"If we were dishonest we could palm this off on almost any one, just as we had it palmed off on us," said Joe. "Oh, well—live and learn. I hate to think of that fellow laughing at us, though. It's a nice price to pay for a lesson not to be too trustful of strangers after this."
"It cost me more than it cost you," Frank pointed out. "It was just my luck that I had three dollars on me and you had only two."
This phase of the matter had not occurred to Joe before, so he felt considerably more cheerful in the thought that he had not, after all, been the chief loser.
They went back to the store and dolefully reported to Mr. Moss that he had been right in his surmise about the bill.
"It was bad, all right," Frank told him. "The cashier took one look at it, and that was enough."
Mr. Moss nodded sympathetically.
"Well, it's too bad you were stung," he said. "But I'd rather it was you than me. In business, we have to be careful. As a matter of fact, I think it would have fooled me, only the bank warned me this morning that there was some counterfeit money going around and that I'd better be on my guard against any new bills. The minute I saw your five was fresh and new I got suspicious. It's certainly a clever imitation. Whoever is putting the stuff out is a real artist at that game."
"We'll be back for the pie-plates later," promised Joe. "But we didn't want you to think we were trying to pass bad money on you."
Mr. Moss laughed at the idea.
"The Hardy boys pass counterfeit money!" he exclaimed. "I know you better than that, I hope. I'll keep the plates for you, or you can take them now and bring back the money later. Good money, though," he added, wagging his finger at them.