As Nell and Jessie clambered out of the canoe, they saw that Amy held in her hand something green that fluttered in the breeze.
“A bill!” exclaimed Jessie. “Where did you get that from, Amy Drew?”
“You needn’t look as if I had robbed a bank or something,” chuckled Amy. “I came by it honestly, I assure you. Didn’t you hear me say Darry gave me a present?”
“Well, you can tell Darry for me that if he is distributing five-dollar bills as recklessly as all that he can throw some in this direction,” Nell remarked.
Jessie looked from the bill to Amy’s mischievous face and presently light dawned upon her.
“Why did he give you that, Amy Drew?” she demanded, excitedly. “Tell me quickly before I go to Darry and ask him.”
“That girl gave it to him,” Amy confessed, lowering her tone to a mysterious whisper. “She told him to give it to me in exchange for the bad five-dollar bill.”
“So Darry has turned into a reformer!” remarked Nell, in huge enjoyment. “Imagine inducing that girl to give good money for bad.”
“Darry says she did not know the bill was bad,” said Amy. But she added, with a giggle: “I think he is a poor simpleton, myself—allowing that girl to pull the wool over his eyes. Nobody can ever tell me again that I have a bright brother.”
“Then he admits having seen the girl,” said Jessie, thoughtfully. “Did you tell him about our trip to Gibbonsville?”