behind him, pushing him
along; he knew he must get through somehow. Filter was not able to
handle the cash, especially on a market-day, and Evan would not have
trusted Penton in the cage, under the circumstances. If anything
happened the teller was responsible for the cash: he would be taking a
chance on Penton--and a fellow can't afford to be a sport on seven
dollars a week.

When a man fills a position where he is practically indispensable, so
far as the work, not the position, is concerned, his job is his master.
Many a bankboy, on the verge of collapse, is unable to leave for a
single day his unhealthy environment. Some, like Evan, are tied down
by circumstances; the majority of them are bound by their own foolish
tenacity. All of them realize, sooner or later, that their labor was
in vain. When their health is gone, like Jones', and their efforts
stored up in bank buildings, those modern Egyptian obelisks, who knows
or rewards them? If they find themselves, after years of service,
unfitted both mentally and physically for anything but clerical work,
and yet unable to longer endure the strain of it, what are they going
to do? The man who sells his vitality is a fool, but he who gives it
away is worse than a fool. The trouble with us fools is that we don't
believe it about ourselves. Evan was sceptical of the harm bank toil
was working upon his constitution. He would not allow himself to think
his health was failing rapidly--or even slowly.

Silver was always in great demand on market days. In the midst of his
rush, this very busy day, Evan discovered that he had not brought from
the safe enough quarters to carry him through. A murmur arose from the
stampeders when he left his box and walked to the vault. The murmur
became a grumble when he fumbled the vault combination without opening
the door.

"Filter," he called, impatiently, "open this hanged vault, will you? I
can hardly see the numbers."

Calmly the ledger-keeper turned the combination, clicking it open
unhesitatingly. He turned and winked at Henty.

Evan brought out a bag and deposited it on a small table in the cage,
there for the accommodation of odorous money parcels and noon lunches.
On opening the silver he found there were five packages of quarters,
one hundred dollars each. He took one package out, tied up the bag,
and set it under the table out of the way.

His cash was two dollars short that day. Too weary to look for his
"di