"Where is the rest of the money? You will have to take mighty good care that your father don't find it out."
"Let him. The money is given into Bob's hands, and to-morrow I am going down to put it in the bank. But here is another thing that I have just thought of. If I put it in in your name or mine, and father should find it out, then what?"
"I don't know," replied Mrs. Lufkin. "Your father would make us draw it, whether we wanted to or not."
"That's just what I was thinking of. Suppose I put it in in Bob's name? Of course I would have to go to him every time I wanted to draw any money."
"It would be better so. Bob is honest, and you could get the money from him as readily as if it was in your own name."
"And father couldn't get it. That's what I am thinking the most of. Now, mother, what shall I spend it for—a boat?"
"I don't think I would draw on this money for anything," said his mother. "You had better wait until you find some more pearls."
It was astonishing what an effect the word "money" had upon the two inmates of the house. Mrs. Lufkin, who had been so down-hearted a little while before because the tea and bread were gone, went about getting supper as she had done in the days gone by, when Joe first came back from the army, and Hank sat in the doorway, where he could keep watch of his father, nursed his left leg, and talked of what those two hundred dollars might bring them, until he saw Lufkin coming briskly along the road. He felt better, for he had a pair of new shoes on.
"Halloo!" he exclaimed, when he came into the house. "Supper is ready, ain't it? I am in just the right humor to tackle it. I haven't had anything fit to eat since I came back from the army, nor before, either, I might say. Just before we surrendered up there to Richmond we didn't have nothing but corn to eat, and a man mighty soon gets tired of that. Grant furnished us with rations, and I never felt so good as I did when I filled out on them."
Joe seated himself at the table without waiting for an invitation to do so, and straightway helped himself to two of the slices of salmon, which he proceeded to eat as though he was still serving in the army under Lee. When the supply of salmon was gone he called for more, and when the two platesful had disappeared he got up feeling that he had enjoyed a good meal. Hank had seen the time when he was rather opposed to his father's ravenous eating, but he didn't mind it now. He filled a cob-pipe with some tobacco, unwrapped his old shoes, threw them down on the floor for his wife to pick up, and seated himself in the doorway, prepared to enjoy a paper which was a week old. He read the advertisements and everything else that was in print, until his eyes rested on an article that instantly riveted his attention. He read it over several times, and then rested his paper on his knee, leaned back against the side of the house, and went off into a brown study. The article referred to ran as follows: