"You'll be glad to hear, Jud, that we're getting along beautiful on that safe. We're a-going to blow the stuffing out of it the next thing _you_ know. Reckon if you ain't particular we'll just borrow a sleigh we see out here and a set of Sours's harness for a couple of our horses when we go away, 'cause we think the specie may be a little heavy. Besides, we're calculating there may be some other stuff around town worth taking off--Winchesters and such agricultural and stock-raising implements," and he laughed. He seemed to be in very good humor. He went back, and for another long while I heard nothing but steady drilling on the safe and a little of their talk, though I could not catch much of that. Sometimes, too, I could hear Kaiser barking. He was locked in the hotel, and I thought he knew I was in trouble and wanted to get out and help me. After what seemed hours Pike came in again. "We blow 'er open now very shortly," he said. "A reg'ler little Fourth o' July celebration of our own, hey, Jud?" Then he laughed and went on: "We need that money and you bet it's going to come handy." He looked at me, came closer with the lantern, and said: "Jud, what d'ye say to coming in with us and having your share like a man? You're a good one, if you _are_ young, and we can find plenty of work for you, and always you get your share." "No," I said, "I don't care to." He looked at me sharply a moment and then went on: "Just as you please, of course. But me and the boys was talking it over and we calculated it was the best way to dispose of you, a _pile_ the best for you and _some_ better for us." I had kept looking straight into his eyes, under his big eyebrows. "No," I said, "I won't do it." "Oh, take your choice," he answered, "take your choice. Just as you think best, of course. Only you know the old saying about how dead men don't tell any tales. And if you come in with us you get your share, just the same as if you'd done your part of the work." I said nothing. He waited a minute, then went out and shut the door. I sprang up and pulled and wrenched at the brace with all my strength. The handcuffs cut into my wrists, but I did not feel it. The brace stayed as firm as ever. I sat down weak and trembling with my last hope gone. A minute later there was a loud explosion in the bank, which shook the building I was in. Next came a cheer from the men. Then voices, and I heard Pike shout: "It's all afire here--bring a pail of water, Joe!" The well windlass creaked and I heard a man start in from the back. Next I heard Pike say, "We'll soon fix that fire," then came an explosion and a crash, like an earthquake, and the wall came down upon me, and the counter came over and I was half under it. I heard the cries of the men, and, wriggling about, I got out from under the counter and found my hands free from the brace, and the snowflakes coming in my face through where half the side of the building had been blown away. CHAPTER XXI