“Yes, sir; and here’s the money for your coupons.”
“How about that other matter, Harry?”
“It came out all right. Where’s mother?”
“Gone to call on one of the neighbors.”
“Then I’ll tell you about it; but I don’t want to say a word to mother till the whole thing is settled.”
CHAPTER XXIV — PHILIP IN A TIGHT PLACE
Ralph Temple was still at his cottage, or, more properly, hut, waiting impatiently for Vernon to reappear, that he might obtain his share of the contents of the tin box.
He had led a lawless life, and more than once been engaged in dishonest transactions, but never in one of such magnitude as the present. He calculated that, even if they surrendered the box in consideration of a reward, he would not receive less than a thousand dollars, and he was planning how he would dispose of this sum.
This was the project which he fixed upon: For years he had been desirous of visiting California, in the hope that chances of getting rich, honestly or dishonestly, might be met with in a State whose very name was suggestive of gold. With a thousand dollars he would feel justified in going. Moreover, there would be an advantage in leaving a part of the country where he was an object of suspicion to the authorities, and was liable at any time to be arrested for complicity in more than one questionable transaction.