Sube shook his head. The impropriety of giving tainted money to the church occurred to him at once, but Gizzard's suggestion to give it away had put an idea into his mind. "What's the reason we can't send it back to the gover'ment?" he asked. "We could put it in an envelope and mail it to the President." "What's the President got to do with it?" demanded Gizzard. "Well, the gover'ment _made_ it, didn't it? And the President's the same as the gover'ment, ain't he?" In common with a number of other people, Gizzard was not sure about this. He said he would have to ask his father. And at this point the bell rang to summon Sube to his midday meal. As the boy seated himself at the table his father asked: "Have you returned all those things that were out in the barn?" "Yes, Papa," answered the boy quietly. "We took them all back." "Well, what did you do with the money?" Mr. Cane inquired. "You must have taken in some money." "We haven't done an'thing with it--yet." "What are you _going_ to do with it?" asked the merciless inquisitor. "Why,--why, we were thinking about sending it to the President, so he could put it back in the treasury." "Conscience money, eh?" demanded Mr. Cane. "Well, it's a great relief to discover that you _have_ a conscience. But why don't you satisfy your conscience by devoting it to the purpose for which you raised it?" Sube looked up at his father with an expression of ineffable relief. "_Could_ we do that?" he asked breathlessly. "Why not?" replied Mr. Cane. "By the way, how much was there?" "Twenty dollars and seventeen cents." Mr. Cane uttered a low, long whistle. "And the auction was only half over when it was raided!" he murmured. "Mother, you ought to let this boy handle the next charity bazaar for the church." CHAPTER XXV STUNG "I ain't hardly had a decent swim all summer," Sube complained to Gizzard one day late in August. "It's all right to go in on the sly once in a while, but when you got to do it all the time it gets to be a chestnut." "Well, why don't we fix up some other swimmin'-hole?" suggested Gizzard. "The Unionville hole is the only decent one there is!" returned Sube bitterly. "And I'm goin'ta fix that Bigmouth Bissett so's he won't come botherin' when _I'm_ in swimmin'! That's what I'm goin'ta do!" Gizzard's interest was aroused at once. "What you goin' to do to 'em?" he asked. "Never you mind! I'll fix 'em! He'll be sorry he ever monkeyed around _me_!" "But how'll you fix 'em?" Gizzard insisted. "You jus' wait! I'll show you!" To tell the truth Sube did not then know what he was going to do to his arch enemy. But he had supreme faith that there is always something to be done if one can only think of it. Relations had been strained ever since the limburger episode. Seth Bissett had sworn that he would avenge himself, and he was everywhere regarded as a gentleman of his word in matters of vengeance.