!" cried Mr. Swift. "I am willing to
put some of my personal fortune into the bank capital in order to save
it. So is my son here."

"That's right," chimed in Tom heartily. "All I've got. I'm not going to
let Andy Foger get ahead of us; nor his father either."

"I'll help to the limit of my ability," added Mr. Damon.

"I appreciate all that," continued the president. "But the unfortunate
part of it is that we need cash. You gentlemen, like myself, probably,
have your money tied up in stocks and bonds. It is hard to get cash
quickly, and we must have cash as soon as we open in the morning, to
pay the depositors who will come flocking to the doors. We must prepare
for a run on the bank."

"How do you know there will be a run?" asked the young inventor.

"I received word this evening, just before I came here," replied Mr.
Pendergast. "A poor widow, who has a small amount in the bank, called
on me and said she had been advised to withdraw all her cash. She said
she preferred to see me about it first, as she did not like to lose her
interest. She said a number of her acquaintances, some of whom are
quite heavy depositors, had also been warned that the bank was unsound,
and that they ought to take out their savings and deposits at once."

"Did she say who had thus warned her?" inquired Mr. Swift.

"She did," was the reply, "and that shows me that there is a conspiracy
on foot to ruin our bank. She stated that Mr. Foger had told her our
institution was unsound."

"Mr. Foger!" cried Mr. Damon. "So this is one of his tricks to bolster
up his new bank! He hopes the people who withdraw their money from our
bank will deposit with him. I see his game. He's a scoundrel, and if
it's possible I'm going to sue him for damages after this thing is
over."

"Did he warn the others?" inquired the aged inventor.

"Not all of them," answered the president. "Some received letters from
a man signing himself Addison Berg, warning them that our bank, was
likely to fail any day."

"Addison Berg!" exclaimed Tom. "That must have been the important
business he had with Mr. Foger, the day I showed him the watch charm!
They were plotting the ruin of our bank then," and he told his father
about his disastrous pursuit of the submarine agent.

"Very likely Foger is working with Berg," admitted Mr. Damon. "We will
attend to them later. The question is, what can we do to save the bank?"

"Get cash, and plenty of it," advised Mr. Pendergast. "