Directly the long wrapping lay on the sand at the boy’s side, and the burden of the belt lay revealed. Alex’s eyes bulged out so they ached.
The waterproof belt had been stuffed with money—gold treasury notes of the denomination of $1,000!
“Wow!” Alex exclaimed, almost involuntarily. “Talk about wealth! There it is! How many of those picture cards are there?”
“Fifty!” was the quiet reply. “I stole $50,000.”
“That’s nice!” grinned Alex. “Are you going abroad to buy a little kingdom with it? Standard Oil hasn’t anything on you!”
“I’m going to give it to the owner,” was the unexpected reply.
“Well, why don’t you, then?” asked the boy.
“Because I don’t know where he is. He’s lost!”
“You knew where he was when you stole it from him, didn’t you?” asked Alex. “Why can’t you go find him?”
“I didn’t steal it from the owner,” was the reply. “I stole it from the man that stole it from the owner.”