If the sheriff had been out of the question the humiliation felt by the authors, for whom Dunkirk was publisher and who had talked so outrageously about him, would have crushed them into the dust; but the sheriff was there in his most terrible form, and he forced himself upon their consideration with his quiet but effective methods of legal procedure. XX. "Gaslucky has been caught in a wheat corner at Chicago," Lucas explained, "and has been squeezed to death." "Dead!" cried Punner, "it's a great loss. We'll have to hold a meeting and pass res----" "We'll have to get out of this place in short order," said Lucas, "the sheriff has levied an attachment on the hotel and all it contains." "What!" "How's that?" "Do you mean that the house is to be shut up and we turned out?" "Just that," said Lucas. "The sheriff has invoiced every thing, even the provisions on hand. He says that we can't eat another bite here." "And I'm starving even now!" exclaimed Punner. "I could eat most anything. Let's walk round to Delmonico's, Cattleton." "But really, what can we do?" demanded Ferris, dolefully enough. "Go home, of course," said Cattleton. Ferris looked blank and stood with his hands thrust in his pockets. "I can't go home," he presently remarked. "Why?" "I haven't money enough to pay my way." "By George! neither have I!" exclaimed Cattleton with a start. "That is precisely my fix," said Lucas gravely. "You echo my predicament," said Peck. "My salary is suspended during my absence," said Punner, with his eyes bent on the floor. Little Mrs. Philpot was speechless for a time as the force of the situation broke upon her. "Squeezed in a wheat corner?" inquired Miss Stackpole, "what do you mean by that?" "I mean that Gaslucky got sheared in the big deal the other day at Chicago," Lucas explained. "Got sheared?" "Yes, the bulls sat down on him." "Oh, you mean a speculation--a--" "Yes, Gaslucky was in for all he was worth, and they run it down on him and flattened him. A gas-man's no business in wheat, especially in Chicago; they spread him out, just as the sheriffs proceedings have flattened all our hopes for the present." "It's just outrageous!" cried little Mrs. Philpot, finding her voice. "He should have notified us, so that--" "They didn't notify him, I guess," said Cattleton. "No, he found it out afterwards," remarked Lucas, glancing gloomily toward where Dunkirk and Miss Moyne stood, apparently in light and pleasant conversation. Viewed in any light the predicament was a peculiar and distressing one to the guests of Hotel Helicon. The sheriff, a rather ignorant, but very stubborn and determined man, held executions and writs of attachment sued out by Gaslucky creditors, which he had proceeded to levy on the hotel and on all the personalty visible in it belonging to the proprietor.