"Of course, I do not claim that I enjoy being robbed," continued Mr. Braithwait, "but I realize that it is not as bad as it might be. Last week you would have caught me with two thousand in cash in the house, and last month you would have horribly scared my wife and daughters." "Not for worlds," murmured Mr. Montgomery. "Well, you might have done so--women have such a detestation of robbers, except when they are in jail. The pleasure of your visit--I hinted that I could extract pleasure from adversity--lies in the fact that it brings me in contact with a profession I have previously known only by hearsay. I suppose I may take it for granted you gentlemen are experts?" [Illustration: "NO VIOLENCE, JIM!"] "We've been there before," said Baxter, coarsely. "If an experience of fourteen years is any guaranty, then I am an expert," said Graham, with a certain air of pride in his tones. "Our friend there," nodding at Baxter, "has, I believe, been in the profession since childhood; while Mr."--indicating Montgomery with his cigar--"you'll excuse my not mentioning names?--is a beginner. A skilled workman, I admit, but this is only his second year." "I don't wonder that he"--and Mr. Braithwait glanced slightly at Baxter,--"remains in the business, but that you should follow the vocation for fourteen years surprises me greatly." "Indeed?" queried Graham, with perceptible stiffness. "Why?" "Because you appear to be a sensible man, and I should not think the business would pay. What is your annual income as a burglar?" "On an average, I should say three thousand a year." "And you are an expert! I receive six thousand a year, and I am only Assistant General Freight Agent, and have been but twelve years in the business. Then I may infer that these two gentlemen make much less than three thousand?" "I've seen the week when I didn't make hod-carrier's wages," growled Baxter, who had now finished eating, and was preparing to smoke a black wooden pipe. "You're not so sensible as I thought," rejoined Mr. Braithwait, frankly. "I can easily imagine a man exposing himself to dreadful dangers and cruel privations when there is a great prize in view. An explorer like Stanley, a pioneer like Pike or Fremont, a conqueror like Cortez, or a revolutionist like Washington, could well brave hardship and peril when success meant wealth as well as the plaudits of their fellow men. The early settlers of this and every other country, the gold hunters of '49, the pirates who ravaged the seas, all were actuated by the hope of a fortune at one swoop; but to risk prison, to say nothing of life itself, for a day laborer's wages!----" "But," spoke up Montgomery, quickly, "there is fame, if not fortune." "Pardon me. In what way?" "In the usual way. Who has not heard of Hickey, the man who cracked twenty banks before they tripped him up; Peters, the New England cracksman; Bronthers, the Chicago expert?"