h I could find a way to beat them at their
own game."

As the minutes passed, and the bank was not opened, the ugly temper of
the crowd increased. The few police could do nothing with the mob, and
several, bolder than the rest, advocated battering down the doors. Some
went up the steps and began to pound on the portals. Tom looked for a
sight of his father or Mr. Damon, but could not see either.

It was not the regular hour for opening the bank, but when the police
reminded the people of this they only laughed.

"I guess they ain't going to open anyhow!" shouted a man. "They've got
our money, and they're going to keep it. What difference is an hour,
anyway?"

"Yes, if they have the money, why don't they open, and not wait until
ten o'clock?" cried another. "I've got a hundred and five dollars in
there, and I want it!"

More excited persons were arriving every minute. The crowd surged this
way, and that. Many looked anxiously at the clock in the tower of the
town hall. The gilded hands pointed to a few minutes of ten. Would the
bank open its doors when the hour boomed out? Many were anxiously
asking this question.

Tom sat in his electric car, near the front of the bank. The interest
of the crowd, which under ordinary circumstances would have been
centered in the queer vehicle, was not drawn toward it. The people
were all thinking of their money.

Suddenly one of the two doors of the bank slowly opened. There was a
yell from the crowd, and a rush to get in. But the police managed to
hold the leaders back, and then Tom saw that it was Ned Newton, who
stood in the partly-opened portal. He held up his hand to indicate
silence, and a hush fell over the mob.

"The bank is open for business," Ned announced, "but there must be no
rush. The building is not large enough to accommodate you all. If you
form a line, you will be admitted in turn. The bank hopes to pay you
all."

"Hopes!" cried a woman scornfully. "We can't eat hopes, young man, nor
yet pay the rent with it. Hopes indeed!"

But Ned had said all he cared to, and, with rather a white face, he
went back inside. The one door remained open and, with a policeman on
either side, a line of anxious depositors was slowly formed. Tom
watched them crowding and surging forward, all eager to be first to get
their cash out, lest there be not enough for all. As he watched, the
young inventor was aware that some was signaling to him from the big
window of the bank. He