uarter of a million dollars
would go down with the rest. My financial insight had misled me, and the
bank funds, which I had believed so carefully guarded, had suffered the
same fate as my private fortune. There were more serious questions
behind the immediate need of currency, and these questions drummed in my
mind now, dull and regular as the beat of a hammer.

For three days we paid off our accounts, and at the end of that time,
when I left the building, after the run had stopped, it seemed to me
that the city had a deserted and trampled look, as if some enormous
picnic had been held in the streets. A few loose shreds of paper, a
banana peel here and there, the ends of numerous cigars, and the white
patch torn from a woman's petticoat littered the pavement. Over all
there was a thick coating of dust, and the wind, blowing straight from
the east, whipped swirls of it into our faces, as the General and I
drove slowly up-town in his buggy.

"You look down in the mouth, Ben," he remarked, as I took the reins.

"I've got an infernal toothache, General; it kept me awake all night."

"Well, bless my soul, you ought to be thankful if it takes your mind off
the country. I haven't seen such a state of affairs since the days of
reconstruction. I tell you, my boy, the only thing on earth to do is to
take a julep. Lithia water is well enough in times of prosperity, but
you can't support a panic on it. I've gone back to my julep, and if I
die of it, I'll die with a little spirit in me."

"There're worse things than death ahead of me, General, there's ruin."

"It's the toothache, Ben. Don't let it take all the spirit out of you."

"No, it's more than the toothache, confound it!--it never leaves off.
The truth is, I'm in the tightest place of my life, and to keep what I
own would cost me more than I've got. I haven't the money to pay up--and
if I can't buy outright, you see that I must let go."

"I've done what I could for you, Ben, and if there is more I can do,
heaven knows I'll be thankful enough."

"You've already done too much, General, but I've made sure that you
shan't suffer by it. I've simply gone down, that's all, and I've got to
stay there till I can get on my feet. The bank will close temporarily, I
suppose, but when it starts again, it will have to start with another
man. I shall look out for a smaller job."

"If you come back to the road, I'll find a place for you--but it won't
be like being a bank president,