aylight had quite disappeared he "wound" the vault combination,
seriously, faithfully, and crept up the back stairs to his bed above
the bank's treasure. He soberly inspected a heavy revolver, placed it
on a chair beside the bed, and retired with a sound not unlike a groan.

Perry came in late and raised a dreadful hubbub. He smoked cigarettes
in the room, whistled the raggiest rags and tried his best to make
things uncomfortable for the new man. Nelson ground his teeth beneath
the sheets and wished he had been born strong.

The first official question Evan was asked the following morning
concerned the winding of the combination.

"Never forget that," enjoined Watson.

"Mr. Nelson," called the teller from his cage, "come here." Evan
obeyed the summons.

"Go over to the B---- Bank and ask them for their general ledger."

"All right, sir," said Nelson, meekly, and taking his cap from a peg
went out to execute the commission.

He had hardly disappeared when Watson walked to the phone and called up
the B---- Bank, informing them of Nelson's mission and asking them to
send him on to some other bank. It was half an hour before the junior
returned; he had been all over town; the report he brought with him was
this:

"I found out it had just been sent back here."

Now the general ledger of a bank contains a summary of all business
done. It would not do for one bank to see the general ledger of
another. Neither the branches nor the clerks of one bank may have
business secrets in common with another bank; of course it is all right
for head offices and general managers to get their heads together in
such small matters as keeping down the rate of interest and curtailing
loans--but then all competitors should unite against that great enemy,
the public.

Evan was given a copy of "Rules and Regulations" to study while waiting
for the "Bonehead" to get his drafts ready for delivery. He was
pointed to the clause on secrecy and commanded to memorize it forthwith.

The new junior soon discovered that Porter Perry was something of a
joke among Mt. Alban merchants. The "Bonehead" had sometime and
somewhere earned the dignity of his title. The way he approached
customers about a draft was ridiculous even to Evan--and it meant
something for Evan to have a definite idea about anything these
apprenticeship days. Remarks passed between store clerks, and the
giggles and smirks of girls behind counters, did not relieve the