“Put it there and be ——,” the judge swore again, while from the boys, whose numbers had considerably increased, there went up “Three cheers and a tiger for Grey, the honest banker, and a groan for “money bags.””
The cheers and tiger were given, but before the groan for “money bags” the fence on which the boys were seated went down with a crash, diverting the interest for a moment from the judge, who left the balcony and returned to the bank, where he sank exhausted into a chair, looking so white that Herbert was alarmed, and asked if they should not send for a doctor.
“Thunder, no!” his father said. “What do we want of a doctor? More like send for the police. Hear that thundering on the door, will you! Open, and let ’em in; the sooner the farce is over the better. I b’lieve we can stand it.”
CHAPTER VI
LOUIE COMES TO THE RESCUE
When she heard the cry, “Put it in Grey’s Bank, where Sheldon has put his,” she started quickly, struck with a thought of something she had read about. Going into the bank, where two or three were already depositing their money, she drew her father aside and said:
“Do you think the White Bank can stand the run?”
“Doubtful, if the most of them pitch in as they seem likely to do. They are just crazy, and one excites the other.”
“Then we must help him,” Louie said.
“Help him? We can’t disperse that rabble, and the entire scum of the town is here. Every depositor may ask for his money. No bank can stand that,” her father answered.
“I don’t mean to disperse the rabble,” Louie replied. “Many of them are bringing their money to you, and as fast as they bring it we can take it through our back door into the back door of the other bank and keep it circulating.”