Evening star., 1924-12-09
Continued from Yesterdays starr

i always had thought my father
would make a game loser, but the
way he took the disaster filled me
with admiration for his self control.
T couldn't say much to him then, for
he is not the man you can readily
offer sympathy to in words. | just
sort of put my hand under his arm
and gave it a bit of a squeeze. and
/ remember how it flashed on me
that his biceps would have been a
credit to A good heavyw The
old man had chunky brown face
that had the appearance of having
been modelled by a vigorous thumb.
and had it not been for his thatch of
silky white hair he would have looked,
at that moment in the vault, for all
the world like a bronze statue in a
business suit. His fighting chin went
up. and he gave me a short nod.
1T will take me some time to esti-
mate the damage. Jimmy" he said.
".Iust take a look round the district.
will you, and bring back as accurate
report as you can of what has real
iy happened. These fellows are too
ratified to please me-"
Right" said l, and left him there.
The first thing | did when | step
ped from the vault was to get Jaxon
into a corner and ask him about the
doping idea. | shot questions at him,
but got little out OF him beyond the
fact that from til o'clock he had
been oblivious of everything. He had
walked about 5 to find himself sitting
on the floor of the reception hall with
his back to one of the partitions. He
had no memory of falling asleep, nor
of sitting down. 1t had been as il those
two hours had been cut clean out OF
his life.
The other guards told much the
same story. The lack of detail in
their accounts was maddening, and
for a minute or two ! began to con-
slider the whole thing a frame-up.
report of the whole district being
doped were truc--that the frame up
was unparalleled in the history of
crime. the guards were all too sin-
ccrely bewildered to be lying.
could see that they were not acting
a part. and that poor JaXon, in par
ticular thought himself disgraced
forever. He was heartbroken.
JaNon had been with the bank for
n quarter of century, and his repu-
tation for honesty and loyalty was
unimpeachab More than once his
faithfulness had saved the bank from
loss. and indeed there had been one
occasion when he had been wounded
by safebreakers before he shot two
of them in defense of his charge.
The bank had presented him with a
fine big gold watch. of which he was
tremendously proud. He bel eyed ii
kept better time than any clock in
the state observatory.
| mention JaXon'S watch because
through it / discovered a curious
thing. l was setting out to do the
round of the district when l found
that I had left my own watch be-
the main hall. and it seemed to me
to be slow.
rs that clock on time. Jaxon?"
I asked
Ought to be-" he replied II
checked it with my own watch last
night. Lets see And he took
his famous time piece from his pock-
ct He pulled off the chamois cover
in which he always carried it.
Well, I'm dodblasted!" he exclaim-
ed. as he looked at the half-hunter
face. What in hell's happened to
my watch?"
The gold case was furnished to a
dull browne green From. the look
of it. one would have judged the
watch to be q brass one that had lain
for days on sea-beach. Jaxon was
astonishment-if l did not show it
was even greater, From some little
training in chemistry I could think
of no reagent. even in the most up
to-date laboratory. that had such an
effect on gold. The incident set me
thinking, and before l had got into
the street | had discovered that the
gold leaf. so plentifully used in the
Interior decoration of the bank prem
ises. had tarnished much in the same
Way. said nothing about this
additional discovery to JaXon. / kept
the fact to myself and left him look
ing round for polishing material.
As it chanced, the first person l met
on Broadway was Dick Schuyler, who
mad been in the same flying squadron
as myself during the European war
He was and is still a commander in
the sea division of the Air Police, so
] grabbed him to act as safe-conduct
for me round Wall street.
What do you make of 1t, jimmy
he demanded straight off. "A scien
tific feller like you should have
theory"
II don't know thing about it yet"
said I. You cops should have more
information than I have. Is it right
that these other banks have been
rebbed?"
a THE Subtreasury, the Trade, Dyers'
National and the Guaranty" he said
making most of the mouthful
There's a report, too, that the Post
Office has been visited as we'll" The
extent of the affair was beginning to
impress me- Dick Schuyler has a
CHEEKY, careless manner, but he is
not given to speaking without the
book and this confirmation brought