The Price

e banana coast, or, more specifically, in the forenoon of the second day, the unimpetuous routin

following the precise habit of half a lifetime, Mr. Andrew Galbraith, president of the Bayou State, entered his private room in the rear of the main banking apartment, opened his desk, and addressed himself to the business of the day. Punctually a

seclusion in which to read and consider his mail. During this sacred interval the stenographer, standing guard in the outer office, had instructions to deny his chief to

y, taking the intruder's measure in a swift gl

adth of shoulder, fair, with blue eyes and a curling reddish beard and mustache, the former trimmed t

d was closing the door. There was a quiet insistence in the act

utes," he protested, still more impatiently. "Be good enough to take

equable enough; the age-cooled temper of a methodical gentleman whose long upper lip was in itself an advertisement of self-control. But suc

bell-push he found himself looking into the muzzle of a rev

the words could be managed: "So t

ming. "I am not a robber, save in your own very limited definition of the word. I am merely a poor man,

tching the arms of the pivot-chair, and he was fighting manfully fo

in self-defence, if you could: I shall most certainly kill you if you attempt to give an alarm. On the other hand, if you pro

recovering a little from the first shock of terrified astoundment. "I re

h, but it also proved that he was not

is mine, and I say you shall listen first and obey afterward. Othe

that of the receptive ear; but grudgi

with it. What have yo

e in any legitimate personal channels: I have not the price of the next meal, already twenty-four hours overdue. I came here this morning with my life in my hand to invite you to share with me a port

acFarland would surely come in on the stroke of the hour. If he could only fend off the catastrophe f

as to be on short commons, mysel'," he said; and the unconscious lapse into the mother idiom was a

glanced at the clock in h

much more than a handful of charity silver; and I don't do you the injustice to believe that

of coins on the desk, but he did n

e demanded, as one who may p

thousand doll

clean daft! Do y

ill out a check payable to your own order for one hundred thousand dollars, a

d no such balance to his personal credit; such a check would not be honored; it would be an overdraft, and the teller would very

ng with your life! Write that

ance at the face of his persecutor. There was no mercy in the fierce blue eyes glaring down upon him;

, before we are inter

eard and understood; yet he

? Then may Go

d made a blind grasp for pen and check-book. His hands were shaking as with

tion, and the dead silence was relieved only by the labored strokes of the

ace of the revolver Andrew Galbraith was trying to gi

ying teller and get me the money. Make what explanati

sk in the corner of the anteroom. Ninety-nine times out of a hundred the unwonted thing, the president's forthfaring with a stranger who had somehow gained access to the private roo

see, and perhaps some that would understand. Mr. Galbraith took a firmer hold upon hi

ssed the time of day with him saw the eye-appeal which was the only one he dared to make. On the short walk around to the paying teller's window, the robber kept

avelling hat and a gray coat. She was getting a draft cashed, and when she saw them she would have stood aside. It was the robber who anticipate

to give the teller a warning signal, come what might. It was a duty owed to society no less than to the bank and to himself. But on the pinnacle of resolution, at the instant when, with the robber at his elbow, he step

porated when he said, with what composure there was in

uperior; not too inquisitively, since it was not

; and it was the stranger at Mr.

loose, if you please; the remainder in the

to the vault for the huge remainder. This was the crucial moment of peril for the robber, and the pr

h," said the spoiler in low tones. "If

he teller was re-entering the cage w

w wicket had been unlatched and the money passed out, he stuffed the loose bills carelessly into his pocket, put the package con

nd pouring forth a torrent of incoherence which presently got itself translated into