The talk had been done in whispers, and every move of the men was a silent one. Denton, who was not quite such a rascal as Harrison, protested against taking the money, but in vain.
“I’ve got it, and I’m going to keep it!” was the last word of Harrison.
“Well, it’ll get us into trouble, you see if it won’t,” declared the more timid of the intruders.
“If it does, it’ll help us out of trouble, too. I’m going to keep the money, and you don’t have to take your share if you don’t want to. Now we’ll just take another look through the desk, for we may have missed something, and then——”
But what else Harrison was going to propose was not made manifest, for at that instant Denton exclaimed:
“Keep still! I hear a noise!”
There was no doubt of it. Some one could be heard coming down the front stairs.
“Come on!” hoarsely whispered Harrison. “We’ve got to beat it!”
Denton turned to go out the way they had come in, by the rear door, but his companion caught him by the arm.
“Not that way!” he whispered in his ear. “We’d be caught sure! This window—the one by the desk—come on!”