relatives had expired, and no one had turned up to claim the
money but this man. His name was Joe Allen, and he had his proofs with
him that he was Nancy Allen's third cousin. He said his wife was dead;
that he had no children; that he did a little draying in his town; that
he wanted to get a new wagon and a span of mules, cost about four
hundred dollars; and this money came in awful handy for him. Then he
looked around the room and saw pa's books. And he said that he never had
much schoolin', that he wanted schoolin' and never had it; and that if
he'd had it, he'd been a lawyer too, maybe, instead of running a dray.
And then pa went over to the safe and got the money, for he hadn't
turned it in to the treasury yet. He counted the money and left it on
the table. And then the man was interested in how it was found. And pa
told him and says: "This is one of the boys that found it; this is my
boy. And the other boy is preacher Miller's boy, one of our best
citizens," meaning Mr. Miller, of course, and not Mitch. "And they're
poor, and Mitch is one of the most wonderful boys you ever saw--very
smart and reads all kinds of books."

[Illustration: Counting the Treasure]

Then the man took the money and counted it and put it in his pocket. But
my pa says, "We'll have to do a lot of things about papers and receipts
and things before you can have the money." So the man took it out and
put it on the table; and then he counted it again. And finally he
separated it and handed part of it to my pa and says, "Count it." So pa
did. And the man says, "Is that a thousand dollars? I don't reckon very
well." "Yes," says pa. "It's a thousand dollars and ten dollars more."
And the man took the ten-dollar bill and put it on the other pile.

"Here," says the man, "take this thousand dollars and take your fee out
of it."

My pa says, "No--you don't owe me nothin'. The county pays me for my
work, and it wouldn't be right, and you need it more than I do."

"Well," says the man, "what I meant was for you to take your fee out of
it, and then split the difference between these two boys."

"No, you don't owe them nothing," says pa. My heart sank. I said "I--,"
and was about to say something, I don't know what; but pa waved at me to
keep still and says, "This money is yours, and if you'll come with me,
we'll attend to everything, and you can take it and go home."

Then the man said: "But you say one of these boys is poor and is smart.
And I kno