up along with the oysters. O sirs, O sirs, but this is hard on us
all! Now they're at the turkey--and I chopped the stuffing with my ain
twa han's!"

They were at the turkey a long time. Another cork popped; but the
familiar tread of deaf Hannah was heard no more, and at length they
called her.

"Mother!" roared a mouth that was full.

"Old lady!" cried the gallant Stingaree.

"She's 'ard of 'earing, mate."

"She might still hear you, Howie."

And the chairs rasped backward over bare boards as one; at the same
instant Fergus leapt to his feet in the earthly Tartarus his own hands
had dug.

"I do believe she's done a bolt," he gasped, "and got clean away!"

Curses overhead confirmed the supposition. Clanking feet hunted the
premises at a run. In a minute the curses were renewed and multiplied,
yet muffled, as though there was some fresh cause for them which the
prisoners need not know. Hannah had not been found. Yet some disturbing
discovery had undoubtedly been made. Doors were banged and bolted. A
gunshot came faint but staccato from the outer world. A real report
echoed through the bank.

"A siege!" cried Fergus, striking a match to dance by. "The old heroine
has fetched the police, and these beauties are in a trap."

"And what about us?" demanded the cashier.

"Shut up and listen!" retorted Fergus, without ceremony. Macbean was
leaning forward, with bald head on one side and hollowed palm at the
upper ear. Even the stunned man had recovered sufficiently to raise
himself on one elbow and gaze overhead as Fergus struck match after
match. The villains were having an altercation on the very trap-door.

"Now's the time to cut and run--now or never."

"Very well, you do so. I'm going through the safe."

"You should ha' done that first."

"Better late than not at all."

"You can't stop and do it without me."

"Oh, yes, I can. I'll call for a volunteer from below. You show them
your spurs and save your skin."

"Oh, I'll stay, curse you, I'll stay!"

"And I'll have my volunteer, whether you stay or not."

The pair had scarcely parted when the trap-door opened slowly and stayed
open for the first time. The banking chamber was but dimly lit, and the
light in the pit less than it had been during the brief burning of
single matches. No peering face was revealed to those below, but the
voice of Stingaree came rich and crisp from behind the counter.

"Your old woman has got away to the police-barracks and