About two o'clock, a slight accident occurred to me, which, however, did no harm. In reaching for a pitcher of water that stood on the table near by, I knocked off a book, which must have been poised on the corner of the table. I immediately imitated, by scratching, the gnawing of a rat in the wall, so that if the falling of the book had aroused the sleeper, he would have attributed both the noises to the imaginary animal. But few sounds outside the building were heard, save the occasional drunken shout of some votary of Bacchus, reeling home to disgrace his family with his presence; and the measured strokes of the city clocks, as they told off the long, long hours. But the most ludicrous circumstance happened just about daylight,--that is, daylight outside, for within the office it was still dark, as all the blinds were closed. I was startled by a sudden rap on the door of the post master's room which opened into the main hall, soon followed by another even more energetic. The clerk in the bed-room jumped from his bed and passed by me to open the door. Fearing that I should be discovered, I darted into the bed-room without his knowledge, and before he had returned. The truth is, he was not more than half awake, and had forgotten me entirely. He had admitted a colored man to get the boots which required his polishing touch, and then returned to bed again. This gentleman of color, who by the way proved to be a trusty porter employed in several of the offices in the building, proceeded first to the side of the cot to get the boots there, and then made for the bed-room, into which I had retreated. In feeling about the floor to find the remaining "leathern conveniences," he seized one of mine! "I've got my foot in it now," thought I; but by a gentle and dexterous movement I succeeded in withdrawing the exposed covering from his partial grasp, without his discovering the existence of a leg within. Whether it was fright at the touch of the tenanted boot, or something else, that made him leave the premises so suddenly, I have never been fully satisfied. I went out myself soon after, leaving both clerks sound asleep. What occurred on that night beyond that which I have already described, or how the investigation terminated, I am confident the reader will not insist upon knowing, when I assure him that there are special reasons, affecting public as well as private interests, why I should make no further disclosures. Though this was not the last night which I have spent in post-offices for similar purposes, yet I have never repeated the experiment under circumstances requiring quite so severe restraints, and such abridgment of personal liberty. CHAPTER IX. Throwing off the Cars--Fiendish Recklessness--The Boot-Tracks--A Scamp among the Printers--Obstruction removed--A Ruse--The Boots secured--"Big Jobs"--The Trial--Unreliable Witness--A Life-Sentence.