“I’ll tell you,” answered Ben, speaking in a low, rapid tone. “That carriage contains a woman who has been stopping at my place. She came down from Pittsburgh the other day, with a boodle that would make your mouth water. She’s got five thousand dollars with her, in cash, and diamonds that are worth as much more. She’ll pass here in three minutes. There’s nobody but the driver with her. Don’t kill ’em, but just make them come down with the treasure quietly. Mind, now, I stand in with you on this job. If it’s needed, I’ll help you. If not, you must divy, because I’ve given you the points. Here comes the carriage now!”
The robbers were thrown completely off their guard. The prospect of making a ten-thousand dollar haul, proved too dazzling to be resisted.
“It’s a go!” said the leader, turning toward the approaching vehicle.
No sooner had the highwaymen turned their attention to their expected game, than Ben disappeared in the darkness, and ran along the road at the top of his speed toward his own house. This he reached in safety, leaving the robbers to grapple with the occupants of the carriage.
It is almost unnecessary to explain that the story which Ben had told was purely a fiction. It was his quickness of thought, combined with his nerve, which had saved his life. It might have interested the would-be robbers to have known that their intended victim carried with him that night over three thousand dollars in cash.
To offset this somewhat unpleasant adventure, I will recount one of a very opposite nature.
It so happened that Ben had procured a suit of black broadcloth, which, together with a white cravat and silk hat, gave him very much the appearance of a minister. One day he chanced to be standing in the street, arrayed in this ministerial garb, when a young man, a stranger in Babylon, came up to him and said:
“Could you tell me, sir, where I could find a German minister?”
Ben eyed the fellow for a minute, and seeing the chance for a good joke, answered gravely:
“I have the honor to be a clergyman, and I am also a German. What can I do for you?”