The Argosy, Vol. XXIV, No. 3 — page 125: what you’re looking at

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

THE BUNKEL MYSTERY. 509 ‘‘ By the way, Mr. Barkpool, this disaster reminds me that another might occur, and I have brought the set of duplicate keys of the vault with me,”’ said Mr. Pullerton, when the explosion had been discussed. ‘I don’t understand you,’’ replied the magnate. ‘‘ What other disaster might occur? ’’ ‘‘If my house should be burned some night, and the ordinary keys should be rendered useless, it would be better to have the duplicates in some other place, for they might be lost. We should have to send a hundred miles to get any one to open the vault,”’ replied the cashier. ‘You are right, Mr. Pullerton, though I hope your house will not be burned down,’’ added the magnate, as he took the keys. Phin wondered if he had not, by some special inspiration, brought the keys to him for use that night. He had listened with intense eagerness to the conversation, and when he saw his father take the keys, he considered the question of the purchase of the steamer settled. He watched his father till he saw him put them in a drawer. : Mr. Barkpool was busy thinking of something else, and he gave very little attention to the keys, or to the call of the cashier. The dam was gone, and though he had an engine and coal enough to run it for a few days, he had no engineer; he had just discharged him. He was sure that some enemy had blown up the dam in the interests of Sin- gerlay, and though it was some consolation to know the other dai had also been destroyed, the only thing that would satisfy him was to have his mill running the next morning as usual. Sucha triumph was worth some humiliation, and he started at once for the cottage of Morgan Lamb. As soon as he was at home, after his failure to engage the engineer, he was in a state of great excitement, and he drank more whisky than was good for him in his efforts to quiet his nerves. The liquor made him sleepy, and he went to bed. He dropped into a deep slumber at once. Phin, who had retired, dressed himself, and obtained the keys, for his father had not thought of them again. He went to the bank, opened it, and lighted a lamp. With the keys in his possession, he had no difficulty in opening the vault, and taking the lamp inside he closed the door. He had hardly begun his search for the bank bills before he was startled by a noise in the banking room. But he concluded that it had been made by a rat, or by the wind rattling the windows, and he resumed his search. He found the drawer which contained the bills, and he had begun to take some of them out, when the door was thrown open, and a man sprang upon him. He tried to scream, but his assailant stuffed a handkerchief into his mouth. In another minute, he saw the barrels of a revolver confronting him, and then a man tied his hands behind him and fastened him to the bottom of a post in the room. CHAPTER XVII.—Do.pu MAKES A LIBERAL PROPOSITION. DOoLPH SINGERLAY thought he was ina tight place when he found himself on the floor in the bank, with one man holding him by the throat, and an- (m) Ccomiclsoolks (@