"And I understand you go by the name of squire?" "How did you learn that?" "From a boy who guided me here." "I hope you did not express any surprise." "Oh, no! I did nothing to arouse suspicion. Are you a justice of the peace?" "Yes." "And perhaps preside over trials?" "Well, yes, sometimes." "Ha, ha!" "What are you laughing at?" demanded the squire irritably. "It is a good joke. Suppose the good people here were acquainted with your real character?" "Hush; this is no time for jesting. You might be overheard. Now, what news?" "Well, there isn't much. Things have been pretty quiet. You haven't been at any of our meetings lately?" "No; I did not care to excite suspicion. I've been engaged in a little enterprise on my own account." "What, here?" "Yes." "What was it?" asked Kirby with interest. "I learned that one of my neighbors—a simple minded carpenter—was to receive a considerable sum of money, which I had reason to think he would bring home in person. I disguised myself, lay in wait for him, and took the whole." "How much was there?" "A thousand dollars!" "Excellent! And you have it here?" "Yes. It happened to be in fifty-dollar bills, and I have not dared to use any of it lest it should be traced to me. Besides, there is one who suspects me of having been implicated in the affair?" "Is it a person likely to prove dangerous?" "I don't know. It is a boy." "A boy! How should a boy be likely to suspect you?" "I will tell you. It is a nephew of the man who lost the money. Near the scene of the robbery he found a sleeve button marked with my initial, which I had the ill luck to drop." "Does he know it is yours?" "Yes, my son recognized it in his possession, and unfortunately let out that it was mine. I at once sent for the boy, asked to see the button, and admitted it was mine." "How then did you explain?" "I am coming to that. I told him that both buttons had been stolen from me, probably by a tramp who had been seen prowling round my house, and that I presumed the same man had robbed his uncle." "Very ingenious, upon my word! You always were a man of ideas, captain. I suppose this allayed his suspicions." "Not wholly, though it puzzled him. I must tell you that while I was relieving the uncle of his money, though otherwise disguised I unfortunately opened my mouth." "And showed your teeth?" "Precisely. I have often had occasion to regret that Nature supplied me with such ugly looking tusks, for they are a dangerous means of identification. I understand the carpenter—one Adin Dunham—has spoken of this, but it seemed absurd to those who heard him that a man in my position should be a robber, and it was taken as a proof that he was out of his head. I strengthened this impression by taking a foremost part in raising a subscription for the carpenter to compensate him partially for his loss, and myself contributed fifty dollars." "Out of the man's own money?" asked Kirby laughing.