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

His first impulse was to seize him
and wake him; but moments reaec.
ton decided him to wait the natural
issue of events. Mr.. Duff, without
hesitation or fumbling, chose the right
keys for the outer door, and pushed it,
rs the lock sprang back, slowly open;
then the wicket gate. the inner iron
door, and SO on, until he disappeared
silently in the vaultlike shades of the
strong room. When he reached the
inner safe, he took from the we'll
packed store of pound notes-Traill
eagerly watching him from the door
q bundle containing five hundred; he
then noiselessly shut and locked each
door as he retreated. He passed with
in arms length of Trail, bearing the
bundle of notes, the keys and his light
ed candle; left the office-followed by
his partner-walked slowly up stairs
to his bedroom, where he deliberately
dropped the bolt back in its place, and
finally laid the keys carefully, appar-
emily counting them, in their usual
places in the box fixed in the wall for
the purpose. Trail expected he would
then retire to bed; but it was evident
that the somnambulist had not finished
his nights work. Having safely put
away the keys, he lifted his candle and
again went down stairs, carrying the
notes in his hand. Trail followed
him through the kitchen ard out into
the courtyard behind. With the same
purpose-like deliberation that he had
shown at the safe, he now marched to
the unvarnished truth, 0 romantic
reader, must be recorded-to the pig
sty! Arrived there, he lifted a loose
fold of thatch that rested on a slab of
stone in the rickety roof, secreted the
bundle of notes there, replaced the
thatch carefully, and then turned with
an air of relief and went in doors.
Trail did not disturb him, did not
even take the trouble to follow his
partner to see if he reached his bed
safely, but sprang eagerly to loose the
thatch, in which, snugly lying, he
found the comfortable sum of nineteen
hundred pounds in bank notes! He
could not help laughing as he stood
there in the dim gray morning, hardly
half-clad, for the pursuit had not been
without excitement. Gan expensive
roofing for Duff 8 pigs" he murmured,
gathering the various dusty bundles to-
gether and retreating indoors from the
cold morning air.
II think, Duff" said Trail serious
~ when they met in the Office after
breakfast-"I think, to make certain
that no thief, or witch, or ghost has
been tampering with the cash during
the night, we had better count the
cash henceforth in the morning as well
as at night; that will make certain
whether the money disappears by night
or during the day.
Mr.. Duff assented.
"Suppose you begin this morning"
Again Mr.. Duff assented; and, with
reluctant fingers, at his partners sug-
gestion, counted the money. Powers
of Darknessr' he exclaimed, II shall
not stay another day in this house. The
cash is again five hundred pounds
shortr' Had Mr.. Duff not been a re-
markedly bald man, he would probably
have tore his hair in agony.
"How much do you reckon your
pigs cost you annually, Mr.. Duff?''
Trail asked, with apparent irrelevance,
and, as MIR. Duff thought, fippancy.
pigs! Hang the pigs! Hang the
bank! and Yes, l mean to resign
my office. I'm not going to remain
here to be robbed and ruined"
on your sly, and papering it," Trail
went on sententiously. "Sparing no
expense on it. Doing the thing stylish,
ehp''
care you mad, Traill?''
"Well, let me see. At the rate of
two thousand pounds, say. in three
months, that pig-sty will cost about
eight thousand pounds year." Trail
was apparently in his gravest mood.
"That's pretty moderate, eh!'
"Poor Trail! The loss of his money
has taken his brain. What demon has
entered this house?" sighed Mr.. Duff.
in the presence of despair more tragic
even than his own.
Look here, old fellowr' said Trail,
suddenly bursting into laughter-"look
here! found these in the roof of your
pig-sty this morning; and what is
more, saw you put them there with
your own hands,"
Prodigiousr'
Yes, all the missing money was
there. The banker gave champagne
dinner to his delighted clerks on the
evening of that day. His own health,
however, was in rather a bad way. In
a month or two he resigned his Office,
retiring on a liberal pension to his
farm; and in order to compensate
James Hamilton for all his recent
trouble and misery, MIR. Duff requested,
as a personal and final favor, that the
Directors might appoint him to the po-
sition of Assistant-Agent with George
Trail, a proposal which the Directors
favorably entertained. These offices
both of the gentlemen hold with honor
to this day. It may be mentioned, too,
that George Trail and James Hamil-
ton are now brothers-in-law, each hav-
ing in due time welded one of Mr..
Duffs daughters. The bank is James
Hamilton's home, while George Traill
has rented farm adjoining Mr.. Duff 8.
The fresh country air, and fishing, and
unlimited golfng--all enforced on him
by the doctor as the best medicine
have put an end to the old banker
somnambulistic rambles. = Chambers
Journal.
FOREIGN GOSSIP.
PLAYING dominoes for the beer leads
to arrest and unpleasant consequences
in London.
HOUsE-RENTs in Liverpool are now
about one-half less than they were q
few years ago.
ACCORDING to the London Truth. the
name of the Zulu King Cetewayo is