“Yes; a regular five-chambered one, and I’ve got a lot of cartridges, too.”
“There’s going to be a concert at the Hall to-night,” added Tom, peering behind, around, and among the trees again to make sure no one else heard his words, “and father and mother are going. They will take all the children, too, except me.”
“How’s that?”
“He says I was such a bad boy yesterday that he means to punish me by making me stay at home, but that’s just what I want him to do, and if he feels sort of sorry and lets up, I’ll pretend I’m sick so he will leave me behind. I tell you, fellows, Providence is on our side and we’re going to win.”
His companions shared the faith of the young scamp, who now proceeded to unfold his astounding scheme.
CHAPTER II—HOW THE SCHEME WORKED
“The folks will leave the house,” said Tom Wagstaff, “about half-past seven, and there will be no one home but me and Maggie, the girl. I’ll be up in my room and Maggie down-stairs. When I lean out the window and wave my hand I want you, Jim, to fire two or three charges out of your revolver through the winders of the dining-room.”
“What for?” asked the startled Jim.
“Wait, and I’ll tell you; the noise of the pistol and the breaking of the glass will scare Maggie half to death: she will run out of the house, and you and Billy must then slip inside, hurry up-stairs, tie me to the bed-post, and put a gag in my mouth. I’ll have all the money and jewelry ready in a handkerchief, and you can scoot with it. Maggie will run down to the Hall and tell father and mother, and they’ll hurry home and be so scared they won’t know what to do. They’ll untie me, and I’ll pretend I’m almost dead, and they’ll call in the police, and when I come to, I’ll have a story to tell about robbers with masks on their faces, and all that sort of thing, and they’ll hunt for ’em, and never smell a mouse. What do you think of it, fellers?”
It was a scheme which, in its vicious cunning, was worthy of older scamps than these three young school-boys; but their minds were poisoned by pernicious reading, and they eagerly entered into its spirit. Everything promised success, and Tom, the originator of the plan, found his companions as eager as himself to lend a hand in carrying it out.