He lay with his eyes closed a great deal of the time and reviewed the situation. Should he expose Syd? It was hard to keep from doing so when he thought of all he had suffered at his hands. He had been such a brazen thief, too, so shameless in his villainy. Still, by the ramifications of marriage, he occupied the relation of a brother to Beth; at least she treated him as one, and he lived under the same roof with her. Besides, his family had received Ben in his helpless state and were caring for him. A sudden generosity pleaded with him not to expose the culprit. It was such a noble impulse, so far above the standards to which he was accustomed that he was almost ashamed to follow it, and tried to belittle it by placing a value upon it. He said to himself half-contemptuously: “There wasn’t more than thirty or forty dollars in the amalgam, anyway, and that’s a low price for a reputation. When he finds out that I haven’t told on him he can return the gold. At any rate, I’m going to give him a chance.” He resolved upon this course, although it annoyed him that Mundon should be suspected, and he felt that he must exonerate the latter. “You said just now, Mr. Hodges, that you were pretty certain who--who did this to me.” “Yes, I did; and I am,” emphatically replied Mr. Hodges. “It’s that man Mundon you’ve been taken in by who’s done it.” “You’re all wrong,” Ben answered. “He had nothing to do with it.” “Where was he then? Where is he now?” “He had to find a place for the mule; then he went down-town to sleep. Of course, he couldn’t sleep in the room we built, because the place doesn’t belong to us, they say.” Mr. Hodges looked the doubt he felt. “Let him give an account of himself first, Ben, before you’re too sure of his innocence.” “He’ll come around just as soon as he hears of this.” Ben closed his eyes wearily, but suddenly opened them again. “There he is now. I can hear his voice!” he cried, as Mundon appeared. “Well, Ben my boy, how’d this happen?” Mundon’s distress was too genuine to be doubted. “I saw a man taking the amalgam, and I tried to stop him. We got into a fight over it and he scratched me a little; that’s all.” “All! Isn’t it enough?” Mundon indignantly cried. “How white you are, Ben! Why, you’re almost faintin’ away now.” “No; I’m all right,” Ben hastened to say. “You don’t look it. What sort of a lookin’ man was he?” Ben closed his eyes. “I don’t know. It was dark, you know.” “’Twas bright moonlight,--and there’s a lot shines through the holes in the roof on a clear night. Ain’t you got no idee what he looked like?” Ben shook his head. Mundon reflected a moment. “That’s queer, Ben. You don’t tell us enough about the man for us to git hold of anything,” he said. “I’d like to git at him. You had a tussle with him, yet you don’t say whether he was fat or thin, or tall or short. We ain’t got nothin’ ter go by.”