a's caressing palm on the
stricken man's forehead; the words she was murmuring in his ear were
stirring his faculties. He opened his eyes and stared at her and at the
two men, vague wonderment in his expression.

"What is it--what has happened?" he muttered.

"That's what we want to know," said Starr. "What did happen? Who got
afoul of you?"

"I don't know. Who brought me in here?"

"We got you out of the bank vault and brought you here by the way of
Britt's private passage."

Vaniman seemed to find that statement unconvincing.

"He didn't know about that passage," stammered the president. "I--I
never bothered to speak about it. I suppose I ought to have told you,
Frank. That cement panel is a door--with the handle on this side."

The cashier shook his head slowly, as if giving up the attempt to
understand.

"I guess the panel fits so closely that you never noticed it was a
door," Britt went on, with the manner of one trying to set himself
right. "I meant to tell you about it."

"But what happened?" the examiner insisted.

"I don't know, sir."

"Look here! You must know something!"

"Mr. Starr, this is no time to shout and bellow at this poor boy who has
barely got his senses back," Vona protested, indignantly.

"You mustn't blame Mr. Starr, dear," said the cashier, patting her hand.
"Of course, he and Mr. Britt are much stirred up over the thing. I'm not
trying to hide anything, gentlemen. You say you found me in the vault!
What is the condition of things in the bank?" He struggled and sat up
straighter in the chair. He was showing intense anxiety as his senses
cleared.

Examiner Starr, though present officially, was in no mood to make any
report on bank conditions just then. "Vaniman, you'd better do your
talking first."

"I'll tell all I know about it. I was working on the books, my attention
very much taken up, of course. I felt a sudden shock, as I remember it.
Everything went black. As to what has been going on from that moment,
whenever it was, till I woke up here, I'll have to depend on you for
information."

"That's straight, is it?" demanded the examiner, grimly.

"On my honor, sir."

"There's a lot to be opened out and what you have said doesn't help."

"I wish I could help more. I understand fully what a fix I'm in unless
this whole muddle is cleared up," confessed the cashier, plaintively. He
had been putting his hand to his head. "I think I must have been stunned
by a blow."

St