On the blank silence that followed my last words, there in the big, dignified room with its Circassian walnut and sound-softening rugs, Dykeman, the oldest director, squalled out as though he had been bitten, "All there is to tell But it can't be It isn't possib-" His voice cracked, split on the word, and the rest came in an agonized squeak, "A man can't just vanish into thin air " "A man " Knapp, the cashier, echoed. "A suitcase full of money-our money-can't vanish into thin air in the course of a few hours." Feverishly they passed the timeworn phrase back and forth; it would have been ludicrous if it hadn't been so deadly serious. Well, money when you come to think of it, is its very existence to such an institution; it was not to be wondered at that the twelve men around the long table in the directors' room of the Van Ness Avenue Savings Bank found this a life or death matter.