To have seen Nat go to work one would have supposed that he knew where the money was hidden and all about it. He went as straight as he could go to the corner of the ruins of Mr. Nickerson’s house, and there he stopped and his lips moved as if he were holding a consultation with himself.
“Six to one and a half dozen to the other,” he muttered, as if he were not aware that Peleg was anywhere within reach of him. “That paper is burned up here in the ruins, but I have got it in my head.”
“What are you trying to get through yourself, Nat?” said Peleg. “Talk English so that I can understand you.”
Nat did not act as though he had heard him at all.
“The next is a beech tree on the right hand side,” continued Nat. “Now let me see if that can be found.”
“What about the beech tree? There is one down there at the foot of the hill.”
Nat had already started off toward the beech tree, and a little way from it found a pile of briers; but did not look at them more than once. He went around on the left hand side of the beech tree, and throwing back his head gazed earnestly into the branches.
“Now whichever way that limb points, it points to the hiding-place of the papers,” said “But there are not any limbs that point Nat. any way. They all seem to point upward to the sky. If this is the tree I’ll soon make the limb move. Here, watch that branch and see if it don’t stir. Six of one and half a dozen of the other.”
“What do you keep saying those words for all the time?” inquired Peleg. “Why don’t you talk so that I can understand it?”
“That is a secret that Mr. Nickerson used while he was engaged in burying the papers,” said Nat, a bright idea striking him. “Come here and I will tell you all about it,” he added, catching Peleg by the arm and drawing his face close to his own. “You see these trees and everything about here is in sympathy with Mr. Nickerson, because he is dead, you know. I might come up here or you might come up here and look for those papers, and if we did not have the secret that Mr. Nickerson used while concealing them, why, we wouldn’t know any more about it than we do now. I declare that branch moves; don’t you see it?”