, be quiet!" cautioned Mrs. Crow. "You'll wake the baby!" This
started a new train of thought in Anderson's perplexed mind.

"Mebby she was waitin' there while some one--her husband, fer
instance--was leavin' the baskit," volunteered Isaac Porter humbly.

"Don't bother me, Ike; I'm thinkin' of somethin' else," muttered
Anderson. "Husband nothin'! Do you s'pose she'd 'a' trusted that baby
with a fool husband on a terrible night like that? Ladies and gentlemen,
this here baby was left by a _female_ resident of this very town." His
hearers gasped and looked at him wide-eyed. "If she has a husband, he
don't know he's the father of this here baby. Don't you see that a woman
couldn't 'a' carried a heavy baskit any great distance? She couldn't 'a'
packed it from Boggs City er New York er Baltimore, could she? She
wouldn't 'a' been strong enough. No, siree; she didn't have far to come,
folks. An' she was a woman, 'cause ain't all typewritin' done by women?
You don't hear of men typewriters, do you? People wouldn't have 'em.
Now, the thing fer me to do first is to make a house-to-house search to
see if I c'n locate a typewritin' machine anywheres. Get out of the way,
Toby. Doggone you boys, anyhow, cain't you see I want ter get started on
this job?"

"Say, Anderson," said Harry Squires, the reporter, "I'd like to ask if
there is any one in Tinkletown, male or female, who can afford to pay
you a thousand dollars a year for taking care of that kid?"

"What's that?" slowly oozed from Anderson's lips.

"You heard what I said. Say, don't you know you can bring up a kid in
this town for eleven or twelve dollars a year?"

"You don't know what you're talkin' about," burst from Anderson's
indignant lips, but he found instant excuse to retire from the circle of
speculators. A few minutes later he and his wife were surreptitiously
re-reading the note, both filled with the fear that it said $10.00
instead of $1000.

CHAPTER VI

Reflection and Deduction

"By gum, it does say a thousand," cried Anderson, mightily relieved.
"Harry Squires is a fool. He said jest now that it could be did fer
eleven or twelve dollars. Don't you suppose, Eva, that the mother of
this here child knows what it costs to bring 'em up? Of course she does.
When I find her I'll prove it by her own lips that she knows. But don't
bother me any more, Eva; I got to git out an' track her down. This is
the greatest job I've had in years."

"See here, Anders