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Alger, Horatio, Jr.

"Struggling Upward"


"Confound the boy! He's foiled me this time!" muttered Coleman.
"Shall I take the watch? No; it might expose me, and I could not
raise much on it at the pawnbroker's. He must have left his money
with the clerk downstairs. He wouldn't think of it himself, but
probably he was advised to do so before he left home. I'll get
up early, and see if I can't get in ahead of my young friend."
Coleman did not venture to take the two-dollar bill, as that
would have induced suspicion on the part of Luke, and would have
interfered with his intention of securing the much larger sum of
money, which, as he concluded rightly, was in the safe in the office.
He undressed and got into bed, but not without observation.
As he was bending over Luke's cothes, examining them, our hero's
eyes suddenly opened, and he saw what was going on. It flashed
upon him at once what kind of a companion he had fallen in with,
but he had the wisdom and self-control to close his eyes again
immediately. He reflected that there was not much that Coleman
could take, and if he took the watch he resolved to charge him
openly with it. To make a disturbance there and then might be
dangerous, as Coleman, who was much stronger than he, might
ill-treat and abuse him, without his being able to offer any
effectual resistance.


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