ch the catch by putting his hand through the grating, but found it
was out of his reach.

"It's a regular prison cell!" he groaned. "What a fool I was to come in
here!"

He tried to reach the catch by using his stick, but that was also a
failure.

"Wonder if I can't find a bit of wire, or something?" he mused, and
struck a match he had in his pocket.

Now it chanced that the widow who had given the new vault to the
cemetery association had a horror of allowing supposed dead folks to be
buried alive. As a consequence she had had the vault furnished with an
electric button which opened the door from the inside. It had been
stipulated that a light should be placed close to the button, but as
yet this was not in place.

By the light of the match Lew Flapp saw the button, and these words
over it:

To Open the Door and Ring
the Bell Push This Button.

"Good! that just suits me," he chuckled to himself, but immediately had
something of a chill, thinking that the button might not yet be fixed
to work.

With nervous fingers he pushed upon the object. There was a slight
click, and he saw the big iron door of the vault spring ajar.

"The trick is done, and I am free!" he murmured, and sprang to the
door. But here he paused again, to gaze through the grating. Sam was
out of sight and not another soul could be seen. The coast was clear.

"Now good-bye to Oak Run," he muttered to himself. "I was a fool to
come here in the first place, even to meet that Dan Baxter!"

In a moment more he was out of the vault and running to the rear of the
cemetery as fast as his legs would carry him.

In the meantime Sam made his way as quickly as possible to a house
situated at the front corner of the cemetery, where the keeper of the
place resided.

A knock on the door brought the keeper's daughter. She knew Sam and
smiled.

"What can I do for you, Sam?" she asked.

"Where is your father, Jennie?"

"He just went down to the village to buy a new spade."

"Oh, pshaw! that's too bad."

"What is the matter? I hope you're not going to have a funeral in your
family."

"No funeral in this, Jennie. I met a thief in Oak Run and tried to have
him arrested. He ran into the cemetery and hid in the new vault and I
locked the door on him. Now I want your father or somebody else to help
me take him to the lock-up."

"A thief! What did he steal?"

"Some jewelry. It's a long story. Do you know where I can find somebody
else?"

"Jack S