"Ah, too risky, of course," Dan replied, with a curl of the lip. "But I don't mean breakin' in. Nothing like it. But tell me first; s'pose breakin' in _wasn't_ risky; s'pose you knew you'd get away safe, with the stuff. Would you do it then?" And he peered keenly at Viney's face. Viney frowned. "That don't matter," he said, "if it ain't the plan. S'pose I would?" "Ha-ha! that'll do! I know your sort. Not that I blame you about the busting--it 'ud take two pretty tough 'uns to face Cap'en Nat, I can tell you. But now see here. Will you come with me, an' knock at his side door to-night, after the place is shut?" "Knock? And what then?" "I'll tell you. You know the alley down to the stairs?" "Yes." "Black as pitch at night, with a row o' posts holding up the house. Now when everybody's gone an' he's putting out the lights, you go an' tap at the door." "Well?" "You tap at the door, an' he'll come. You're alone--see? I stand back in the dark, behind a post. He never sees me. 'Good evenin',' says you. 'I just want a word with you, if you'll step out.' And so he does." "And what then?" "Nothing else--not for you; that's all your job. Easy enough, ain't it?" Viney turned where he sat, and stared fixedly at his confederate's face. "And then--then--what----" "Then I come on. He don't know I'm there--behind him." Viney's mouth opened a little, but with no grin; and for a minute the two sat, each looking in the other's face. Then said Viney, with a certain shrinking: "No, no; not that. It's hanging, you know; it's hanging--for both." Dan laughed--an ugly laugh, and short. "It ain't hanging for _that_," he said; "it's hanging for gettin' caught. An' where's the chance o' that? We take our own time, and the best place you ever see for a job like that, river handy at the end an' all; an' everything settled beforehand. Safe a job as ever I see. Look at me. I ain't hung yet, am I? But I've took my chances, an' took 'em when it wasn't safe, like as this is." Viney stared at vacancy, like a man in a brown study; and his dry tongue passed slowly along his drier lips. "As for bein' safe," Dan went on, "what little risk there is, is for _me_. You're all right. We don't know each other. Not likely. How should you know I was hidin' there in the dark when you went to speak to Cap'en Nat Kemp? Come to that, it might ha' been _you_ outed instead o' your friend what you was talkin' so sociable with. An' there's more there than what's in the pocket-book. Remember that. There's a lump more than that." Viney rubbed his mouth with the back of his hand. "How do you know?" he asked, huskily.