Ovington's Bank

by Stanley John Weyman

The officer declined to commit himself. “Let us see them,” he said.

Jerry led them to a tumble-down, black and white building at the rear of the yard, with lattice work in its crazy windows and an old date over the door. They followed him up a ladder and into a loft, where were a frowsy bed or two, some old pack-saddles, and two or three stools made out of casks sawn in two. On the floor in one place lay a heap of oats trampled this way and that, and beside the heap an empty sack. The officer picked up the sack, shook it and examined it.

“What do you make of it?” Clement asked.

“I don’t know what to make of it. Here, you, Jerry, fetch me a corn measure!” And when he had thus rid them of the lad, “He may be carrying out orders and telling a flash tale to put us off. Or he may be telling the truth, and in that case it looks as if someone had been a mite brighter than your man and cleared his stuff.”

“But where is it?”

“Ah! Just so, I’d like to know,” shaking his head. “Yes, Jerry, measure it back into the sack. How much is there?”

The lad began to gather up the oats and replace them in the bag, while the two men looked on, perplexed and undecided. Suddenly Clement stooped—a scrap of cord, doubtless the cord which had tied the neck of the sack, had caught his eye. He picked it up, looked at it, then, with a word, he handed it to the officer. “I think that settles it,” he said, his eyes shining. There was a tiny twist of straw-plait, like a rosette, knotted about the cord and still adhering to it.

Nadin’s man looked at the plait and for a moment did not understand. Then his face cleared. “By Joseph! You’re right, sir!” he exclaimed, and slapped his thigh. “And sharp, sharp too. You’d ought to be one of us! That settles it, it’s the backtrack we’ve to look to, but I’ll take no chances.” And turning to the lad and addressing him in his harshest voice, “See here, in an hour we shall know if you’ve told us the truth. If you’ve not it will be the New Bailey and a pair of iron garters for you. So if you’ve aught to add, out with it! It’s your last chance, Jerry Stott.”

But the lad protested that he’d told all the truth. It had happened just as he had told them.

The officer turned to Clement. “I think he’s on the square,” he said, “but I’ll have him watched.” And he led the way down the ladder. When they reached the street, he stepped out smartly, making nothing of the crowd and bustle, the lumbering drays and over-hanging cranes through which they had to thread their way. “We’ll catch the Altringham stage at the Cross if we’re sharp,” he said. “It’ll be quicker than getting out a po’chay and a lot cheaper.”