amie and I nearly got killed in Cheyenne, so I'll open an
account at Cheyenne. If you say you'll trade, I'll get on the phone
and have the cash or an acceptable draft in Cheyenne as soon as the
mail can get it there."

"Well, I guess I'll trade," said Logan resignedly. "This Barrow thing
is the last outstanding debt due the bank. I hope the judge will
approve my report of the matter, so that I can get the bank opened by
Christmas. We will have to go to town and draw up a contract. Can you
go today?"

"Well, I will have to go somewhere to get on a long distance telephone
about sending the money. Where to and how much. With the winter
weather approaching, I may have to wallow through snowdrifts to get to
Cheyenne, but that's a risk incident to the business."

"We'll get you over to Cheyenne," interrupted Potter, who had shown
deep interest in the conversation, "we'll get you over if we have to
use a snow plow. Maybe you've got the magic to get this row settled.
At any rate, it's worth a trial."

"I have a telephone in my office at Adot," said Logan. "I am using the
back room of the bank as an office. I've kept the phone."

"Is there an extension on it?" asked Davy eagerly. "Yes? Fine. When I
get this banker on the phone, I want you to listen in. It's an
education to any man to hear Ralph Gaynor talk. He's the boss of the
Dollar Savings Bank in Springfield. It isn't a big bank, just a stout
one. And now all the others are looking to him for advice. Of course
he'll razz me about making a venture in these hazardous times, but it
will be worth your time to hear him do it."

"How are we to get back from Adot?" asked the midget abruptly of
Landy.

"I'll take you over and bring you back," interposed Adine Lough. "I
want to hear that man sass you over the phone, if he can get in a word
edgewise, and you on the other end of the line."

Davy laughed with the others. "Well, the parade starts promptly at
eleven, the doors to the Big Show open at one, let's git goin'," said
the little man, simulating a circus announcer.

Adine went to the house for her hat. Potter maneuvered her roadster
out to the driveway, after checking the gas and oil. Then a flushed
girl, a midget man, and an aging Nestor of other days drove away on a
mission that pleased them all.

12

The State Bank of Adot had been an important institution in an
unimportant community. It employed three people and enlarged its
chartered rights to perform