Ewbank, who was one of the downright
sort, 'if it wasn't you, I should say you were in a funk of robbers?
Have you lost your nerve?'

"'I hope not,' said I, turning jolly hot, I can tell you; 'but--well,
it is not a pleasant thing to have to put a bullet through a fellow!'

"'No?' said he, coolly. 'I should enjoy nothing better, myself;
besides, yours didn't go through.'

"'I wish it had!' I was smart enough to cry.

"'Amen!' said he.

"And I emptied my glass; actually I did not know whether my wounded
bank-robber was in prison, dead, or at large!

"But, now that I had had more than enough of it, Ewbank would come back
to the subject. He admitted that the staff was small; but as for
himself, he had a loaded revolver under his pillow all night, under the
counter all day, and he was only waiting for his chance.

"'Under the counter eh?' I was ass enough to say.

"'Yes; so had you!'

"He was looking at me in surprise, and something told me that to say
'of course--I had forgotten!' would have been quite fatal, considering
what I was supposed to have done. So I looked down my nose and shook
my head.

"'But the papers said you had!' he cried.

"'Not under the counter," said I.

"'But it's the regulation!'

"For the moment, Bunny, I felt stumped, though I trust I only looked
more superior than before, and I think I justified my look.

"'The regulation!' I said at length, in the most offensive tone at my
command. 'Yes, the regulation would have us all dead men! My dear
sir, do you expect your bank robber to let you reach for your gun in
the place where he knows it's kept? I had mine in my pocket, and I got
my chance by retreating from the counter with all visible reluctance.'

"Ewbank stared at me with open eyes and a five-barred forehead, then
down came his fist on the table.

"'By God! That was smart! Still,' he added, like a man who would not
be in the wrong, 'the papers said the other thing, you know!'

"'Of course,' I rejoined, 'because they said what I told them. You
wouldn't have had me advertise the fact that I improved upon the bank's
regulations, would you?'

"So that cloud rolled over, and by Jove it was a cloud with a golden
lining. Not silver--real good Australian gold! For old Ewbank hadn't
quite appreciated me till then; he was a hard nut, a much older man
than myself, and I felt pretty sure he thought me young for the place,
and my supposed feat a fluke. But I never saw a man c