Argosy, Volume XXIII — Index Page, 1897 — page 157: what you’re looking at

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

; 4 THE BUNKEL MYSTERY. ee PY, tills of which he had left full of bank notes the evening before. His gaze was riveted upon the appalling emptiness that confronted him. He drew a long breath, and then he did not seem to be capable of drawing another. His under jaw dropped down and his face was as pale as though he had fainted. He did not fall upon the floor, but he Bigg ened back to a chair and dropped into it. ‘‘ What is the matter, Mr. Roblock?’’ asked the storekeeper, — as he ob- served the ashy face and the limp movements of the cashier. Mr. Roblock looked at him; and there was nothing but the forebodings of ruin and'despair in his gaze. Then he began to shake as though he had been struck with palsy. ‘“What is the matter? Are you sick? Do you feel faint ?’’ demanded Mr. Gayberry, as he went to the door which led to the space behind the counter. It was fastened on the inside, and he could not open it. He een the cashier was going to drop on the floor in a faint ora fit of apoplexy, and with a little effort he pushed the door in, taking the screws out of the wood. The sufferer rose as he did so. ‘“No; Iam not sick, Mr. Gayberry,’’ said he, as he went to the counter. ‘The bank has been robbed since I left it at eight o’clock last evening !’’ ‘“ Robbed !’’ exclaimed the storekeeper. ‘Look into this drawer,’’ added the cashier, as he pointed to the inside of it. ‘‘ Every one of those tills was full of bills last night. Now there is not a bill in any one of them ! ”’ ‘But there must be some mistake, Mr. Roblock ; you have brought out the wrong drawer.’’ ‘There is but one drawer in the bank like that one.”’ ‘* Look in the vault again.’’ | The cashier lighted a lamp, and did so; but there was not a dollar to be found in the safe. He was in utter despair, for in his excitement he con- cluded that the affair would ruin him forever in this world. He even remem- bered what the president had said to him about doing his work in the daytime. ‘“ How did you find the doors when you opened the vault ?’’ asked Mr. Gayberry, who had no occasion to lose his head, though he owned the ping. ‘‘ Just as I always find them. I had no suspicion that the bank had been robbed until I was going to take the bills from the till to pay your check,”’ replied Mr. Roblock, as he dropped, utterly wilted, into his chair again. ‘* But if any one robbed the bank, he must A iLaney broken into the vault,’’ said the customer. ‘“ It would seem so,’’? answered Mr. Roblock. ‘‘I opened the doors just as I always do, and there was nothing out of the way with them.’’ ‘‘ Perhaps you left them unlocked,’’ suggested Mr. Gayberry. ‘‘If I had I should have discovered the fact when I turned the keys: The bank was locked at every point, as it always is.’’ ‘Then I don’t understand it. If you had found the lock blown up, it would have been a plain case. You had the keys, and no one could have CONIC HOO KS5(eC) AT)