He stared at her so angrily—with such an expression of rage and hopelessness upon his face—that she was held speechless for a moment.
"What do you know about it, girl?" he demanded, hoarsely.
"About what, Uncle?" she returned.
"The box—the cash-box—my money!" he cried, in a low voice. "Do you know anything about it? Was it saved?"
"Oh, Uncle! We only got here in the automobile just in time to escape the flood. The office was wrecked at that very moment. Was the box there?"
"Gone! Gone!" he murmured, shaking his head; and turning on his heel, he strode into the mill.
The boy had taken the mules around to the stable. Ruth hesitated, then followed the old man into the mill. There Jabez confronted Tom Cameron, sitting on a sack of meal and watching the turbid waters falling over the dam.
"Ha! Young Cameron," muttered Uncle Jabez. "You didn't see the cash-box, of course?"
"Where was it?" asked Tom, quietly.
"In that office—on a shelf, with an old coat thrown over it. I believed it to be as safe there as in the house with nobody but an old woman to guard it."