第34章
A RUN ON THE BANK
"Why, Mr.Pendergast!" exclaimed Mr.Damon, rising quickly as Tom ushered in the aged president."Whatever is the matter? You here at this hour? Bless my trial balance! Is anything wrong?
"I'm afraid there is," answered the bank head."I have just received word which made it necessary for me to see you both at once.I'm glad you're here, Mr.Damon."He sank wearily into a chair which Tom placed for him, and Mr.Swift asked:
"Have you been able to raise any cash, Mr.Pendergast?""No, I am sorry to say I have not, but I did not come here to tell you that.I have bad news for you.As soon as we open our doors in the morning, there will be a run on the bank." "A run on the bank?" repeated Mr.Swift.
"The moment we begin business in the morning," went on Mr.Pendergast.
"Bless my soul, then don't begin business!" cried Mr.Damon.
"We must," insisted Mr.Pendergast."To keep the doors closed would be a confession at once that we have failed.No, it is better to open them, and stand the run as long as we can.When we have exhausted our cash--" he paused.
"Well?" asked Mr.Damon."Then we'll fail--that's all.""But we mustn't let the bank fail!" cried Mr.Swift."I am willing to put some of my personal fortune into the bank capital in order to save it.So is my son here.""That's right," chimed in Tom heartily."All I've got.I'm not going to let Andy Foger get ahead of us; nor his father either.""I'll help to the limit of my ability," added Mr.Damon.
"I appreciate all that," continued the president."But the unfortunate part of it is that we need cash.You gentlemen, like myself, probably, haveyour money tied up in stocks and bonds.It is hard to get cash quickly, and we must have cash as soon as we open in the morning, to pay the depositors who will come flocking to the doors.We must prepare for a run on the bank.""How do you know there will be a run?" asked the young inventor.
"I received word this evening, just before I came here," replied Mr.Pendergast."A poor widow, who has a small amount in the bank, called on me and said she had been advised to withdraw all her cash.She said she preferred to see me about it first, as she did not like to lose her interest.She said a number of her acquaintances, some of whom are quite heavy depositors, had also been warned that the bank was unsound, and that they ought to take out their savings and deposits at once.""Did she say who had thus warned her?" inquired Mr.Swift.
"She did," was the reply, "and that shows me that there is a conspiracy on foot to ruin our bank.She stated that Mr.Foger had told her our institution was unsound.""Mr.Foger!" cried Mr.Damon."So this is one of his tricks to bolster up his new bank! He hopes the people who withdraw their money from our bank will deposit with him.I see his game.He's a scoundrel, and if it's possible I'm going to sue him for damages after this thing is over.""Did he warn the others?" inquired the aged inventor.
"Not all of them," answered the president."Some received letters from a man signing himself Addison Berg, warning them that our bank, was likely to fail any day.""Addison Berg!" exclaimed Tom."That must have been the important business he had with Mr.Foger, the day I showed him the watch charm! They were plotting the ruin of our bank then," and he told his father about his disastrous pursuit of the submarine agent.
"Very likely Foger is working with Berg," admitted Mr.Damon."We will attend to them later.The question is, what can we do to save the bank?""Get cash, and plenty of it," advised Mr.Pendergast."Suppose we go over the whole situation again?" and they fell to talking stocks: bonds, securities, mortgages and interest, until the youth, interested as he was inthe situation, could follow it no longer.
"Better go to bed, Tom," advised his father."You can't help us any, and we have many details to go over."The lad reluctantly consented, and he was soon dreaming that he was in his electric auto, trying to pull up a thousand pound lump of gold from the bottom of the sea.He awoke to find the bedclothes in a lump on his chest, and, removing them, fell into a deep slumber.
When the young inventor awoke the next morning, Mrs.Baggert told him that his father and Mr.Damon had risen nearly an hour before, had partaken of a hearty breakfast, and departed.
"They told me to tell you they were at the bank," said the housekeeper."Did Mr.Pendergast stay all night?" inquired Tom.
"I heard some one go away about two o'clock this morning," replied the housekeeper."I don't know who it was.""They must have had a long session," thought Tom, as he began on his bacon, eggs and coffee."I'll take a run down to the bank in my electric in a little while."The car was still in rather crude shape, outwardly, but the mechanism was now almost perfect.Tom charged the batteries well before starting put.
The youth had no sooner come in sight of the old Shopton bank, to distinguish it from the Second National, which Mr.Foger had started, than he was aware that something unusual had occurred.There was quite a crowd about it, and more persons were constantly arriving to swell the throng.
"What's the matter?" asked Tom, of one of the few police officers of which Shopton boasted, though the lad did not need to be told.
"Run on the bank," was the brief answer."It's failed."Tom felt a pang of disappointment.Somehow, he had hoped that his father and his friends might have been able to stave off ruin.As he approached nearer Tom was made aware that the crowd was in an ugly mood.