This safe was legibly inscribed on the outside "Burglar's
Puzzle." We however, were not afraid of making a noise, and it only
puzzled us for ten minutes.
When opened it revealed a Golconda! There lay in securities and cash
no less than five hundred thousand dollars!
We smiled at one another.
"A sad revelation!" I remarked.
"Hoary old fox!" said the colonel.
No wonder the harbor works were unremunerative in their early stages.
The President must have kept them at a very early stage.
"What are you people up to?" cried Carr.
"Rank burglary, my dear boy," I replied, and we retreated with our
spoil.
"Now," said I to the colonel, "what are you going to do?"
"Why, what do you think, Mr. Martin?" interposed the signorina. "He's
going to give you your money, and divide the rest with his sincere
friend Christina Nugent."
"Well, I suppose so," said the colonel. "But it strikes me you're
making a good thing of this, Martin."
"My dear colonel," said I, "a bargain is a bargain; and where would
you have been without my money?"
The colonel made no reply, but handed me the money, which I liked much
better. I took the three hundred and twenty thousand dollars and said:
"Now, I can face the world, an honest man.
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