out, although Mike the
dog reminded him of his neglect as plainly as dog could, by tugging at
his trousers and going over to the whisky keg and whimpering.

This sudden temperance in Jake surprised me more than a little.

I noticed also that the brass-bound chest still lay under Jake's bunk.
Several times I had been going to speak to him about that trunk and its
contents, and the questionable security of a shack like his, but I had
always evaded the subject at the last minute as being one in which I
was not concerned.

But that night everything was different somehow.

"Look here, Jake," I said, in one of the quiet spells, "don't you think
this old shack of yours isn't a very safe place to keep your money in?"

"How do you mean?" he asked suspiciously.

"There are lots of strange boats put in here of a night; some of them
containing beach-combers who do not care who they rob or what they do
so long as they get a haul. Besides, the loggers are not all angels
and they generally pay you a visit every time they come in. Some of
the worst of them might get wind that you keep all your savings here
and might take a fancy to some of it."

"Guess all I got wouldn't pay the cost of panning," grunted Jake.
"They ain't goin' to butt in on me. Anyway,--I got a pair of good mits
left yet."

"Yes!--that is all right, Jake, but nowadays a man does not require to
run the risk. The banks are ready and willing to take that
responsibility, and to pay for the privilege, too. The few dollars I
have are safely banked in Vancouver."

"Banks be damned!" growled Jake. "I ain't got no faith in banks,--no
siree. First stake I made went into a bank, Goodall-Towser Trust Co.
of 'Frisco. 'Four per cent interest guaranteed,' it said on the front
of the bank book they gave me. That book was all they ever gave me;
all I ever saw of my five thousand bucks. I thought because it said
'Trust' on the window, it was right as rain. I ain't trustin' 'Trust'
any more.

"I raised Cain in that Trust outfit. Started shootin' up. Didn't kill
anything, but got three months in the coop. Lost my five thousand
plunks and got three months in the pen, all because I put my dough in
the bank.

"Banks be damned, George. Not for mine,--no siree."

Jake puffed his pipe reflectively, after his long tirade.

"That's all very well, but there are good banks nowadays and good Trust
Companies, too, although I prefer regular chartered banks every time.