“Yes . . . yes, that’s so.  That’s a fact.  But, Sam, hadn’t you better take that money back to the bank?  The folks up there don’t know it’s been found yet.  They’ll be some surprised, too.”

“So they will.  All hands’ll be surprised.  And when I tell ’em how you happened to see that money lyin’ in a pile on the floor behind those boards and couldn’t scarcely believe your eyes, and couldn’t believe ’em until you’d reached down and picked up the money, and counted it—­ That’s about what you did, I presume likely, eh?”

“Yes. . . .  Yes, that’s just it.”

“They’ll be surprised then, and no wonder.  But they’d be more surprised if I should bring ’em here and show ’em the place where you found it.  ’Twould surprise ’most anybody to know that there was a man livin’ who could see down a black crack four foot deep and two inches wide and around a corner in that crack and see money lyin’ on the floor, and know ’twas money, and then stretch his arm out a couple of foot more and thin his wrist down until it was less than an inch through and pick up that money.  That would surprise em.  Don’t you think ’twould, Jed?”

The color left Jed’s face.  His mouth fell open and he stared blankly at his friend.  The latter chuckled.

“Don’t you think ’twould surprise ’em, Jed?” he repeated.  “Seems likely as if ’twould.  It surprised me all right enough.”

The color came surging back.  Jed’s cheeks flamed.  He tried to speak, but what he said was not coherent nor particularly intelligible.

“Now—­now—­now, Sam,” he stammered.  “I—­I—­ You don’t understand.  You ain’t got it right.  I—­I—­”

The captain interrupted.  “Don’t try so hard, Jed,” he continued.  “Take time to get your steam up.  You’ll bust a b’iler if you puff that way.  Let’s see what it is I don’t understand.  You found this money behind those boards?”

“Eh?  Yes . . . yes . . . but—­”

“Wait.  And you found it this mornin’?”

“Yes . . . yes . . . but, Sam—­”

“Hold on.  You saw it layin’ on the floor at the bottom of that crack?”

“Well—­well, I don’t know as I saw it exactly, but—­but—­ No, I didn’t see it.  I—­I felt it.”

“Oh, you felt it!  Thought you said you saw it.  Well, you reached down and felt it, then.  How did you get your arm stretched out five foot long and three-quarters of an inch thick?  Put it under the steam roller, did you?”

Jed swallowed twice before replying.  “I—­I—­” he began.  “Well—­ well, come to think of it, Sam, I—­I guess I didn’t feel it with my fingers.  I—­I took a stick.  Yes, that was it.  I poked in behind there with a stick.”

“Oh, you felt it with a stick.  And knew ’twas money?  Tut, tut!  You must have a good sense of touch, Jed, to know bills when you scratch across ’em with the far end of a five foot stick.  Pick ’em up with a stick, too, did you?”