River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1913-07-31

Inc Two men uld not reply, and the
governor spoke again
Under the law, gentlemen" he
said, 1.-The duty develves upon me of
closing and locking the treasury and
temporarily assuming possession of
it."
Still the men did not reply. The
tissues of Grigsby's face had become
fiaccid. and a greenish shade had
overspread them. His eyes had con-
tracted to sharp points under angry
brows. The governor scrutinized the
two men closely as he advanced, and
said, speaking in calm tone:
And so, IL you gentlemen have con-
GUIDED your business"-he paused-'T
shall proceed to the execution of that
duty
Il am" he added, moment after
ward, perhaps fortunate in finding
you here, Mr.. Mendenhall You may
be able to assist me-"
| He drew toward them, and they
stood aside. He entered the vaults
where gas-jet glimmered, its light
glinting on the nickel-plated knobs of
the great steel doors. He tried the
doors. They We're locked. He re-
NAMED an instant in thought, and
then took from his pocket stick of
red sealing wax. He hesitated an.
other instant.
NO." he said, ''the great seal could
not be utilized"
The great seal of state of the state
Of Illinois, though it has a political
history, Is nevertheless, physically
but huge overgrown seal such as no.
taries public use in their little bust
nesses. And in Illinois the governor
has no privy seal as he has in
some commonwealth. The governor
warmed the sealing wax in the gas Jet
that blazed beside him in the vault
When 1t began to melt he dribbled
and daubed its softened surface, drop
by drop, on the combination of the
huge safe, as a girl would seal let
ter. When he had quite covered the
lock with the molten wax, he sealed
it with the seal ring he wore on his
left hand, ring which bore the coat
of-arms of colonial governor. The
midnight secret of those two men,
whatever it might be, was either safe
with them or more safely still, sealed
with other secrets behind those mas.
sive doors And then he turned the
gas down until only tiny star blinked
In the vault, and came out, and swung
together the big steel gates that
clanked like prison bars, their locks
swapping automatically.
! He returned to the outer door of the
department and placed his hand upon
the knob
Gentlemen" he said tremendously,
Il await your pleasure"
He bent his gaze full upon William
Grigsby, and that little man, throwing
back his head with something like de-
fiance, strobe on his short legs out of
followed him, but meekly. AS they
filed past, Grigsby, with face upturned.
a face that now in anger had taken
on the blue tinge Of butchered beef,
drew his hands from his overcoat
pocket and clasped them behind his
back. The governor bowed as the lit
tie man and Mendenhall swept out
before him. And then he drew the big
walnut door to.
Standing out in the corridor Grigsby
waited, and as he stood and waited,
he fumbled in the outer pocket of his
overcoat. Suddenly he drew forth his
hand His face had turned white, the
white of a fish's belly.
AS the governor drew the big wal
nut door to, and as it swung behind
him, it pushed before it, scraping
with the peevish voice of ratchet
along the matted floor, piece of
crumbled paper. Grigsby, who had
turned toward Mendenhall with a look
of deaths despair, saw it, and started,
a faint ray of hope beaming in his
eye. But the paper lay under the gov
errors feet.
The governor closed the doors.
"You may lock them, Mr.. Menden-
hail." he said.
The assistant state treasurer drew
a jingling bunch of keys from his
pocket and locked the door. Grigsby's
eyes were fastened on the paper at the
governors feet. His heart was swell
ing in his throat His fingers were
twitching, and he was sweating like
a stoker. At MendenhalPs approach
the governor placed his foot upon the
paper. When Mendenhall had done,
the governor picked 1t up. He
smoothed it out in his fingers, and
slowly adjusted his glasses. BY the
dim light that always burns at night
just outside the door of the state
treasury he read 1t. Then he placed 1t
in the pocket of his overcoat. He
kept his hand upon it. The blue of
Grigsby's face deepened.
The three men went down the
stairs, the governor standing aside at
the top to let them precede him. They
crossed the rotunda, past the slumber-
| ing janitor whose shores assembled and
exploded in the east corridor and so
out into the darkness They walked
together down the wide stone walk,
| the stone walk as wide as a street,
| that sweeps, with a strip Of sward
down its middle, across the state
house lawns to Capitol avenue. The
I governor did not turn up Second
street by the way he had come. He
| kept on with bis two companions, and
all three were silent Not a word
had any one or them spoken. They
/ H. 4 of fnrC