would then place it in the office, the man thanked me, and went away.
When the two men entered the bank at six o'clock in the evening, I
instantly recognized one of them as the man who had called in the
afternoon. He was, however, dressed very roughly on the occasion of this
last visit, and had evidently changed his clothes for the purpose of
escaping detection or recognition."

"Which one of the men attacked you?" now asked the detective.

"The one who left the valise in the afternoon. While the tallest of the
two was struggling with Miss Patton, who was screaming loudly, the other
one came behind the counter and struck me upon the head with the butt
end of his revolver. I became insensible after this, and knew nothing
until I found myself in the vault."

"How did you extricate yourself from this dilemma?" inquired Manning.

"Well, sir," began Pearson; and the detective imagined that he noticed a
hesitancy in his manner, which was not apparent before, "when I
recovered consciousness, I found myself locked up in the vault, with
Miss Patton lying beside me. When she recovered, we both shouted loudly
for help, and beat with our hands upon the iron doors, in the hope of
attracting attention. This failed, and we were nearly desperate. Just
then, however, my foot came in contact with some loose silver upon the
floor, and on stooping to pick them up, I found that they were ten-cent
pieces. Instantly, the idea occurred to me, to attempt to remove the
screws which fastened the lock to the inside of the door, and of using
one of these coins for the purpose. To my intense joy the screws yielded
to my efforts, and in a short time the heavy door swung open, and we
were free. I have told you already what followed."