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.