Eben was a child of nature, and, as Ira Allen had said, he would be useful in carrying a message quickly. He had been in the possession of the wallet less than five minutes when the sheriff proposed that the journey should be continued. He sprang to his feet, and looked for the wallet; he could not see it in the long grass. He felt in his pockets, but it was not there. "I say, men, that isn't a fair joke." "What isn't?" "Who has the wallet?" "Now, that's a good one! Who should have it but the sheriff?" "Come, a joke's a joke, but don't carry it too far." "What do you mean?" "One of you has got the wallet, and the writs of dispossess are in it." "I haven't." "Neither have I." "One of you must have got it." "It's a lie!" "Call me a liar?" asked the sheriff, of his deputies. "If you say we have got the writs, yes." The sheriff raised his musket club fashion, and would have brained the speaker had not Isaac Gerston, one of the posse, caught his arm. "Father Abraham!" he ejaculated, "are you mad? What if the wallet is in the grass? Have you searched everywhere?" The sheriff lowered his weapon, and all went on their hands and knees and felt among the grass, searching very diligently, but no wallet could be found. A council of war was held. If the writs could not be found the sheriff would be punished. What excuse could be given? "What shall we do?" "Let us go to this man Allen's house, and surprise him. He will not resist, and we can take him prisoner, and in the meantime another writ can be obtained." It was a risky thing to attempt, but there seemed no other course open, so the march was recommenced. The loss of the wallet was a mystery. Not one of the posse believed it had been stolen, for they could not think a thief could have escaped detection. The only surmise was that some squirrels had carried it up a tree. It was a ridiculous assumption, but the only one tenable. When within a mile of Bennington Crossroads, where the Allens lived, one of the posse caught his foot in the root of a tree and fell flat on his face. As he raised himself he felt something soft and slippery. He picked it up, and holding it above his head, cried out: "The wallet! The wallet!" The others, who had been a little behind, ran forward, and the sheriff at once accused him of having had the wallet all the time, and only when he fell and dropped it would admit its possession. The man was indignant at the charge, but the suspicion was so strong that most of his companions believed the sheriff was right. The latter opened the wallet and saw the great red seal. That was all he cared about it, and, placing it in his pocket securely, he very generously proposed that no more should be said about it. CHAPTER IV. "THE RISING OF THE MOON." Eben Pike burst open the door of Ethan Allen's house without any ceremony. Ethan and Seth Warner were sitting on the settee in the chimney, talking about the inaction of the governor of New York.