The girls looked at each other. Matters were beginning to fit together most strangely.
"I didn't know what to do," the young man went on. "I didn't want to say anything that would seem as if I accused the boy, and I felt the same about the trainmen. I knew if I said the money had been taken and the pocketbook left they would only laugh at me. I was all knocked out, and hardly knew what I was doing. I jumped off the train, and went back over the line, thinking the bill might have blown out of the window. But—"
"That is just what did happen!" cried Betty.
"What's that?" the man exclaimed, excitedly.
"I say that is exactly what happened!" went on the Little Captain. "At least, that is how I account for it."
"What sort of a bill did you lose?" asked Mollie, trying not to get excited.
"It was one of five hundred dollars, and—"
"Did it have a—anything pinned to it?" exclaimed Betty.
"It did—a note. Wait, I can tell you what it said on it." He hesitated a moment and then repeated word for word the writing on the note pinned to the bill the girls had picked up. "But I don't see how you know this!" he added, wonderingly.
"We know—because we found your five hundred dollar bill!" exclaimed
Betty.