The Argosy, August 1905 — page 159: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

‘< & set forth to Richard Janeway, it he duty of the bank officials to bring forth their cash and their books and eonduet the banking in the street! Warrantably, he declined. The com- mittee returned. Very shortly a mur- muring arose. The crowd drew to- gether and advanced as a solid mass upon the cashier. Here and there a rough shout arose, demanding that the money be brought out and paid in order. They crushed against Janeway and the tellers and forced them along toward the wall of the bank, the ammonia notwithstanding. When finally the vapors did halt them, the cashier leaped to one of the lower window ledges and, clinging by the bars, addressed them with pithy in- formality. “See here, all of you!” he shouted. “T don’t know what’s wrong in there, bul ’m not responsible for it, and I’m not going to lose my life by going into the vaults for money—nor am I going to sacrifice any of the employees! Yow ll have to wait until the machine can be fixed, when business will be re- sumed.” A dozen voices yelled at him, and he shouted again: “Tm sorry you don’t like it, but if you think it’s possible to enter that place just now, go right in and take all you ean lay hands on!” It was an unexpected suggestion, and, excited as they were, they adopted it without due thought. With a simul- taneous impulse, the crowd surged about and straight toward the main entrance. Janeway caught his breath and won- dered for an instant whether he had not been the most monumental kind of idiot to make that last statement and tun the chance it entailed—but nos; it was all over even then! The leaders, as they came to the open doors, shrieked aloud and pushed fran- tically backward. One or two fell prone and were in danger of a trampling. Some five or six seconds they swayed uncertainly—and the ammonia won! To the last man the depositors fled pre- ge tately from the invisible, invincible oe, No further talk of assault was heard. Cu: we ne ee Weg a - a ee TP THE RUN ON THE HERDSMAN’S. a7 a There was a fluttering of handkerchiefs as eyes were wiped; there were cough- ings innumerable and curses as well, but no one cared risking another rush. They settled instead to a season of dogged waiting—for they wanted their money, and some of them had spent the night waiting for it already, and they would wait now until the ammonia had dissipated itself, whether it consumed the day or the week! When things in general had quieted down, Janeway heard the tolling of eleven from the distant City Hall clock, and some five or six minutes later he dis- tinguished the whistle of the outgoing train as it took a crossing beyond Harksbury. : Burroughs must be in town now. What success had he to relate? Or had he returned empty handed ? It was an anxious quarter-hour for Richard Janeway. Alternately he watched the crowd and the streets. The former was silent; the latter empty. He glanced finally at his watch. It was twenty minutes past eleven—and no Burroughs! But as he looked again a dust-cloud up Crossley Street resolved itself into a span of galloping horses. Janeway knew them on the instant—Dr. Parker’s - gray team—and Parker was a great friend of Burroughs! Something less than a minute later all doubt was past. With a clatter of hoofs and shouts of warning from the two men in the earriage, the span trotted briskly through the crowd and drew up before the bank. Janeway waved them away from the entrance. Burroughs stood erect, and in either hand was a heavy leather satchel. “It’s all right!” he sang out joy- _ ously. “ Cadman and Paulson have both started up again, and the ‘Third National. Brooks, & Company and Phillips Brothers and’ three or four more resume to-morrow! ” “Did you get money?” the cashier inquired in low tones. “One hundred and fifty thousand, right here! I didn’t even wait to get de tectives to come with me! ” Janeway leaped to his side and raised a hand for silence. —_ b ad of + i. 2, -— nicbooks.com