Penton sat in his office as the boys passed out. He had not initialed the teller's book, but had watched him lock the cash in the safe.
"I suppose you'll be back to-night," said the manager, not looking at any of the boys in particular.
"No," said Evan, "I won't. My head aches already."
But he did come back an hour later, and his head ached worse than ever, for he was worrying about the bag of silver he had forgotten to take from under the cage-table and lock up in the safe.
There it was, tied up, and how and where he had left it. With a sigh of relief he picked it up and locked it in the vault. Only Evan and Filter had the vault combination. Penton said he preferred not to have it, as he did not want to accommodate farmers after hours; it had never been done in the M—— Bank, where he had received his training.
It is customary for a manager to check the teller's cash once in a while. He is supposed to do it irregularly so as to keep the teller in constant suspense. Market day at Banfield was Tuesday. Wednesday afternoon Penton came round to count Nelson's cash. In the morning, first thing, the bag of silver had been locked in the safe, inside the vault.
There were two compartments in the safe; in one of them the "treasury" (a sort of local rest fund) and certain documents were kept; in the other, the cash box and bags of specie.
Penton first checked the bills and silver in the teller's drawer and tin box, then got the treasury notes and found them right.
"How much gold have you on hand?" he asked the teller.
Evan told him.