xhibited by two of the three members who composed the little band of
lawbreakers.

It has been shown that the full-grown man with a big mustache acted as a
lookout at the front, which is perhaps the safest post for a criminal in
such circumstances, since he has a good chance to get away on the first
approach of danger. A second lookout was placed at the rear.
After-developments showed that the trio was headed by Kit Woodford, the
adult member, who had led a life of crime since boyhood and had served a
term in prison. He would have been more successful as a criminal except
for his rank cowardice which caused him to be despised and cast out by
several gangs with which he sought to connect himself.

The other two burglars were Orestes Noxon and Graff Miller, neither of
whom had reached his majority by more than two years. It was Miller who
took his station at the rear, where on the first sign of something amiss
he sneaked off without giving the signal which would have warned Noxon in
time to flee unharmed. In his way, he was as lacking in personal courage
as Kit Woodford. The latter held his place until the racket caused by
Mike Murphy's tumble downstairs apprised him that things were not going
right. He ventured upon a single timid whistle, which no one else heard,
and then slunk down the road, hugging the shadows and intent only on
saving his own bacon.

How was it that young Noxon was assigned the most perilous task of all,
when in reality he was the youngest of the three? It was due to a
peculiar skill which neither of the others possessed. He proved more than
once that he could take position in front of an ordinary safe--not the
most modern kind--and by a wonderfully deft manipulation of the knob
which governed the combination tell by the fall of the tumblers just when
the index struck the right numerals. He demonstrated this power many
times when all others who made the trial failed. He asked simply to be
left undisturbed with his ear against the steel door as he turned the
knob with infinite delicacy. He was proud of his ability in this respect,
and when Kit Woodford gave him the post of peril he accepted it as a
compliment and eagerly essayed the task.

Although there is no evidence on the point, it is quite sure that Kit
Woodford, whose chief business was to spy out the land, knew that several
wealthy citizens of Beartown made a practice of leaving large deposits
with Mrs. Friestone overnight or for several nig