at the coal company's office and is also a personal friend of Harry the Horse, which is
why he takes the walk when he sees us coming.
It is agreed before we leave Big Butch's house that Harry the Horse and Spanish John are
to stay outside the place as lookouts, while Big Butch is inside opening the safe, and that
Little Isadore is to go with Butch. Nothing whatever is said by anybody about where I am
to be at any time, and I can see that, no matter where I am, I will still be an outsider, but,
as Butch gives me the package to carry, I figure he wishes me to remain with him.
It is no bother at all getting into the office of the coal company, which is on the ground
floor, because it seems the watchman leaves the front door open, this watchman being a
most obliging guy, indeed. In fact, he is so obliging that by and by he comes back and
lets Harry the Horse and Spanish John tie him up good and tight, and stick a handkerchief
in his mouth and chuck him in an areaway next to the office, so nobody will think he has
anything to do with opening the safe in case anybody comes around asking.
The office looks out on the street, and the safe that Harry the Horse and Little Isadore and
Spanish John wish Big Butch to open is standing up against the rear wall of the office
facing the street windows. There is one little electric light burning very dim over the safe
so that when anybody walks past the place outside, such as a watchman, they can look in
through the window and see the safe at all times, unless they are blind. It is not a tall safe,
and it is not a big safe, and I can see Big Butch grin when he sees it, so I figure this safe
is not much of a safe, just as Harry the Horse claims.
Well, as soon as Big Butch and the baby and Little Isadore and me get into the office, Big
Butch steps over to the safe and unfolds what I think is the big flat book, and what is it
but a sort of screen painted on one side to look exactly like the front of a safe. Big Butch
stands this screen up on the floor in front of the real safe, leaving plenty of space in
between, the idea being that the screen will keep anyone passing in the street outside
from seeing Butch while he is opening the safe, because when a man is opening a safe he
needs all the privacy he can get.
Big Butch lays John Ignatius Junior down on the floor on the blanket behind the phony
safe front and takes his tools out of the satchel and starts to work opening the safe, while
little Isadore and me get back in a corner where it is dark, because there is not room for
all of us back of the screen. However, we can see what Big Butch is doing, and I wish to
say while I never before see a professional safe-opener at work, and never wish to see
another, this Butch handles himself like a real artist.
He starts drilling into the safe around the combination lock, working very fast and very
quiet, when all of a sudden what happens but John Ignatius Junior sits up on the blanket
and lets out a squall. Naturally this is most disquieting to me, and personally I am in
favour of beaning John Ignatius Junior with something to make him keep still, because I
am nervous enough as it is. But the squalling does not seem to bother Big Butch. He lays
down his tools and picks up John Ignatius Junior and starts whispering, 'There, there,
there, my itty oddleums. Da-dad is here.'