‘You see,’ said the storekeeper as he made the change from the cash register, ‘there’s a lot of queer money been circulating around this part of the State recently. Tens and twenties, though I ain’t seen any of the twenties. About a fortnight ago two men came in here and bought nearly four dollars’ worth of goods and gave me a ten-dollar bill. It was a mighty nice-looking bill and I put it aside so’s to have it in case I was to need a nice crisp ten. Well, sir, when that bill went to the bank――happened I didn’t pay it out again――that feller we were just talking to took and stamped “Counterfeit” right across it four or five times! And, by Jupiter, I was out ten dollars!’ ‘That was hard luck,’ said Pud, reaching for his bundles. ‘Wa’n’t it? And then again, about a week after that, it happened again. That time it was Clay Moody, the garage man, paid me. He never could remember where he got it. Anyway, you see we’ve got to be careful, and that’s why I was doubtful about that bill you handed me. It looked awful pretty. Well, if it ain’t all right,’ he chuckled, ‘I don’t need to worry. And, by Jupiter, I wouldn’t feel any too blamed sorry if it _was_ bad, seeing Jim Knowles was so tarnation snippy!’ They got back to the launch without further misadventure, and without, fortunately, so much as sighting the grateful Mr. Liscomb. Ten minutes later they were in the stream, bound up-river to a place known as ‘The Flat,’ where the bass lived. The Flat had a Statewide reputation as a fishing ground, and, although they were now supplied with enough fresh meat for one repast, they all agreed that a nice fried bass would touch the spot as nothing else could! CHAPTER XII MOSTLY FISHING With Harmon at the wheel, closely watched by an anxious Tim, Pud settled himself at the stern and wrote a letter to his mother. Despairing of being able to narrate all the happenings of the past forty-eight hours, he decided to narrate none, or almost none. When completed, the letter conveyed hardly more than the bald information that they had spent Tuesday night at Aunt Sabrina’s, that they had bought some more food supplies, that they were now on the way up the Fox River to fish for bass, and that they were all well. Elated by the escape from Gladys Ermintrude and by this recent performance of his duty, Pud dug out the damp and crumpled pirate emblem and once more displayed it from the stern. Tim viewed the flaunting skull-and-cross-bones doubtfully, but Harmon grinned approval, accepting it as evidence that the piratical life was at last about to begin.