the floor, using false keys to open the door. When he had turned the key, he saw to his astonishment that there were two great bolts on the door, besides the lock. These could not have been shoved back without help from the inside.

Wade had no time to consider this circumstance, though it was suggested to him; for it occurred to him just at that moment, that the goods taken from the store by the first man he had “sat down upon” were still in the street, and he had forgotten to take them in. He carefully opened the door, and, seeing that no one was near, he stepped out. He was just picking up the bundle when another pistol was discharged. He felt something in his arm, but it was so slight that he did not think it could be the bullet from the pistol. It did not disable him, and he made haste to drag the heavy bundle into the store. Then he locked and double-bolted the door. As he looked over the fastenings, he did not believe that any robbers could get through that door.

By this time Wade was pretty well cooled off after the violent excitement of the affair. He examined the door very carefully by the aid of the lantern he had taken from the burglar’s belt. Certainly there was no break in the door by which any one on the outside could have moved those two heavy bolts. Near the door was a box of carpenter’s tools. It contained augers, chisels, a mallet, and some other implements.

While he was examining the door and its surroundings, he heard the robbers moving, and went to them to inquire into their condition. To his surprise he found that the cords of one of them were partly loosed. The clerk was near him, and no one else could have unfastened them. Wade made haste to secure him again; and he did it in a more thorough manner than before. Then he looked over the other one; but his bonds did not seem to have been tampered with. He saw a revolver sticking out of the pocket of the man, and he took possession of the toy.

“Why don’t you use your pistol?” he heard the first one say; and he could have spoken to no one but the clerk, for the other robber was not in condition to use a pistol, or any other weapon.

The words were hardly spoken before the report of a pistol was heard in the store; but Wade was not hit. He raised his lantern instantly, and saw the clerk was aiming at him again. The pistol in Wade’s hand was all cocked, ready for use; but he had never fired a revolver in his life before. He pointed it at the clerk, and let drive. Probably the ball did not go within ten feet of the mark; but it terrified the timid clerk as much as though it had gone through his body.

“Don’t fire again!” exclaimed the clerk.

“Drop that pistol, then!” said Wade sharply. The treacherous clerk obeyed him instantly, and the pistol fell to the floor.

Wade walked over to him, and picked it up, putting it into his pocket.

“Then it seems that you are one of the robbers,” said Wade, throwing the light of the lantern into his face.

“No, I am not. I could not help it,” pleaded the fellow.

“Lie down on the floor!” said the defender of the store.

The clerk obeyed without an instant’s hesitation.

“Now, my man, if you attempt to do any thing, I will put one of the bullets in this pistol where it will do the most good,” continued the brave boy, who was astonished when he thought that he had looked a pistol full in the face; but then, he had lived faster and learned more during the last week than in all the rest of his life put together.

Gathering up a handful of the ropes which had been used to bind the burglars, he tied the clerk in the same manner as the robbers. He had not suspected him of being a confederate till the villain fired at him at the suggestion of the fallen burglar. It was plain enough now, how the robbers had got in while those two huge bolts were on the door. Having secured the inside villains, Wade felt that he held the fortress securely; and he did not believe the accomplices on the outside could get it away from him.

He had noticed that most of the stores he passed in the night had one or more gas-burners lighted. This store was dark as midnight, except the faint light he made with the dark lantern. He thought it would be better to follow the fashion of the other stores; and he lighted three burners, so that he could better find his way about the premises, and to enable him to watch the robbers to advantage. The light revealed to him the fact that the place he held was a large jewelry establishment. At one of the clocks in the front store, he saw that it was half-past three o’clock.

When he had satisfied himself on these points, he thought he heard the robbers talking together. He returned to the rear of the store, and found that two of the burglars had worked themselves together, and lay back to back, so that each could use his hands upon the bands of the other. One had made some progress in untying the rope that bound together the hands of the other.

“That’s the game you are up to,” said he, as he seized one of them by the collar, and dragged him to the other side of the store.

“See here, my lad, you are meddling with what don’t concern you,” said this man. “When the people come to the store in the morning, they will accuse you of being one of us.”

“Just my luck!” exclaimed Wade Brooks.

“You can do better, if you will let us loose. I will give you a thousand dollars on the spot, and a share of the swag,” continued the burglar.

“No, I thank you. I would rather be honest than make a thousand dollars at your trade. That’s the sort of fellow I am,” said Wade.

At this moment he heard a heavy knocking at the rear door. He at once concluded that this was some trick of the burglars’ accomplices outside, to gain admittance; and he prepared himself accordingly. He did not believe anybody could get ahead of him this time.