"I--I just want to get this all plain, Sam," he put in, hastily.
"I just want it so all hands"ll understand it, that"s all. You went over to Sylvester Sage"s in Wapatomac and he paid you four hundred dollars. When you got back home here fourteen hundred of it was missin". No, no, I don"t mean that. I mean you couldn"t find fourteen hundred--I mean--"
The captain"s patience was, as he himself often said, moored with a short cable. The cable parted now.
"Gracious king!" he snapped. "Jed, if that yarn you"re tryin" to spin was wound in a ball and a kitten was playin" with it you couldn"t be worse snarled up. What he"s tryin" to tell you," he explained, turning to Grover, "is that the other day, when I was over to Wapatomac, old Sylvester Sage over there paid me fourteen hundred dollars in cash and when I got back here all I could find was a thousand. That"s what you"re tryin" to say, ain"t it?"
turning to Jed once more.
"Yes--yes, that"s it, Sam. That"s it."
"Course it"s it. But what do you want me to say it for? And what are you runnin" around with all that money in your hands for?
That"s what I want to know."
Jed swallowed hard. "Well, Sam," he stammered, "that--that"s what I was goin" to tell you. You see--you see, that"s the four hundred you lost. I--I found it."
Major Grover looked surprised. Phineas Babbitt looked more surprised. But, oddly enough, it was Captain Sam Hunniwell who appeared to be most surprised by his friend"s statement. The captain seemed absolutely dumbfounded.
"You--you WHAT?" he cried.
Jed smoothed the bills in his hand. "I found it, Sam," he repeated. "Here "tis--here."
He extended the bundle of banknotes. The captain made no move to take them. Jed held them a little nearer.
"You--you"d better take it, Sam," he urged. "It might get lost again, you know."
Still Captain Sam made no move. He looked from the bills in Jed"s hands to Jed"s face and back again. The expression on his own face was a strange one.
"You found it," he repeated. "YOU did?"
"Yes--yes, I found it, Sam. Just happened to."
"Where did you find it?"
"Over yonder behind that pile of boards. You know you said the money was in your overcoat pocket and--and when you came in here on your way back from Sylvester"s you hove your coat over onto those boards. I presume likely the--the money must have fell out of the pocket then. You see, don"t you, Sam?"
The tone in which the question was asked was one, almost, of pleading. He appeared very, very anxious to have the captain "see." But the latter seemed as puzzled as ever.
"Here"s the money, Sam," urged Jed. "Take it, won"t you?"
Captain Sam took it, but that is all he did. He did not count it or put it in his pocket. He merely took it and looked at the man who had given it to him.
Jed"s confusion seemed to increase. "Don"t you--don"t you think you"d better count it, Sam?" he stammered. "If--if the Major here and Phin see you count it and--and know it"s all right, then they"ll be able to contradict the stories that"s goin" around about so much bein" stolen, you know."
The captain grunted.
"Stolen?" he repeated. "You said folks were talkin" about money bein" lost. Have they been sayin" "twas stolen?"
It was Grover who answered. "I haven"t heard any such rumors," he said. "I believe Lieutenant Rayburn said he heard some idle report about the bank"s having lost a sum of money, but there was no hint at dishonesty."
Captain Sam turned to Mr. Babbitt.
"YOU haven"t heard any yarns about money bein" stolen at the bank, have you?" he demanded.
Before Phineas could answer Grover"s hand again fell lightly on his shoulder.
"I"m sure he hasn"t," observed the Major. The captain paid no attention to him.
"Have you?" he repeated, addressing Babbitt.
The little man shook from head to foot. The glare with which he regarded his hated rival might have frightened a timid person. But Captain Sam Hunniwell was distinctly not timid.
"Have you?" he asked, for the third time.
Phineas" mouth opened, but Grover"s fingers tightened on his shoulder and what came out of that mouth was merely a savage repet.i.tion of his favorite retort, "None of your darned business."
"Yes, "tis my business," began Captain Sam, but Jed interrupted.
"I don"t see as it makes any difference whether he"s heard anything or not, Sam," he suggested eagerly. "No matter what he"s heard, it ain"t so, because there couldn"t have been anything stolen. There was only four hundred missin". I"ve found that and you"ve got it back; so that settles it, don"t it?"
"It certainly would seem as if it did," observed Grover.
"Congratulations, Captain Hunniwell. You"re fortunate that so honest a man found the money, I should say."
The captain merely grunted. The odd expression was still on his face. Jed turned to the other two.
"Er--er--Major Grover," he said, "if--if you hear any yarns now about money bein" missin"--or--or stolen you can contradict "em now, can"t you?"
"I certainly can--and will."
"And you"ll contradict "em, too, eh, Phin?"
Babbitt jerked his shoulder from Grover"s grasp and strode to the door.
"Let me out of here," he snarled. "I"m goin" home."
No one offered to detain him, but as he threw open the door to the outer shop Leonard Grover followed him.
"Just a moment, Babbitt," he said. "I"ll go as far as the gate with you, if you don"t mind. Good afternoon, Jed. Good afternoon, Captain, and once more--congratulations. . . . Here, Babbitt, wait a moment."
Phineas did not wait, but even so his pursuer caught him before he reached the gate. Jed, who had run to the window, saw the Major and the hardware dealer in earnest conversation. The former seemed to be doing most of the talking. Then they separated, Grover remaining by the gate and Phineas striding off in the direction of his shop. He was muttering to himself and his face was working with emotion. Between baffled malice and suppressed hatred he looked almost as if he were going to cry. Even amid his own feelings of thankfulness and relief Jed felt a pang of pity for Phineas Babbitt. The little man was the incarnation of spite and envy and vindictive bitterness, but Jed was sorry for him, just as he would have been sorry for a mosquito which had bitten him. He might be obliged to crush the creature, but he would feel that it was not much to blame for the bite; both it and Phineas could not help being as they were--they were made that way.
He heard an exclamation at his shoulder and turned to find that Captain Sam had also been regarding the parting at the gate.
"Humph!" grunted the captain. "Phin looks as if he"d been eatin"
somethin" that didn"t set any too good. What"s started him to obeyin" orders from that Grover man all to once? I always thought he hated soldierin" worse than a hen hates a swim. . . . Humph! . . .
Well, that"s the second queerest thing I"ve run across to-day."
Jed changed the subject, or tried to change it.
"What"s the first one, Sam?" he hastened to ask. His friend looked at him for an instant before he answered.