him, nicely blanketed, I think he was as
comfortable as the squire in the house, and I am sure his head did not
ache half so badly. My work for the night was done; but, before I went
into the house, I could not help taking the present which the senator
had given me from my pocket and examining it. I had suspected, from the
first, that it was a bank bill. I thought that the squire had given me a
dollar or two to deepen the impression upon my memory, and I had already
come to the conclusion that he was a more liberal man than his brother;
as, indeed, he could afford to be, for he was said to be quite wealthy.

I took the little roll from my pocket while up in the hay-loft, where I
had gone to give Darky his last feed. It was wet, but the paper was new
and strong, and had sustained no serious injury. I unrolled the bills,
and was astonished to find there were not less than half a dozen of
them. As they had apparently just come from the bank, they stuck
together very closely. The first bill was a one, the next a five; and by
this time I was amazed at the magnitude of the sum, for I had never
before had six dollars of my own in my hand.

I looked further, and was utterly overwhelmed when I found that each of
the other four bills was a ten. Forty-six dollars! Squire Fishley had
certainly made a mistake. He could not have intended to give me all that
money. Befuddled and befogged by the whiskey and the cold bath, he must
have forgotten that the roll contained forty-six dollars, instead of two
or three, which was probably all he intended to give me. I should have
felt rich with a couple of dollars; but actually possessed of the sum in
my hand, I should have been a John Jacob Astor in my own estimation.

The money was not mine. The squire had not intended to give me all that,
and it would not be right for me to keep it. I could not help thinking
that if I chose to keep the money, I might do so with impunity. I had
the squire's secret, and he would not dare to insist upon my returning
the bills; but this would be mean, and I concluded that I should feel
better with the two or three dollars fairly obtained than if I took
advantage of the obvious blunder of the giver.

"What have you got there, Buck?"

I started as though a rifle ball had struck me. Turning, I saw Ham
Fishley standing at the head of the stairs, and I wondered how he had
been able to come up the steps without my hearing him. I had been
intensely absorbed in the