"Seventeen hundred dollars is my pile in there." He took a seat on
the windowsill.
"Well, I'm tickled to death to think I got my little stake out before
anything happened."
"When you think of it-what security did he ever give?" Mcllvaine
continued.
"Not a cent-not a red cent."
"No, sir; we simply banked on him. Now, he's a good fellow, an'
this may be a joke o' Link's; but the fact is, it might 'a' happened.
Well, sonny?" he said to the boy, who came running up.
"Link ain't to home, an' Mrs. Sanford she says Jim's sick an' can't
come down."
There was a silence. "Anybody see him this morning?" asked
Wilson.
"Yes; I saw him," said Vance. "Looked bad, too." The crowd
changed; people came and went, some to get news, some to carry
it away. In a short time the whole town knew the bank had "busted
all to smash." Farmers drove along and stopped to find out what it
all meant. The more they talked, the more excited they grew; and
"scoundrel," and "I always had my doubts of that feller," were
phrases growing more frequent.
The list of the victims grew until it was evident that neariy all of
the savings of a dozen or. more depositors were swallowed up, and
the sum reached was nearly twenty thousand dollars.
Pages:
355
356
357
358
359
360
361
362
363
364
365
366
367
368
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379