Uttering a little gasp that was compounded of horror and fear, Mike started forward, only to have his numbed leg give way beneath him. The fall sobered him to a curious, fictitious calmness. He flashed his lamp on the bound, still figure. Its eyes were closed. The face was utterly white.
“Fainted,” said Mike to himself, shakily. “Safe enough, though....”
He suddenly scrambled to his feet again and ran. Through the dark hallways and down the steps he fled. He was possessed by an unreasoning terror. The window through which he had entered was open. Evidently the other man had arranged it for his own ingress. Mike fairly fell outside, and suddenly was in complete possession of himself again. With the quiet, dark night all around him, he felt secure, and he abruptly became conscious that he was carrying something in one hand. He had picked it up when his leg gave way.
He let a faint ray trickle through his fingers upon it. Then he grinned uncertainly. Evidently he had happened upon a portion of the payroll. He saw yellow backs, at any rate, with the bills in the bundle he held.
“M-my Gawd,” said Mike, unevenly. “That was a shock. There’ve been shocks all around tonight. That feller in the vault.... An’ the feller that fainted.... Say”–a thought struck him–“wonder if he’ll come out of that faint in time to tell about a feller bein’ in th’ vault. M-my Gawd! Maybe he don’t know!”
He looked back through the window he had left, his breath coming hurriedly, uneasily. He saw a faint glow a long distance away. The watchman was making his rounds again. Mike saw the confident, assured steps of the man by the light of his lantern. His legs threw monstrous shadows on the walls. He went on his way unhurriedly, reached a time-clock and extracted a key. He inserted and turned it, registering his presence and vigilance upon a strip of paper inside the mechanism. Then, casually, he went on his way.
“Brother,” Mike apostrophized the unconscious figure, “I just hadda shock. Two other fellers had their shocks. An’ now, ol’ top, you’re in for yours. Here’s hopin’.”
The watchman turned a corner and was lost to sight, but his steady, even footsteps came dully to Mike’s ears. He was climbing the stairs, and he wore squeaky shoes.
Mike slipped quickly and quietly away.
Transcriber’s Notes: