was true. The little plugs fitted perfectly, and even with the
knowledge that they were there it was almost impossible to see where
they had been inserted.

"Now," continued the expert, "I merely take my punch and carefully
punch enough holes to the right of the upper part of the figure 3 to
make it a 5. And there you are. If I wanted to pass this check through
the bank I would only have to complete the job by smearing a drop of
the invisible glue over the back where I have plugged the original
holes. This glue is wonderfully tenacious and will actually hold the
edges of paper together. It needs only the smallest surface in order
to get hold. After it is on not even the microscope could detect it
readily. And no amount of pulling or shaking of the check will disturb
it.

"You may suppose that a check that is stamped this way, for
instance--$600$--would be hard to change into one of four figures. But
it is almost equally easy. The crook simply punches out enough disks
from the edge to fill up the last dollar mark completely, and after he
has plugged it and the glue is dry he punches a cipher into the place
and then punches a dollar mark after it. Of course, after punching the
little disks out of the edge of the check it is necessary to trim that
part of the paper, but that is done readily, for checks always have
ample margin.

"The check-raiser does not depend on the fact that the scrutiny of
checks in a large bank is bound to be hasty, but he knows that he need
not fear if his work is at all well done, for the paying teller simply
cannot spend much time in examining the many checks that are passed
in.

"One New York City bank sends through the clearing-house daily an
average of 3,100 checks, and as there are about sixty-five such banks
in the clearinghouse the total number of checks handled in the few
hours of business in a day is something enormous.

"It is this haste--which, by the way, is absolutely necessary in order
to keep the books posted to date--that is responsible for the passing
of one of the most peculiar checks that ever came under the notice of
the detectives of America. In this case the check was neither
falsified nor was the signature forged, but it was bogus just the
same.

"It was a check made up of the parts of two checks, and all the
implements necessary for falsification were a pair of scissors and
that invisible glue. The clever swindler had got hold of two genuine
checks from the same ba