y, I will try and make it as easy as I can
for you."

"I tell you I didn't take the money, and I won't own it when I didn't do
it."

"Well, just as you like, Buck. If you won't give up the money, I shall
have to hand you over to the constable, and see what he can do."

"You may hand me over to the constable as much as you please. Neither he
nor anybody else can make me own up to what I didn't do."

"Why will you persist in saying you didn't do it?"

"Because I didn't do it."

"I can prove it."

"Let's see you prove it."

"You carry the mail to Riverport and back."

"I know it; but I don't have any key to the bag."

"You know where the key is," said he, earnestly. "This morning I had a
letter from Miss Larrabee's brother, saying that he sent his sister
forty dollars, which must have come on before she left."

"That don't prove that I took it," I interposed; for I wished to know
what the trap was before I said anything about Ham.

"It proves that the letter came. I've been down to Riverport this
forenoon, and seen the postmaster there. He says the name was an odd one
to him, and he distinctly remembers seeing it when he sorted the mail. I
haven't any doubt the letter came to this office."

"Nor I either," I replied, glancing at Ham, who had taken position by
his father's side to hear what was said.

"What do you mean by that?" demanded Captain Fishley, puzzled by my
remark.

"You haven't proved that I took the letter."

"It came here, but none of us saw it. The very night the mail containing
that letter came in, you were seen counting money."

"Who saw me?" I asked.

"Ham saw you--didn't you, Ham?" replied the captain, appealing to his
son.

"Yes, I did. After I came home from Crofton's, I put on my old rubbers,
and went out to the barn after the lantern. I found Buck on the
hay-loft, counting a roll of bank bills," answered Ham, glibly.

"How much was there?" asked the postmaster.

"I asked him how much he had, but he wouldn't tell me," replied Ham. "He
said it was a little money that he had made on his own account."

"How did you make it, Buck?"

"I made it honestly, and I did not steal it," was the only safe answer I
could give.

I confess that it must have looked very bad for me; but I could not
expose Squire Fishley, and my lips were sealed.

"How much did there appear to be, Ham?" continued Captain Fishley; and I
must do him the justice to say that he now appeared to be only anxious