n the garden when we came back, and Tony
went to look for you while we continued on our way."

"Has Tony said anything to you about it since?" asked Mr. Hyde.

"Yes, sir; he told us after school that he didn't find Mr. Whipple, and
when he went back to the wood-house, the wallet was gone. He met Tim
Bunker there, who told him the owner had just gone in that way."

"Now I think on't, I paid a little bill, and I recollect of laying the
wallet down on the wash-bench," said Farmer Whipple.

"And Tim Bunker was there?" asked the master.

"Not while we were," replied Charles.

"Tim?"

"Sir," answered the chief of the Bunkers promptly.

"Do you know anything about this wallet?"

"Don't know nothing about it."

"Were you up there?"

"Yes, sir."

"You saw Tony there?"

"Yes, sir; when I was going up, I saw him come out of the barn and go
into the wood-house."

"Did you see Mr. Whipple?"

"No, sir."

Frank and Charles looked at each other. Tim's story differed from
Tony's.

"You saw Tony in the woodshed?"

"When I went in, he was tucking away something in his pocket."

Tony's friends were utterly confounded by this bold statement.

"You didn't see what it was, did you?" inquired Mr. Hyde, pained by the
turn the affair was taking.

"I didn't. I thought it was an egg at first. He was kind of struck up
when I entered, and asked me if I had seen Farmer Whipple. I told him I
hadn't. The bell rang then, and he cut away to school."

Tim's story seemed plausible, but the master could not harbor a
suspicion that Tony was guilty of theft.

"Which pocket was it, Tim?" asked Farmer Whipple.

"The side pocket of his linen sack."

"Which side?"

"The left-hand side."

"That will do," said Mr. Hyde; and he and Mr. Whipple conferred on the
subject.

Frank was amazed. Tony steal the wallet! Impossible! He never could do
such a thing.

The conference ended, and Farmer Whipple left the schoolroom. Returning
to his house, he harnessed his horse, and drove down to Squire
Murdock's, the magistrate, to procure a warrant for the arrest of Tony.
This he obtained; and after getting a constable to serve it, he drove
to the widow Weston's.

Tony was in the garden picking some currants to sell the following
morning. He was hard at work, and his coat lay upon a bush near him.

Farmer Whipple and the constable jumped over the fence and approached
him.

"How do you do, Mr. Whipple?" said Tony, suspending his occupati