As soon as it was apparent to the bank examiner that the cashier did not intend to take advantage of the chance that had been offered, Starr marched to the door, opened it, and called. The corridor, it seemed, was serving as repository for various properties required in the drama which Mr. Starr had staged that day. The man who entered wore a gold badge--and a gold badge marks the high sheriff of a county. Starr handed a paper to the officer. “Serve it,” he commanded, curtly. The sheriff walked to Vaniman and tapped him on the shoulder. “You're under arrest.” “Charged with what?” “I'm making it fairly easy for you,” explained, Starr, dryly, appearing to be better acquainted with the nature of the warrant than the sheriff was. “Burglary, with or without accomplices, might have been charged--seeing that the coin has been removed--in the nighttime, of course! But we're simply making the charge embezzlement!” CHAPTER XVII ON THE FACE OF IT Squire Hexter arranged for Vaniman's bail, volunteering for that service, frankly admitting that he “had seen it coming all along”! But the Squire was not as ready to serve as Frank's counsel and withstood that young man's urging for some time. The Squire's solicitude in behalf of the accused was the reason for this reluctance. “You ought to have the smartest city lawyer you can hire. I'm only an old country codger, son!” “Squire Hexter, I propose to let the other side have a monopoly of the tricks. I'm depending on my innocence, and I want your honesty back of it.” In the hope that the folks of Egypt would recognize innocence when they saw it, Vaniman daily walked the streets of the village. The pride of innocence was soon wounded; he learned that his action in “showing himself under the folks's noses” was considered as bravado. The light of day showed him so many sour looks that he stayed in the house with Xoa or in the Squire's office until night. Then he discovered that when he walked abroad under cover of the darkness he was persistently trailed; it was evident that the belief that he had hidden the coin of the Egypt Trust Company was sticking firmly in the noodles of the public. The bank, of course, was now forbidden ground for him. The affairs of that unhappy institution were being wound up. Considering the fact that the stockholders had been assessed dollar for dollar of their holdings, and that, even with this assessment added to the assets, the depositors would get back only a fraction of their money, Vaniman could scarcely marvel at the hard looks and the muttered words he met up with on the street.