"I will tell you. It is a nephew of the man who lost the money. Near the scene of the robbery he found a sleeve button marked with my initial, which I had the ill luck to drop."
"Does he know it is yours?"
"Yes, my son recognized it in his possession, and unfortunately let out that it was mine. I at once sent for the boy, asked to see the button, and admitted it was mine."
"How then did you explain?"
"I am coming to that. I told him that both buttons had been stolen from me, probably by a tramp who had been seen prowling round my house, and that I presumed the same man had robbed his uncle."
"Very ingenious, upon my word! You always were a man of ideas, captain. I suppose this allayed his suspicions."
"Not wholly, though it puzzled him. I must tell you that while I was relieving the uncle of his money, though otherwise disguised I unfortunately opened my mouth."
"And showed your teeth?"
"Precisely. I have often had occasion to regret that Nature supplied me with such ugly looking tusks, for they are a dangerous means of identification. I understand the carpenter—one Adin Dunham—has spoken of this, but it seemed absurd to those who heard him that a man in my position should be a robber, and it was taken as a proof that he was out of his head. I strengthened this impression by taking a foremost part in raising a subscription for the carpenter to compensate him partially for his loss, and myself contributed fifty dollars."