"You must 'a' listened to some sky pilot with yore feet!" retorted Red. "Adam didn't make th' sun stand still. That was Moses, so they'd have longer light for to hunt for him in. An' you needn't get steamed up, neither. Somebody ripped this pad, with a knife, too. Seein' that it was in th' same camp all night with you, I nat'rally asked. I'm shore _I_ didn't do it. Then _who_ did?" He swaggered off to get his friend's pad and picked it up. "Of course you wouldn't rip yore own. That--" he held it closer to his eyes and stared at it. "Cussed if you _didn't_, though! It's ripped just like mine. I reckon you'll be startin' on th' saddles, next!" Hopalong's amusement at the ripping of his companion's pad faded out as he grabbed his own and looked at it. "Well, I'm cussed!" he muttered. "It shore was ripped, all right. It never come apart by itself. _Both_ of 'em, huh?" He pondered as he turned the pad over and over. "They didn't play no favorites, anyhow," growled Red. "Wonder what they thought they'd find? Jewels?" Hopalong pushed back his hat and gently scratched a scalp somewhat tender from the sand treatment. "Things like that don't just happen," he said, reflectively. "There's allus a reason for things." He grew thoughtful again and studied the pad. "Mebby they wasn't lookin' for anythin'," he muttered, suspiciously. Red snorted. "Just doin' it for practice, mebby?" he asked, sarcastically. "Not havin' nothin' else _to_ do, somebody went up to our rooms an' amused themselves by rippin' open our pads. You got a head like a calf, only it's a hull lot smaller." "We was accused of robbin' th' bank, Reddie," said Hopalong in patient explanation. "They knowed we didn't do it--so they must 'a' wanted us to be blamed for it. Th' best proof they could have, not seein' us do it, was to plant somethin' to be found on us. This is past yore A B C eddication, but I'll try to hammer it into you. If it makes you dizzy, hold up yore hand. What does a bank have that everybody wants? Money! Why do people rob banks? To get money, you sage-hen! What would bank robbers have after they robbed a bank? Money, you locoed cow! Now, Reddie, there's _two_ kinds of money. One is hard, an' th' other is soft like yore head. Th' soft has pretty pictures on it an' smells powerful. It also has numbers. Th' numbers are different, Reddie, on each bill. Some banks keep a list of th' numbers of the biggest bills. Reckon I better wait an' let you rest up." "Too bad they got us out of jail--_both_ of us," said Red. "I should 'a' stayed behind. It wouldn't 'a' been half as bad as hangin' 'round with you."