"'Well,' says he, 'now have you got a bondsman?'
"'A what?' says I.
"'A bondsman—someone to go bail for you.'
"'No,' I answered, for I knew nothing about such things.
"'What! I thought you told me you had a lot of friends who had money! You haven't been trifling with me, have you?'
"I knew I hadn't told him anything of the sort, but I thought that maybe he had forgotten; so I said I hadn't any friends who had any money, and knew no one to go bail for me.
"'Bad! very bad!' said he. 'You've got to have money to get out. Isn't there anyone who owes you money, or haven't you got some claim or something?'
"Then all of a sudden it flashed over me about the diamond and my fifty per cent. of the reward, and then something in his eye made me think again. It seemed to me that I had seen him before somewhere. I couldn't remember just where, but the more I hesitated the surer I was. Then it came over me that a few days in jail, more or less, made mighty little difference when I was going to be a rich man so soon, and I decided I had better hang on to what I'd got.
"'No,' said I, 'I ain't got nothin'.'
"'You lie!' says he, growing very red. 'You lie! You've got a claim against the United States Government.'