The Irish standard., 1915-10-23

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s1e arrived about seven O'Clock, heard
the detailed story, and quite agreed
that Summers was guilty. He relocked
the vault door. and dismissed the po-
lice in an effort to hush up the matter.
as the safe had proved an efficient
guardian of the funds in its trust,
and there was no loss to the bank OF.
cept the lucky one of the dishonest
Waterman.
Before Christopher Poe finished
reading the news story, he found
himself at the door Of the Manhattan
National. AS he entered, the cashier
stepped toward him with . look Of
relieved recognition.
Il see you have read It all In the
papers. That's an accurate write-ap.
The reporter was one Of the first here.
We tried to hush the thing up. We
must mufle the clamor about this dis
agreeable business. Just dishonest
Waterman. which may cause US the
loss Of public confidence"
Eyes, / feared that as read this
account. It's written rather lightly"
answered Poe seriously. MAY I look
at the safer
= Having looked at the safe, Poe
asked to see the body of Summers,
and was led to tho presidents private
room, where it had been carried.
He scanned the corpse in q quick.
comprehensive glance. and asked.
where's the missing thumb?"
"Oh, here!" answered the cashier,
pointing to heavy piece Of wrapping.
paper on which lay group of oh
jects taken from Summers pockets,
and the severed thumb. Poe turned
the thumb over, looked closely at
the nail, made superficial observa.
ton of the rest, and turned to the
cashier:
kindly send messenger with this
digit to Doctor Robinson, on Thirtieth
street and Fifth avenue. Please ask
him to cleanse it thoroughly, restore
the skin where it has been bruised,
and put some of his liquid glass mix.
ture on it, so it can be handled and
examined. Tell him to send it to my
apartment within two hours. Now II
you will be SO good as to ask the jani
tor to bring me his longest ladder,
will see If can crawl through. the
middle ventilator back there, the one
with the glass cut out completely"
"What?" cried the cashier.
Poe had stepped to the cashiers
side, and remarked:
Don't you see, there's no glaze on
that middle window; it looks dull com
pared to the others. / noticed it as
came in. The pane has been cut out
around the edges with great precision
SO no warning wires should be inter
fered with. Where is the steplad
der?"
The cashier went of to hurry the
janitor. and when he returned Christie.
pher Poe stood inspecting the slight
trail OF blood extending from the vault
to the Burglary Insurance company'a
signal-box.
Nobody could have crawled through
one of those windows" cried the
cashier anxiously, as he returned.
They're too small. 1t would be i'm.
possible. Besides, look at the bars!
Poe made no reply. but climbed the
ladder quickly. When he reached the
top, he rubbed his finger along the
edge Of the sill, and pulled in his lower
lip refectively. He ran his free hand
through his outstanding brush of brown
hair, and then fattened his palm
against the ornamental bars that Gov
cred the aperture. AS he did so. the
grating Of bars fell out, and he thrust
his head quickly through the hole,
looking down to the ground twenty
feet below. He endeavored to push
his shoulders through the window.
frame, but they were too broad. Glanc-
ing up at the bank roof, he found It
quite as impossible that any one could
have reached the ventilator from there
as from the ground. The only chance
was that the window had been gained
from the adjoining building, a vaude-
Vile theater, twenty feet away, which
made 1t seem unlikely.
Wriggling back through the window,
Christopher Poe descended at once to
the floor Of the bank. The cashier
and several clerks stood in an aston
ished- group, evidently awaiting an ex-
PLANTATION from their eccentric director.
But they received no satisfaction.
"See you later" Poe nodded to the
cashier, and strolled out.
Turning the corner, he followed the
sidewalk which led him to the rear of
the bank. He stepped into the TWEEN
ty-foot gap between the bank and the
vaudeville house, and picked up the
steel grating which had dropped from
its window-frame.
Rotten" he commented, twisting
out corroded bolt. Been there
twenty years without attention. Too
small q thing to be worth looking
After"
He threw the window-grating down
disgustedly, and glanced up at the wall
Of the theater opposite. There was q
fire-escape jutting out about two feet
beyond the line Of the building, almost
opposite the middle ventilating win.
dow in the bank and only two feet
lower down. but eighteen feet away.
The flicker Of an idea flashed in Poe's
violet eyes; he entered the lobby Of
the theater, and with some difficulty
obtained nprmiaainn tn ovn1ora tho