"No, sir," answered Squire Duncan, after a slight pause.
"Then I don't think we can decide as to the identity of the two boxes."
The trustees looked at each other in a state of indecision. No one knew what ought to be done.
"What course do you think we ought to take, Squire Duncan?" asked Mr. Bailey.
"I think," said the bank president, straightening up, "that there is sufficient evidence to justify the arrest of this boy Luke."
"I have done nothing wrong, sir," said Luke, indignantly. "I am no more of a thief than you are."
"Do you mean to insult me, you young jackanapes?" demanded Mr. Duncan, with an angry flush on his face.
"I intend to insult no one, but I claim that I have done nothing wrong."
"That is what all criminals say," sneered the squire.
Luke was about to make an angry reply, but Mr. Beane, waving his hand as a signal for our hero to be quiet, remarked calmly: "I think, Duncan, in justice to Luke, we ought to hear his story as to how the box came into his possession."