The words furnished Dave with a clue to the situation, and he dropped into a chair beside me, and, after one droll look in my direction, gave himself up to a fit of silent mirth.
Meantime the guard had advanced with dignity and announced to the officer at the desk:
'This man has a complaint to bring, sir.'
'Wait!' It was Mrs. Camp, standing determinedly near the door of entrance, who spoke. 'Afore you make a complaint, Adam Camp, about a raskil that ain't here, s'pose you jest make sure that this here one that is here in our midst don't git away.'
CHAPTER VI.
A CRIMINAL HUNT.
Now, I had told the officer in command my belief and suspicions concerning the counterfeit business which I believed was going on about us, and had been told that two of the counterfeit bills had already been brought to his notice and captured within the week; and Dave had insisted upon his hearing the story of my absurd arrest by the guards, and now it only needed a look from me, and the sight of Dave's convulsed face, to make the situation plain to him. He stepped forward, but before he could speak a new thought had darted into Dame Camp's active mind.
'La!' she finished, 'I s'pose, come to think, he's been brought here now to be tried, ain't he?'
With the shadow of a smile upon his face, the officer turned toward the farmer.