CHAPTER VIII.
AT CLOSE QUARTERS.
Close beside the gate hung a padlock attached to an iron chain. Seizing the padlock, Andy Gresson shoved the hasp in place and snapped the lock through the staple, thus closing the gate of the lumber yard against Franklin's entrance.
"Stop, Gresson! Do you hear?" cried the young electrician, as he reached the gate, just as the operation was completed.
Still the man made no reply. He ran down the wagon way, between huge piles of boards, and pieces of timber, and disappeared around a corner.
A brief examination convinced Franklin that to open the gate would just then be impossible. He looked up and saw that the slats were ten feet high.
"Here goes for a try at them anyway!" he murmured to himself, and the next instant was doing his best to scale the tall gate.
Fortunately, the boy was a good climber, and he reached the top of the gate mthout difficulty. Then
