Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-08-28

bore no marks of being tempered with.
The windows and doors OF the office were
unaffected, and Mr.. Duffs donestics- who
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 thence came
the cold intimation that no further de-
ficiency could be made good, and referring
the bank agents TO their recent letter TO
that effect of such and such date.
MIR. Duff began to think the place was
haunted. Wherever the money was gone
it bad to be paid up raising tie t-tal
losses made in this mysterious way to the
unpleasant sum of fourteen hundred pounds
IN less than three months The mystery
was all the deeper that during the day OF
the difference In Trails cash 1t happened
that there had not been single cash pay.
ment amounting to five hundred pounds.
Then there came vague rumors-such as
the police, had the matter passed into their
hands, would have made use of-that
there w2s an itinerant locksmith. gypsy,
in the neighborhood, to whom popular ru-
NOR attributed almost miraculous power in
the manipulation of locks Yet it would
take very clever locksmith indeed to open
the Central banks safe unhear6 in the
house, aud to close it again without leaving
traces OF his work. The safe had founda-
ton OF eight feet of stche, and was coated
on the floor, walls and roof with d 5wo-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
SIR. Duff's bedroom before the bolt could
be drawn or dropped. 1t was extremely
improbable that there were any in Tollkirk
who could, even with the necessary keys in
their hands, find their way into the strong
room unaided.
No longer was Mr.. Duff able to leave
the bank with an easy mind for 2.o'clock
luncheon-with forty winks to follows
had been his custom these twenty years.
He was closely on the watch Yet there
was no visible cause for suspicion. Bank
ers and clerks were fast becoming de-
morahzed-iu the military sense-from
sheer fright, accelerated by mystery, and
a sense of utter helplessness In the midst
of it. Mr.. Duff might far better be losing
his fortune ON the Stock Exchange, or
throwing his money away on the turf
specuiations in these there would be
some remote chance of profit, if not salts
faction, In losing his property. His bark
had up to this time sailed in smooth seas,
had even, hitherto, aoated in sheltered
bay, unexposed to financial tempests or
breakers but now leak of dangerous
sort had sprung, as likely, he Imagined, to
enguIf him at his anchorage as any buffet
ing of waves in open sea.
Mr.. Duff became changed man. He
was thin and worn and i'll with anxiety and
watching. They were all watching. Trail
was watching Hamilton Hamilton turned
a keen glance on the boys the boys kept
their eyes very 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 speedily
become town gossip. Secretly Mr. Duff
began to think the place was bewitched.
His partner, George Trail, being called
upon to pay up hall OF the five hundred
pounds, resolved to get to the bottom of
the matter. He had a bed made up in the
bankers business-room, and determined to
spend his nights there until some solution
OF the problem presented itself. His trans
fer from the Aberdeen branch seemed Just
then to prove a bad bargain. The keys Of
the safe, it should be mentioned, number
ing eight, were placed every night after
the locking up OF the safe and the
dropping OF the iron bolt from the bank
er's bedroom in strong box, the key
of which was always carried by Mr..
Duff. George Trail, armed with revolver,
in spite of Mary's protests and Mr.. Duff 9
jeers, occupied the room when the bed had
been fitted there, and waited philosophic-
ally the course of events. He slept little
for the first night or two, but no intruder
came to disturb his repose. The long, dull
hours crept on without adventure or other
result than to make Trail sleepy and
cross during the following days The
bankers were beginning to despair of dis
covering the thief. Yet TraIll-despite
Mr.. DuH's perfectly reasonable argument
that if any man broke into the safe it
would satisfy him, nor would he likely risk
a second or third visit-continued to spend
his nights in the bank.
At daybreak, however, on certain
morning il the following week, Trail, who
slept very lightly, was suddenly awakened
and startled by hearing the bolt that
passed through the lock of the outer door
of the safe drawn sharply up. He could
hardly believe the evidence of his ears,
thinking that perhaps he had dreamed.
But the click was still reverberating, ex-
aggerated as all sounds are in the stiffness
fe,bL Ie +ba holt ran1lx- ItfFol L.
person who drew it up must be in the room
ageous man but in spite of himself, he
trembled as he felt for and examined his
revolver. When the reverberations sub
sided there was a silence for a
few moments as of Death, Sleeps
twin brother. Then he thought
he heard far off, door open, followed by
8 step on the stairs. Then light showed
at the seam under the door presently the
door opened, and a man entered, carry
ing in one hand lighted candle, in the
other bunch of keys. The revolver was
firmly held in Trails grip, and before tir-
ing, he was about to utter cry of warn
ing, when he noted that the figure paid no
heed to his presence, but passed him, MAX
ing straight for the safe door. In the dim
light to his astonishment, he distinguished
the fixed, even rigid, features of his friend
and partner, Mir. Duff His eyes were
wide open, and he moved with his usual
elaboration, but with an air of stern pre-
occupation quite foreign to his working
habits. Trail saw at glance that the
banker was walking in his sleep.
His first impulse was to seize him and
wake him but moments reflection de-
cided 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, as the lock
sprang back, slowly open then the wicket
gate, the inner iron door, and so on, until
he disappeared silently in the vault-hke
shades of the strong groom. When he
reached the inner safe, he took from the
we'll packed store Of pound notes-Traill
eagerly watching him from the door-a
bundle containing 500 he then noiselessly
shut and locked each door as he re-
treated. He passed within arm's-length
of Trail, bearing the bundle of notes,
keys and his lighted candle; left the of,
I