der clock, undt figure dot all oudt, so I haf yust der time to valk here.
Der sooner you obens der door, Misder Jack, der sooner I pe on der chob,"
was the reply of the little man who had been hired to watch the mill, and
those strange boxes, during the night.

Evidently Hans was "strictly business." He had been hired to watch, and
he wanted to be earning his wages as quickly as possible.

So Jack used his key, and the four entered the office. It was quite a
good-sized room. The windows were covered with heavy wire netting, and it
seemed strong enough to resist any ordinary degree of force. After that
attempt to rob his safe, Mr. Stormways had taken precautions against a
similar raid.

The watchman also carried a lantern, which he now lighted. No sooner had
this been done than Bobolink uttered an exclamation.

"I reckon now, Jack, that these three big boxes are the ones the
professor wants watched?" he observed, pointing as he spoke to several
cumbersome cases that stood in a group, occupying considerable space.

Tom Betts, also looking, saw that they were unusually well fastened. In
addition to the ordinary nailing, they were bound along the edges with
heavy twisted wire, through which frequent nails had been driven. When
they came to be opened, the job would prove no easy one.

"Yes, those are the ones; and Hans is to spend most all his time right
here in the office," Jack went on to say. "I'm going to ask my father if
he ought not to hire you to be night watchman right along, Hans. This
plant of ours is getting too big a thing to leave unguarded, with so many