part with
that package."

"The second thing?" Rand whimpered. "What will you do first?"

"Communicate with the first policeman we meet when we leave here," said
Holmes. "But take your time, Mr. Rand--take your time. Don't let me hurry
you into a decision. Try a little of this Glengarry and we'll drink hearty
to a sensible conclusion."

"I--I'll put them back in the vaults to-morrow," pleaded Rand.

"Can't trust you, my boy," said Holmes. "Not with a persuasive crook like
old Bucket-ship Gallagher on your trail. They're safer with me."

Rand's answer was a muttered oath as he tossed the package across the table
and started to leave us.

"One word more, Mr. Rand," said Holmes, detaining him. "Don't do anything
rash. There's a lot of good-fellowship between criminals, and I'll stand by
you all right. So far nobody knows you took these things, and even when they
turn up missing, if you go about your work as if nothing had happened, while
you may be suspected, nobody can _prove_ that you got the goods."

Rand's face brightened at this remark.

"By Jove!--that's true enough," said he. "Excepting Gallagher," he added,
his face falling.

"Pah for Gallagher!" cried Holmes, snapping his fingers contemptuously. "If
he as much as peeped we could put him in jail, and if he sells you out you
tell him for me that I'll land him in Sing Sing for a term of years. He led
you into this--"

"He certainly did," moaned Rand.

"And he's got to get you out," said Holmes. "Now, good-bye, old man. The
worst that can happen to you is a few judgments instead of penal servitude
for eight or ten years, unless you are foolish enough to try another turn of
this sort, and then you may not happen on a good-natured highwayman like
myself to get you out of your troubles. By-the-way, what is the combination
of the big safe in the outer office of the Kenesaw National?"

"One-eight-nine-seven," said Rand.

"Thanks," said Holmes, jotting it down coolly in his memorandum-book.
"That's a good thing to know."

That night, shortly before midnight, Holmes left me. "I've got to finish
this job," said he. "The most ticklish part of the business is yet to come."

"Great Scott, Holmes!" I cried. "Isn't the thing done?"

"No--of course not," he replied. "I've got to bust open the Kenesaw safe."

"Now, my dear Raffles," I began, "why aren't you satisfied with what you've
done already. Why must you--"

"Shut up, Jenkins," he interrupted, with a la