Raffles: The Amateur Cracksman | Page 8

the very watch ticking in my
pocket, and ever and anon the tinkle-tinkle of the skeleton key.
Then--at last--there came a single unmistakable click. In another
minute the mahogany door and the iron gate yawned behind us; and
Raffles was sitting on an office table, wiping his face, with the lantern
throwing a steady beam by his side.
We were now in a bare and roomy lobby behind the shop, but separated
therefrom by an iron curtain, the very sight of which filled me with
despair. Raffles, however, did not appear in the least depressed, but
hung up his coat and hat on some pegs in the lobby before examining
this curtain with his lantern.
"That's nothing," said he, after a minute's inspection; "we'll be through
that in no time, but there's a door on the other side which may give us
trouble."
"Another door!" I groaned. "And how do you mean to tackle this
thing?"
"Prise it up with the jointed jimmy. The weak point of these iron
curtains is the leverage you can get from below. But it makes a noise,
and this is where you're coming in, Bunny; this is where I couldn't do
without you. I must have you overhead to knock through when the
street's clear. I'll come with you and show a light."
Well, you may imagine how little I liked the prospect of this lonely
vigil; and yet there was something very stimulating in the vital
responsibility which it involved. Hitherto I had been a mere spectator.

Now I was to take part in the game. And the fresh excitement made me
more than ever insensible to those considerations of conscience and of
safety which were already as dead nerves in my breast.
So I took my post without a murmur in the front room above the shop.
The fixtures had been left for the refusal of the incoming tenant, and
fortunately for us they included Venetian blinds which were already
down. It was the simplest matter in the world to stand peeping through
the laths into the street, to beat twice with my foot when anybody was
approaching, and once when all was clear again. The noises that even I
could hear below, with the exception of one metallic crash at the
beginning, were indeed incredibly slight; but they ceased altogether at
each double rap from my toe; and a policeman passed quite half a
dozen times beneath my eyes, and the man whom I took to be the
jeweller's watchman oftener still, during the better part of an hour that I
spent at the window. Once, indeed, my heart was in my mouth, but
only once. It was when the watchman stopped and peered through the
peep-hole into the lighted shop. I waited for his whistle--I waited for
the gallows or the gaol! But my signals had been studiously obeyed,
and the man passed on in undisturbed serenity.
In the end I had a signal in my turn, and retraced my steps with lighted
matches, down the broad stairs, down the narrow ones, across the area,
and up into the lobby where Raffles awaited me with an outstretched
hand.
"Well done, my boy!" said he. "You're the same good man in a pinch,
and you shall have your reward. I've got a thousand pounds' worth if
I've got a penn'oth. It's all in my pockets. And here's something else I
found in this locker; very decent port and some cigars, meant for poor
dear Danby's business friends. Take a pull, and you shall light up
presently. I've found a lavatory, too, and we must have a
wash-and-brush-up before we go, for I'm as black as your boot."
The iron curtain was down, but he insisted on raising it until I could
peep through the glass door on the other side and see his handiwork in
the shop beyond. Here two electric lights were left burning all night
long, and in their cold white rays I could at first see nothing amiss. I

looked along an orderly lane, an empty glass counter on my left, glass
cupboards of untouched silver on my right, and facing me the filmy
black eye of the peep-hole that shone like a stage moon on the street.
The counter had not been emptied by Raffles; its contents were in the
Chubb's safe, which he had given up at a glance; nor had he looked at
the silver, except to choose a cigarette case for me. He had confined
himself entirely to the shop window. This was in three compartments,
each secured for the night by removable panels with separate locks.
Raffles had removed them a few hours before their time, and the
electric light shone on a corrugated shutter bare as the ribs of an empty
carcase. Every article