CHAPTER VII
STATES-GENERAL
"And they hae killed Sir Charlie Hay And laid the wyte on Geordie."
--_Old Ballad._
That the master's eye is worth two servants had ever been Lake'sfavorite maxim. He had not yet gone to bed when the message reached him,where he kept his masterly eye on the proper closing up of the ballroom.He came through the crowd now, shouldering his way roughly, still in hispolice costume--helmet, tunic and belt. In his wake came the sheriff,who had just arrived, scorching to the scene on his trusty wheel.
On the bank steps, Lake turned to face the crowd. His strong canine jawwas set to stubborn fighting lines; the helmet did not wholly hide theblack frown or the swollen veins at his temple.
"Come in, Thompson, and help the sheriff size the thing up--and you,Alec"--he stabbed the air at his choice with a strong blunt finger--"andTurnbull--you, Clarke--and you.... Bassett, you keep the door. Admit noone!"
Lake was the local great man. Never had he appeared to such advantage tohis admirers; never had his ascendency seemed so unquestioned and sojustified. As he stood beside the sheriff in the growing light, the manwas the incarnation of power--the power of wealth, position, prestige,success. In this moment of yet unplumbed disaster, taken by surprise,summoned from a night of crowded pleasure, he held his mastery, chosehis men and measures with unhesitant decision--planned, ordered, kept tothat blunt direct speech of his that wasted no word. A buzz went up fromthe unadmitted as the door swung shut behind him.
Lake had chosen well. Arcadia in epitome was within those pillagedwalls. Thompson was president of the rival bank. Alec was divisionsuperintendent. Turnbull was the mill-master. Clarke was editor of the_Arcadian Day_. Clarke had been early to the storm-center; yet, of allthe investigators, Clarke alone was not more or less disheveled. He wasfaultlessly appareled--even to the long Prince Albert and black stringtie--in which, indeed, report said, he slept.
So much for capital, industry and the fourth estate. The last of theprobers, whom Lake had drafted merely by the slighting personal pronoun"you," was nevertheless identifiable in private life by the name ofBilly White--being, indeed, none other than our old friend the devil.His indigenous mustache still retained a Mephistophelian twist; he wasbecomingly arrayed in slippers, pajamas and a pink bathrobe, girdled atthe waist with a most unhermitlike cord, having gone early and surly tobed. In this improvised committee he fitly represented Society: whilethe sheriff represented society at large and, ex officio, thatincautious portion under duress. Yet one element was unrepresented; forLake made a mistake which other great men have made--of failing toreckon with the masterless men, who dwell without the wall.
Lake led the way.
"Will the watchman die, Alec, d'you think?" whispered Billy, as theyfiled through the grilled door to the counting room.
"Don't know. Hope not. Game old rooster. Good watchman, too," saidTurnbull, the mill-superintendent.
Lake turned on the lights. The wall-safe was blown open; fragments ofthe door were scattered among the overturned chairs.
In an open recess in the vault there was a dull yellow mass; theexplosion had spilled the front rows of coin to a golden heap. Behind,some golden rouleaus were intact: others tottered precariously, as youhave perhaps seen beautiful tall stacks of colored counters do. Goldpieces were strewn along the floor.
"Thank God, they didn't get all the gold anyhow!" said Lake, with a sighof relief. "Then, of course, they didn't touch the silver; but therewas a lot of greenbacks--over twenty-five thousand, I think. Bassettwill know. And I don't know how much gold is gone. Look round and see ifthey left anything incriminating, sheriff, anything that we can tracethem by."
"He heard poor old Lars coming," said the sheriff. "Then, after he shothim, he hadn't the nerve to come back for the gold. This strikes me asbeing a bungler's job. Must have used an awful lot of dynamite to tearthat door up like that! Funny no one heard the explosion. Can't be muchof your gold gone, Lake. That compartment is pretty nearly as full as itwill hold."
"Or heard him shoot our watchman," suggested Thompson. "Still, I don'tknow. There's blasting going on in the hills all the time and almostevery one was at the masquerade or else asleep. How many times did theyshoot old Lars--does anybody know? Is there any idea what time it wasdone?"
"He was shot once--right here," said Alec, indicating the spot on theflowered silk that had been part of his mandarin's dress. "Gun was heldso close it burnt his shirt. Awful hole. Don't believe the old chap'llmake it. He crawled along toward the telephone station till he dropped.Say! Central must have heard that shot! It's only two blocks away. Sheought to be able to tell what time it was."
"Lars said it was just before midnight," said Clarke.
"Oh!--did he speak?" asked Lake. "How many robbers were there? Did heknow any of them?"
"He didn't see anybody--shot just as he reached the window. Hope someone hangs for this!" said Clarke. "Lake, I wish you'd have this moneypicked up--I'm not used to walking on gold--or else have me watched."
Lake shook his head, angry at the untimely pleasantry. It was apleasantry in effect only, put forward to hide uneditorial agitation anddistress for Lars Porsena. Lake's undershot jaw thrust forward; hefingered the blot of whisker at his ear. It was a time for action, notfor talk. He began his campaign.
"Look here, sheriff! You ought to wire up and down the line to keep alookout. Hold all suspicious characters. Then get a posse to ride forsome sign round the town. If we only had something to go on--some clue!Later we'll look through this town with a finetooth comb. Most likelythey--or he, if there was only one--won't risk staying here. First ofall, I've got to telegraph to El Paso for money to stave off a run onthe bank. You'll help me, Thompson? Of course my burglar insurance willmake good my loss--or most of it; but that'll take time. We mustn't riska run. People lose their heads so. I'll give you a statement for the_Day_, Clarke, as soon as I find out where Mr. Thompson stands."
"I will back you up, sir. With the bulk of depositors' money loaned out,no bank, however solvent, can withstand a continued run without backing.I shall be glad to tide you over if only for my own protection. A panicis contagious----"
"Thanks," said Lake shortly, interrupting this stately financialdiscourse. "Then we shall do nicely.... Let's see--to-morrow's payday.You fellows"--he turned briskly to the two superintendents--"can't youhold up your payday, say, until Saturday? Stand your men off. Thecompany stands good for their money. They can wait a while."
"No need to do that," said Alec. "I'll have the railroad checks drawn onSt. Louis. The storekeepers'll cash 'em. If necessary I'll wire forauthority to let Turnbull pay off the millhands with railroad checks.It's just taking money from one pocket to put it in the other, anyhow."
"Then that's all right! Now for the robbers!" The banker's face betrayedimpatience. "My first duty was to protect my clients; but now we'llwaste no more time. You gentlemen make a close search for any possiblescrap of evidence while the sheriff and I write our telegrams. I mustwire the burglar insurance company, too." He plunged a pen into aninkwell and fell to work.
Acting upon this hint, the sheriff took a desk. "Wish Phillips washere--my deputy," he sighed. "I've sent for him. He's got a better headthan I have for noticing clues and things." This was eminently correctas well as modest. The sheriff was a Simon-pure Arcadian, the company'snominee; his deputy was a concession to the disgruntled Hinterland,where the unobservant rarely reach maturity.
"Oh, Alec!" said Lake over his shoulder, "you sit down, too, and wireall your conductors about their passengers last night. Yes, and thefreight crews, too. We'll rush those through first. And can't you scareup another operator?" His pen scratched steadily over the paper. "Moreapt to be some of our local outlaws, though. In that case it will beeasier to find their trail. They'll probably be on horseback."
"You were an--old-timer yourself, were you not?" asked Billy amiably."If the robbers are frontiersmen they may be easier to
get track of, asyou suggest; but won't they be harder to get?" Billy spoke languidly.The others were searching assiduously for "clues" in the most approvedmanner, but Billy sprawled easily in a chair.
"We'll get 'em if we can find out who they were," snapped Lake, settinghis strong jaw. He did not particularly like Billy--especially sincetheir late trip to Rainbow. "There never was a man yet so good butthere was one just a little better."
"By a good man, in this connection, you mean a bad man, I presume?" saidBilly in a meditative drawl. "Were you a good man before you became abanker?"
"Look here! What's this?" The interruption came from Clarke. He pounceddown between two fragments of the safe door and brought up an objectwhich he held to the light.
At the startled tones, Lake spun round in his swivel-chair. He held outhis hand.
"Really, I don't think I ever saw anything like this thing before," hesaid. "Any of you know what it is?"
"It's a noseguard," said Billy. Billy was a college man and had worn anosepiece himself. He frowned unconsciously, remembering his successfulrival of the masquerade.
"A noseguard? What for?"
"You wear it to protect your nose and teeth when playing football,"explained Billy. "Keeps you from swearing, too. You hold this piecebetween your teeth; the other part goes over your nose, up between youreyes and fastens with this band around your forehead."
"Why! Why!" gasped Clarke, "there was a man at the masquerade togged outas a football player!"
"I saw him," said Alec. "And he wore one of these things. I saw himtalking to Topsy."
"One of my guests?" demanded Lake scoffingly. "Oh, nonsense! Some youngfellow has been in here yesterday, talking to the clerks, and droppedit. Who went as a football player, White? You know all these collegeboys. Know anything about this one?"
"Not a thing." There Billy lied--a prompt and loyal gentleman--reasoningthat Buttinski, as he mentally styled the interloper who hadmisappropriated the Quaker lady, would have cared nothing at that timefor a paltry thirty thousand. Thus was he guilty of a practice againstwhich we are all vainly warned--of judging others by ourselves. Billyremembered very distinctly that Miss Ellinor had not reappeared untilthe midnight unmasking, and he therefore acquitted her companion of thisparticular crime, entirely without prejudice to Buttinski's feloniousinstincts in general. For the watchman had been shot before midnight.Billy made a tentative mental decision that this famous noseguard hadbeen brought to the bank later and left there purposely; and resolved tokeep his eye open.
"Oh, well, it's no great difference anyhow," said Lake. "Whoever it wasdropped it here yesterday, I guess, and got another one for themasquerade."
"Hold on there!" said Clarke, holding the spotlight tenaciously. "Thatdon't go! This thing was on top of one of those pieces of the safe!"
For the first time Lake was startled from his iron composure.
"Are you sure?" he demanded, jumping up.
"Sure! It was right here against the sloping side of this piece--so."
"That puts a different light on the case, gentlemen," said Lake. "Luckis with us; and----"
"And, while I think of it," said Clarke, making the most of hisunexpected opportunity, "I made notes of all the costumes and theirwearers after the masks were off--for the paper, you know--and I saw nofootball player there. I remember that distinctly."
"I only saw him the one time," confirmed Alec, "and I stayed almost tothe break-up. Whoever it was, he left early."
"But what possible motive could the robber have for going to the danceat all?" queried Lake in perplexity.
"Maybe he made his appearance there in a football suit purposely, so asto leave us some one to hunt for, and then committed the robbery andwent back in another costume," suggested Clarke, pleased and not alittle surprised at his own ingenuity. "In that case, he would have leftthis rubber thing here of design."
"H'm!" Lake was plainly struck with this theory. "And that's not such abad idea, either! We'll look into this football matter after breakfast.You'll go to the hotel with me, gentlemen? Our womankind are all asleepafter the ball. The sheriff will send some one to guard the bank.Meantime I'll call the cashier in and find out exactly how much moneywe're short. Send Bassett in, will you, Billy? You stay at the door andkeep that mob out."
Bransford of Rainbow Range Page 8