The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1879-07-24

For the greater part of the night the
men sat up searching; but when the
morning came they were as far from
the mark as ever.
Mr.. Duff, much to the surprise of
customers of the bank, next day " took
over'' the cash himself, and, rather
awkwardly from want of practice, be-
came his own cashier. Hamilton was
degraded to subordinate duties. His
spirit. poor fellow, was fairly broken.
No trace of the missing money could
be found. Of course, MIR. Duff could
not long continue acting as teller. The
work interfered with even more inn
portant duties.
A son of Mr.. Trail, the parish
minister, who was employed at the
Aberdeen branch of the same bank, at
this time visited Tollkirk, and, being of
the same craft, spent q good deal of
time in Mr.. Duff's company. The
subject CT the missing money was
broached and discussed between them.
It so happened that George Trail was
engaged to be married TO Mary Duff,
and the banker, having lost confidence
in Hamilton, and feeling sorely in need
of capable help, proposed that George
should apply to the Directors of the
bank for the appointment of joint agent
or partner with himself in the manage
ment of the Tollkirk branch. So it
came about that in ashort time George
Trail, shrewd, practical business
man, relieved Mr.. Duff at the telling
table, in order to familiarize himself
with the faces of the banks customers.
For some days all went well. Then
came market day. At the close of the
day Mr.. Trails cash was f5OO short!
CHAPTER IL.
Dismay fell on the quiet little bank
in Tollkirk. The former uneasiness
became in the Office panic. Hamil-
ton had been made i'll by the anxiety
of his position, and was in bed on the
day that Mr.. Trails deficiency &C.
CURED. After closely scrutinizing
every entry in the books, Trail came
to the conclusion that he had not paid
the money in excess to any one, and
that the notes must have been stolen
by some one on the premises. The
banks safe was duly examined; but
the locks bore no marks of being tam
pered with. The windows and doors
of the Office were unfastened, and Mr..
Duffs domestics-whos swept out the
Office. had been his servants, and were
known to HIM for years. The matter
was on this occasion reported to the
banks head Office; but then came the
cold intimation that no further def
cheney could be made good, and re-
ferring the bank agents to their recent
date.
Mr.. Duff began to think the place
was haunted. Wherever the money
was gone, it had to be paid up-raising
the total losses made in this mysteri-
GUS way to the unpalatable sum of
hundred pounds in less than
three months. The mystery was all
the deeper that during the day of the
difference in Trails cash, it had hap
pened there had not been a single cash
payment amounting to five hundred
pounds. Then there came vague
as the police, had the
matter passed into their hands, would
have made use of-that there
was an itinerant blacksmith, q gypsy,
in the neighborhood, to whom popular
rumOr attributed almost miraculous
power in the manipulation of locks.
Yet it would take very clever lock-
smith, indeed, to open the Central
Banks safe unheard in the house, and
to close it again without leaving trace
of his work. The safe had q founda-
ton of eight feet of stone, and was
coated on the floor, wall and roof with
a two-inch plate of solid iron. The
doors were, of course, of iron, and
each-there were four doors-had two
keys and separate locks. Through the
lock of the outer iron door an iron
bolt was each evening shot down from
Mr.. Duff's bedroom above, and while
that bolt was down no key in the world
could open the door. 1t was necessary
to be in Mr.. Duff bedroom before the
bolt could be drawn or dropped. 1t
was extremely improbable that there
we're any in Tollkirk who could, even
with the necessary keys in their hands,
find their way into the strong room un-
aided.
Mr.. Duff became a changed man.
He was thin and worn and i'll with anx-
iety and watching. They were all
watching. Trail was watching Ham,
ilton; Hamilton turned keen glance
on the boys; the boys kept their eyes
verv widely open all round. Mr.. Duff
was unwilling to put the matter in the
hands of the local police, knowing that
the first to be suspected would be his
clerks, and that the affair would speed
lily become town gossip. Secretly Mr..
Duff began to think the place was be-
witched.
His partner, George Trail, being
called upon to pay up half of
the five hundred pounds re-
solved to get to the bottom of the
matter. He had a bed fitted up in the
bankers business-room, and deter
mined to spend his nights there until
some solution of the problem present.
ed itself. His transfer from the Aber-
uOOA VI oACu Sc0MoU JuSt tu0u W pTOV0
q bad bargain. The keys of the safe,
it should be mentioned, numbering
eight, were placed every night, after
the locking up of the safe and the
of the iron bolt from the
bankers bedroom, in strong box, the
key of which was always carried by
MIR. Duff. George Trail, armed with
a revolver, in spite OF Mary's protests
and Mr.. Duff's jeers, occupied the
room when the bed had been fitted
there, and waited philosophically the
course of events. He slept little for
the first night or two, but no intruder
came to disturb his repose. Tue long,
dull hours crept on without adventure
or other result than to make Trail
sleepy and cross during the following
days. The bankers we're beginning to
despair Of discovering the thief. Yet
Traill-despite Mr.. Duff's perfectly
argument that if any man
broke into the safe it would not be
merely five hundred pounds that would
satisfy him, nor would he likely risk q
second or third visit continued to
spend his nights in the bank.